Kylie enters her golden age
Kylie Minogue talks to KATIE WRIGHT about 30 years in showbiz, turning 50 and the release of new album Golden
WITH a new album just out, a tour starting in the autumn and a milestone birthday coming up, it’s shaping up to be a big year for Kylie Minogue.
“I’m trying to think of a way to say it without swearing,” the singer says with a giggle, when asked how she’s feeling about approaching the big 5-0 on May 28. “I feel mostly good.”
She says she is following the lead of her fiftysomething friends and getting rid of anything that’s holding her back.
“I’ve got a number of friends who have turned 50 or are approaching 50, and the general vibe is that they just go, ‘I don’t have time or energy for all the other stuff.’
“If anything’s slowing the ship down and is just old news or old noise, get rid of it, so you can get through smoother and more efficiently to where you want to go. I mean, other things about getting older are not so much fun, like you’ve got to take care of your body a bit more, so ask me at the end of tour how it went, we’ll see.”
The Australian singing star has called London home since 2011, and says the new album called Golden, is as much about looking to the future as reflecting on the past, when we meet at the launch of her second eyewear collection with Specsavers.
After 30 years in entertainment, Kylie knows a thing or two about fashion and fame, but are there any returning fashion trends that she cannot get on board with now because she remembers them from the first time around?
“There’s some stuff I probably would like to do again, but it doesn’t work for me now. Maybe if it was for a photo session or performance, that’s different to me sitting here and wanting to feel like myself. But I don’t think you’ll catch me in a crop top again, for example. I mean those days are over!”
So will audiences be seeing more of the cowgirl style from the Golden video when she goes on tour later this year?
“Yeah, we’re going to have fun with that, it’s going to be great, I
I’d say keep a diary... There are definitely occasions now, I think, ‘God, I really wish I had a detailed account of that day or that experience’. I’d tell her to try not to worry so much, but I can’t imagine her listening to me! Kylie on what advice she would give her younger self
can’t wait! That style, lets face it, isn’t new for me, but I think there’s going to be rhinestone and fringing!”
Some of the new album was recorded in Nashville, and Kylie says: “I literally loved every minute of it – and there’s not that many experiences you can say that about. “I arrived with one of my managers at the airport, and there’s a guy playing guitar and singing before you’ve even left the terminal, and she said, ‘I’m gonna fall in love a million times here’.
“I was like, ‘Great line for a song!’ I didn’t manage to put it in a song, but it was just that feeling of excitement and just knowing we were there for music and I was lined up to work with really good writers.”
Kylie has said she felt “a bit broken” while working on the album following her split from her former fiancé, British actor Joshua Sasse, in February last year, but says she hopes fans feel there’s “no blame” in the record.
She told the March issue of Attitude magazine: “I’m not writing from a place of heartbreak. I was a bit broken, I wasn’t feeling very strong at a certain point, and we’ve all been there, we know what that’s like. But I tend to bounce back pretty quickly. I’m pragmatic about stuff.”
The Spinning Around singer says she finds songwriting cathartic. “Oh it’s brilliant, yeah, it’s free therapy. When I started working on the album, I was just getting it all off my chest, and I’m kind of thankful now that the songs weren’t very good. It was good to just, kind of, purge and then move onto writing songs that were not about some ONE, they were about me.
“This is about where I am in my life – looking back, but also looking forward. I had made the decision: I just want to write and sing from the heart. Not that I haven’t done before, but to really go a bit further.”
So if she could go back in time, what advice would she give the 18-year-old Kylie starting out on her showbiz career?
“What I would like to do is be by her side constantly! But then again, maybe I wouldn’t have learnt the lessons I’ve learnt. I’d say keep a diary. There are definitely occasions now, I think, ‘God, I really wish I had a detailed account of that day or that experience’. I’d tell her to try not to worry so much, but I can’t imagine her listening to me!” ●●The new Kylie Minogue Eyewear collection, exclusive to Specsavers, is now in stores nationwide. Go to kylie.com for album and tour details.