'Slow' was an unexpected comeback following the club-ready dance-pop sounds of Fever. Fans were won over, with many regarding this one of, if not the, best song of Kylie's career, but would you consider this her riskiest single? Share your thoughts below, and of course put forward your own suggestion of biggest risk should you disagree.

I have different thoughts on this.

 

Yes, it was risky following on from the 4 wonderful singles from Fever, but Slow, was partially a natural step from that sound (I cant say the same for most of the other Body Language Material) although it was a risk not going with the pop/electro sound that proved extremely successful throughout the Fever era. That said, the risk paid off.

 

I would feel Confide In Me was a bigger risk or possibly Some Kind of Bliss.

 

Pre Confide In Me, Kylie fans were used of pop Kylie and some of her singles were referred to as throw away pop from music critics but the format had worked and delivered huge success for Kylie. Confide In Me was a big risk moving completely away from that but, like Slow, it did work and it made the music critics look at Kylie in a more serious way.

 

Some Kind Of Bliss was a song no one expected from Kylie, as it was extremely different from all her prior work and it was a big risk going in this direction but it failed. At the time, Kylie missing out on having a Top 20 hit was a big thing and seeing it peak at number 22 was a massive disappointment for all involved and the fans too.

 

Risks as we know are positive and negative, and as we see in these examples the risks had different outcomes but they paved the way for Kylie to make career progression and present herself very differently to the music's public and overall, they all impacted on her career positively when we look at the bigger picture.

At the time I would have said yes but now I would think 2hearts or Some kind of bliss were more of a risk, neither were exactly pop, a lot risk on them with it being the first singles and neither match any of the album

Edited November 14, 20186 yr by Dannyboy

2 Hearts, is certainly another risk.

Really cant decide if this paid off or not but i would lean more towards no as other lead singles could have really helped X sell in greater numbers.

No - it’s different but not risky as such. I think other songs like some kind of bliss, did it again and two hearts were more risky.

'Slow' seemed like a natural progression to me. It sounded great in the clubs at the time, which was where Kylie had re-established herself.

 

'Chocolate' was more of the risky single, in my eyes. Not really what the general public were expecting from up-beat, pop Kylie.

 

I'd also say that 'Finer Feelings' was a risky single, as her first committed step into a more indie sound. But I'm so glad she went there.

Edited November 14, 20186 yr by Michael Andrew

Word Is Out was also risky and as we know it was a risk that didnt pay off.

I certainly think it was brave of her to do it directly following Fever.

 

Here is the correct answer

I think 2 hearts and word is out were her riskiest especially as lead singles and both were probably risks she didn't need.

'Word Is Out' is fairly standard pop and nothing that different for her, so I'm not sure it's "risky" in terms of its sound per se.

It's fine to say that now but when it was released it was seen as possibly something to different for kylie and was her first single not to make the top 10.

Yeah, but by the same token is it seen as a risk in hindsight just because it was a flop for her?

Not just for that reason but the sound was very different for kylie at that time plus her image was a risk then too as I remember the press having a go about it. To be fair kylie is a risk taker I think and I say that in a positive way as so many play it safe all the time.

Edited November 16, 20186 yr by Feel_The_Fever

 

Here is the correct answer

This would be the main competitor for me too. 'Confide in Me' was such a radical change; the production, the structure, the vocals... it was completely different to what we had heard from Kylie before. Easily her biggest reinvention. It was a risk, although I would suggest Kylie had less to lose in 1994 than she did 2003. Let's Get To It generally didn't resonate with the public or fans, and the attempts at going back to her early days with 'What Kind of Fool' and 'Celebration' didn't work either. 'Slow', on the other hand, was off the back of a huge era and everything will have been riding on the next lead single. Whilst I can see the progression between Fever and 'Slow', it was still a big risk when it would have been easier to come back with another instant hit-ready song. I guess either song could come out on top depending on how you look at it, but these two would definitely be the biggest risk takers for me.

Confide in Me was a radical change, looking at it from a radical change Spinning Around was a huge change considering the material that was offered by Kylie on her 3 previous studio albums.

With the exception of kylie and enjoy yourself all kylie's albums have very different styles and the lead singles have generally shown that so you can see she was never afraid of embracing change and that's always a risk. It's a shame that many people (not her fans) don't see that more and just think she churns out songs that people hand to her. I think from reading about people who have worked with her like on duets do be surprised by her creativity and the input and professionalism she brings in addition to being lively to work with.

The albums from Kylie have all showed progression, development and changes and Enjoy Yourself was in small parts a progression from her debut.

Kylie seems to have worked for career fulfillment in addition to success, she needed success to keep going.

Over the years she has never been afraid to not play it safe and it was decisions like this that has ensured 30 years into her music career that she is still going.

Their is no doubt in my mind Kylie will still manage to surprise us for a few years to come as its likely whenever she records her new studio album it will have a different sound that we were never expecting.

One thing kylie has nailed over the years is shuting her critics up,starting off it was the "singing budgie" one hit wonder,then it was flash in the pan success,by 98 she was wrote if completely and 20 years on from that she is here with her 6th number 1 selling album and 51 top 40 hits.

With Golden era though, I'm not sure if it's what critics really want from her so there is a difference of taking risks that pay off and be praised for it and taking the safe Radio 2 route and having a #1 album.

 

That said, Golden has 63 on Metacritic so that's pretty ok I guess. The user score is worse than with Aphrodite or X though.