-Jay-

Oh ouch, that Guardian/Observer review is going to damage her rather nice Metacritic score of 81 so far! Rather mixed reviews so far, given that The Independent went with 5/5. The 2/5 review is the first one to mirror the general reaction to the album on Popjustice lol.

It's a lovely song, and I certainly think it deserved more attention than it got. Missing the Top 100 entirely, that was harsh... but I think it was difficult for him to get hype/support, so long after his first album era faltered. I think the song was a step in the right direction sonically. It's nice to see it as high as Top 3 on iTunes. It's not managed to make the Spotify daily charts but I'm fairly sure when I last checked his Spotify it was 7th or 8th in his popular list, it's 6th today.

At least not yet, there could be a digital exclusive!

A bad habit of mine is to vote in polls and then forget to say what I voted for lol, and weeks later I'm not 100% sure what I voted for. But I think I went with this: #1 Between 30,000 and 40,000 Top 3 Top 3

The person who shared the 26,000 info on SayHey, is also the person who shared 31,677 as Tension's first day sale and 49,735 for its Thursday midweek - so I think we can trust in the info!

Here are the daily updates for Kylie's previous BMG studio albums, just so we can compare with Tension II in the coming days: Tension 31,677 (Saturday 23rd September 2023) 35,700 (Sunday 24th September 2023) [+4,023] 40,301 (Monday 25th September 2023) [+4,601] 44,086 (Tuesday 26th September 2023) [+3,785] 46,935 (Wednesday 27th September 2023) [+2,849] 49,735 (Thursday 28th September 2023) [+2,800] 53,237 (Friday 29th September 2023 - official chart) [+3,502] Increase from Saturday to Friday: +21,560 Saturday's figure was 59.5% of its first week sales Disco 30,242 (Saturday 7th November 2020) 34,557 (Sunday 8th November 2020) [+4,315] 36,798 (Monday 9th November 2020) [+2,241] 39,111 (Tuesday 10th November 2020) [+2,313] 45,093 (Wednesday 11th November 2020) [+5,982] 50,397 (Thursday 12th November 2020) [+5,304] 54,095 (Friday 13th November 2020 - official chart) [+3,698] Increase from Saturday to Friday: +23,853 Saturday's figure was 55.9% of its first week sales Golden ~24,000 (Saturday 7th April 2018) ~31,000 (Sunday 8th April 2018) 33,737 (Monday 9th April 2018) 37,413 (Tuesday 10th April 2018) [+3,676] 40,685 (Wednesday 11th April 2018) [+3,272] 43,884 (Thursday 12th April 2018) [+3,199] 48,032 (Friday 13th April 2018 - official chart) [+4,148]

I received the CD and Cassette single! Not even the spine of the cassette has her artist name/song title on it - I'm not keen on that aspect of the design! :cry: However it does have the BMG logo, her 'K' logo, and catalogue number on the spine. The shell of the cassette looks cool though! Also very nice to have a CD single with 5 tracks. I might be mistaken but I think this is her first CD single to have more than 1 or 2 tracks on it since Into the Blue?

Remember this is released today! :wub:

Yaaas, that's fantastic! :cheer: Thanks for sharing, Dawid! I did feel confident that this would sell pretty well, particularly once the "pre-order for ticket access code" came into play. Plus, honestly... it's Kylie, and there's quite a few formats. Her fanbase has proved itself to be consistently loyal throughout her BMG era, so I didn't think that her sales would suddenly be radically down for Tension II. I had hoped for 35,000 for the first week, but it seems there could be potential to exceed 40,000 if there's some digital bonus albums still to come, or any other yet to be revealed physical formats.

I feel like some fans just aren't used to this "part 2" concept and are therefore a bit reluctant to consider it as a full album in its own right. But that's definitely what it is. It's a continuation of the era for sure, but it's still an actual album - her 17th studio album - so I think certain fans will have to try and accept that, rather than claim it to be something else. When a reissue was rumoured, I hoped instead for a new studio album - so I'm really happy that that is what has been delivered in the end. Great to have all these new songs rather than just have 3 songs at most stuck on to the previous album.

