HerbieHollywood

100% Kylie and BMG are a great fit for each other. It’s still a big achievement to get to number one, even only for a week. I think we’ll see more number one albums in the future in tandem with Kylie smiling her way through media cycle upon media cycle, being sweet and lovely and humble. There will be more product launches and cringey collabs and the fans will lap it up. I can see another decade of this easily!

I’m expecting it to drop out of the top 75 and it will likely be the same for her future releases. Her number ones are built on cds and vinyl and variants, the things superfans buy during first week sales. Kylie and BMG have their number one headline, they’ve well and truly milked the Padam halo for all it’s worth and then some. They are quite masterful in that respect. It’s smoke and mirrors and the media laps it up. I doubt the US is her biggest market but hey, say it and the word will spread! I just wonder in the future whether rules will be implemented to stop such a manipulation of the album charts, just as the UK has put in rules for singles. But for now, go Kylie, keep on working the system!

I’m sure Kylie and her team have done their homework. The run of #no 1 albums proves the era is working. She obviously doesn’t need money, she just wants to be successful, or perceived as successful. I personally don’t know what other label could do better. The US chart result is a shame. Is it down to vinyl availability, as I read somewhere? At the end of the day she’s still not big here. She can book TV spots and there’s so shortage of online outlets that will have her on, but she’s niche. Padam wasn’t a chart or radio hit, or even that big online compared to todays artists, you’d think it was a number one smash with the way she talks about it!

A few comments. BMG/promotion - Kylie is in the control seat. Every investment in videos, promotion etc ultimately comes from her pocket. She will be deciding how many videos to make and what the budgets would be. Long gone are the days when a 3rd or 4th single with a video will boost an album sales. It’s throwing good money after bad and if Kylie is nothing else, she’s savvy. Art direction will be all her. She’s not a SAW puppet being told what to do - she’s not being bossed around by executives, that’s not the way BMG works - she’s the lead. As legacy artist in 2024, I’d say she has in down pat. Singles success are a bonus, but no longer the priority as not in her reach. It’s all about first week album sales and that number one headline. She knows she can manipulate the fan base with vinyls, tapes and variants. The fans buy, she gets her number one and the headlines are all positive. Never mind the sales drop in the second week. She’s got her number one. My only real criticism is that I think she’s in danger of fatigue. Her die hards will love her no matter what. But the more casual fan like myself gets tired from too many releases and endless flogging of something. I don’t get excited any more, she’s always promoting something or collaborating with someone. I can barely watch an interview with her any more, she rarely says anything interesting. Wine, homeware, perfume, spec savers… when is enough too much? She’s addicted to fame but in the most humble and endearing way. I still wish her every success, I just get tired of her.

I think calling it Tension II is all about the tour. It’s a hugely ambitious undertaking and they want to ensure success. This way they can trade off Padam and the halo effect of a hit album (so big it demanded a sequel!), even though it’s no 1 status was fleeting and largely achieved by an extremely loyal fan base shelling out for gimmicks and variants. It’ll be interesting to see if it sells out or extra shows are added. I also wonder if Bebe and Tove will turn up as guests acts. There had to be some strategy to investing all that $ in a video.

Kiss Me Once is my favourite song on the album, followed by Les Sex. Love the whole vibe of it. Sexercise is the low point imo. Up until that point I felt Kylie had kept things classy and not gone the desperate, Madonna trying-to-be-young and scandalous route. I hated the video with a passion. I agree that the album quality gets judged on its chart performance. For me it’s much better than Golden. I didn’t love Kylie’s “I went to Nashville for two weeks” phase.

I appreciate the counter arguments and we make them all the time. The song has indeed performed well in the context of Kylie and for an artist her age. I just don’t think that changes the fact that in the wider scheme of things Padam’s sales and chart run was decent but not spectacular. Did it even make the top 100 songs of the year in the UK? Certainly nowhere else. But the PR around it makes it sound like a number 1 smash! Tension debuted well largely because her dedicated fans lapped up the variants, then it sank like a stone. Love her still I do!

Love the song and credit where credit is due. That said… I do think its success has been massively overhyped. Traditional media love Kylie and have been quick to sell everyone the kool aid, but is a song with modest UK chart success and barely any major international chart success really the song of the summer? Feels like we all wanted it to be a massive hit, Kylie told us it was and we believed it! Hope this doesn’t sound negative. I love, love, love Kylie but as the years pass, I do think her team have become the masters of spin.

Would you say this has happened more times than the reverse? Ie Kylie benefiting from a low sales week and getting a high position?

I doubt she’ll get Brit noms but I am surprised she no longer features In Australia’s ARIA awards. She is such a high profile artist in her homeland compared to those that do get noms. Does she no longer submit herself for competition? Golden felt like awards bait to me.

I’ve often felt as though Kylie was robbed of a decade of chart hits, owing to the digital/streaming age and changes to chart rules. I think it’s inevitable that her age would go against her at some point, as the industry has always been ageist, but Madonna had top tens into her 40s and early 50s and it’s unfair that Kylie didn’t! If her 2010-20 output had happened under the old chart rules - or the 2000s for arguments sake - could she have had number #1s? More top fives/ tens at least? And which songs? In my opinion: No #1 All the lovers Top 5 Get outta my way Dancing Stop me from falling Say something Magic Top 10 Into the blue Real groove Timebomb Missed the top 10 Better than today Put your hands up I was gonna cancel Sexercise Crystallise Flower Golden Musics too sad Lifetime to repair

1 get outta my way 2 step back in time 3 on a night like this 4 stop me from falling 5 magic 6 wow 7 put yourself in my place 8 celebration 9 got to be certain 10 wouldn’t change a thing 11 if you were with me now 12 in your eyes 13 red blooded woman 14 giving you up 15 did it again 16 I was gonna cancel 17 100 degrees Not a uk #1 among them!

Dreamy and uplifting. I Believe In You vibes. Anyone else think it should be titled Love is Love?

On a night like this Spinning around Your disco needs you Please stay Kids Kids gave her another hit and the teaming with Robbie was timely, but it’s not a song I’ve ever enjoyed listening to. It’s a shame that disco didn’t get a proper release. For all the props Kylie now gets for supporting the gay community, I remember feeling like it was a very low priority for her back then. It could’ve been a big release that celebrated her gay fan base but instead it felt like throwing a crumb.

I have trouble believing she’d call it Kylie either - seems very confusing from a brands / catalog perspective. I’d love it to come this year but that seems unlikely to me given the uncertainty around touring and the covid virus. I think kylies albums need a touring component to turn a profit, which is why she tours every single album nowadays. Maybe they are banking on tours being back up and running in 2021 so the album could come sooner but it seems a risk to me.