Onto the scene now bounces ‘Padam Padam’, the first offering from the upcoming Tension album (which releases Sept. 22). And it immediately signals another change in direction. Minogue’s last two albums are generally viewed as successful but unadventurous; Golden hopped onto the country-pop trend, with its successor enlisting a revolving door of collaborators—Dua Lipa, Years & Years, Jessie Ware—to augment its featherweight pre-drinks bops. But if recent years have seen Kylie carving out a space in the Hot AC wheelhouse, ‘Padam Padam’ aims straight for the jugular of the Top 40.
A late addition to Tension, the song’s club-ready groove was created by breakthrough hitmaker Lostboy (Tiësto, Tom Grennan, Ellie Goulding), yet still feels distinctly ‘Kylie’. Over serpentine synths, the singer coos “I get the shivers when I look into your eyes / And I can tell that you’re all in / ‘Cause I can hear your heart beatin’”; a suitable mission statement for an album hyped up as ‘eleven tracks of unabashed pleasure-seeking, seize-the-moment, joyful pop tunes’. And the success of ‘Padam Padam’ (an onomatopoeic rendition of a heartbeat, don’t you know) lies in exactly this: bottling the ‘unabashed’ carpe diem energy that’s the hallmark of one of the world’s most popular singers.
‘Padam Padam’ sounds like a popstar who still has a mark to make on contemporary pop music – but also like a popstar reminding you why you fell in love with her. This consciously contemporary pop track is unafraid to recall some of the Kylie classics, building upon its manic Serbian-Eurovision-entry-that-finishes-ninth foundation via the slinky techno bounce of ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ and the seductive energy of ‘Slow’. With the chirrupy hook “Padam! Padam! / I hear it and I know / Padam! Padam! / I know you wanna take me home” evoking the monomaniac wallowing in lust that characterises Kylie’s signature hit, this song might as well be ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Heart’. All the while, Lostboy’s clever production manages to feel stripped-back, whilst propelling the song towards a climax.
In summary: she’s done it again. ‘Padam Padam’ is already reaching further and wider than any Kylie single of the past decade, testament to its future-facing self-assurance and TikTok-ready hook. It’s impeccably produced; robotic yet sensual; a ridiculously powerful earworm. Camp as anything, yet manages to be her coolest lead since ‘Slow’. True, Sophie Müller’s video is a triumph of concept over execution, but even that cannot derail the novelty, the effortlessness and the power of ‘Padam Padam’. Her best single package since ‘All the Lovers’? I hear it and I know.
A late addition to Tension, the song’s club-ready groove was created by breakthrough hitmaker Lostboy (Tiësto, Tom Grennan, Ellie Goulding), yet still feels distinctly ‘Kylie’. Over serpentine synths, the singer coos “I get the shivers when I look into your eyes / And I can tell that you’re all in / ‘Cause I can hear your heart beatin’”; a suitable mission statement for an album hyped up as ‘eleven tracks of unabashed pleasure-seeking, seize-the-moment, joyful pop tunes’. And the success of ‘Padam Padam’ (an onomatopoeic rendition of a heartbeat, don’t you know) lies in exactly this: bottling the ‘unabashed’ carpe diem energy that’s the hallmark of one of the world’s most popular singers.
‘Padam Padam’ sounds like a popstar who still has a mark to make on contemporary pop music – but also like a popstar reminding you why you fell in love with her. This consciously contemporary pop track is unafraid to recall some of the Kylie classics, building upon its manic Serbian-Eurovision-entry-that-finishes-ninth foundation via the slinky techno bounce of ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ and the seductive energy of ‘Slow’. With the chirrupy hook “Padam! Padam! / I hear it and I know / Padam! Padam! / I know you wanna take me home” evoking the monomaniac wallowing in lust that characterises Kylie’s signature hit, this song might as well be ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Heart’. All the while, Lostboy’s clever production manages to feel stripped-back, whilst propelling the song towards a climax.
In summary: she’s done it again. ‘Padam Padam’ is already reaching further and wider than any Kylie single of the past decade, testament to its future-facing self-assurance and TikTok-ready hook. It’s impeccably produced; robotic yet sensual; a ridiculously powerful earworm. Camp as anything, yet manages to be her coolest lead since ‘Slow’. True, Sophie Müller’s video is a triumph of concept over execution, but even that cannot derail the novelty, the effortlessness and the power of ‘Padam Padam’. Her best single package since ‘All the Lovers’? I hear it and I know.
Kylie Minogue, ‘Padam Padam’ (Darenote; BMG). Out now
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