All of the messages are so heartfelt :( :heart: Liam's dad went to visit the hotel today. :( So much paparazzi there - the fans there, they tried to shield him with their hands and their bags (while he was in the hotel, the paps were trying to take pictures from outside, so the fans were blocking the view to give him some privacy), which is very thoughtful. He had a look at the shrine outside of the hotel. Just heartbreaking.

I've listened to the album a couple of times so far (once early in the morning on release day, so I was quite tired, then in the car yesterday afternoon with a friend so it wasn't fully focused on). I did enjoy the album though! Short and sweet bops, very fun. I will have another listen with headphones on sometime later today and really focus on it. Someone for Me and Kiss Bang Bang have the catchiest choruses for me, they're in my mind despite just 2 listens. I like Shoulda Left Ya's change of pace - it also put me in mind of Lost Without You like others have said - not identical by any means but certainly in that wheelhouse. I do find the 4 collabs to be quite detached from the first 9 tracks... so I'll definitely be interested to listen to the Vinyl track list version soon.

The clear vinyl of Spice for National Album Day is out today.

I never got a dispatch email for the physical singles, but they're definitely on the way for me... as of 3pm yesterday they were at the Nottingham mail centre. Hopefully it will arrive today!

Ordered mine too! :cheer:

Three strong singles from this era! Drag Me Down felt like a confident choice, very self-assured. Was great to see it enter at #1! I love Perfect, so catchy and I also love the 80s feel to it like Liam says. Pleasantly surprised to see this as high as 4th in their Spotify list, and closing in on a billion streams. :cheeseblock: For some reason History didn't strongly click with me at the time of its release. I did like it but I wasn't blown away. I've warmed up to it over the years and it sounds great tonight. It feels like a fitting final single. I seem to recall that it was #1 on their Spotify list for a while, or at least high up, so I'm surprised that it's not currently in their Top 10. That was enjoyable if bitter sweet, and I enjoyed experiencing that trip down memory lane with you all. :heart:

PREACH :cheeseblock:

To me, Night Changes feels like a song that comes across like it was a #1 hit... so its #7 peak feels odd! It's a beautiful song. :wub: Interesting that it's gone on to be by far their most streamed song. FOUR only having two singles was a bit criminal!!

You & I is stunning :wub: It deserved more than #22 during its time as a single (lol at the accidental scamming to get a #19 peak, but I'm glad it has Top 20 status anyway :lol: ). Interestingly You & I has gone on to have more streams on Spotify than the album's lead single Best Song Ever. Steal My Girl :heart: Another anthem! I think by this point they had a very clear sense of what their sound was.

As soon as it became apparent that Midnight Memories was the new single, I just knew it wasn't the right choice... yet I didn't think it would misfire to the extent of only managing to get to #39!! :drama: I actually like the song, but it really should have remained as an album track.

One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me at the time! It didn't really remain an essential part of their catalogue for me though. Best Song Ever was a strong way to kick off the third album era. A banger! Story of My Life was always a huge favourite for me, gorgeous song. Perhaps my favourite overall actually? :wub: Deserved a week at #1! My mum loved this one too. 💔

Live While We're Young was definitely "let's do What Makes You Beautiful again" but it's a lot of fun! There's something about Little Things that I find heartwarming but I can totally understand how it could be annoying to some! I think it being a #1 and a fairly long running success was a bit of a surprise. Kiss You :cheeseblock: One of my major favourites! Deserved more than #9 but at least it hung around in the charts longer than One Thing.

:wub: More than This is lovely! A proper "arms in the air" moment. I feel like it had the potential to do far more for them as a second single than Gotta Be You. This type of production for a ballad is so early 2010s!

I hadn't heard Gotta Be You since December 2014 according to my Last.fm :drama: Never really been a favourite of mine but it's not that bad. One Thing was a bit of a "course correction" for me... its UK chart run has always puzzled me - the song feels bigger to me than this would suggest. Out of the Top 40 two weeks after peaking :drama: 28-36-38-26-9-24-42-55-65-69-82-61-72-89-out

Such an anthem to begin their career with! I saw One Direction at Wembley and the reaction to this one was just insane!