In America,a market that has not been her strongest,she topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Music sales chart. She also performed the song last month on the finale ofAmerican Idol to an audience of 5.7 million television viewers.
In Australia,where Minogue has based herself for the past year,her new song has also done well,making a debut at number 39 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It was Minogue’s first top-40 hit in Australia sinceTimebombin 2012.
In September,she will release her 16th studio album titled Tension. According to her music label BMG she has sold over 80 million records worldwide. Her biggest selling album was 2001’sFever,which racked up 6 million sales.
Clearly,Minogue has earned diva status,but having met and interviewed her over the years,she is disarmingly humble when talking about her success,a rare quality she has retained since her very first interview withTheSydney Morning Herald back in 1989.
The 21-year-old that theHerald interviewed had no idea of the success which awaited her - especially if her most ardent of critics were to be believed,labelling her “the singing budgie” and panning everything from her first concert to her views on apartheid in South Africa,famously quoted saying “stop killing the rhinos”.
“I know what the tall poppy syndrome is like and I think it sucks,” the feisty starlet declared at the time,reflecting on the early critics.
But even by 1989,the Kylie Minogue that Australia knew was disappearing,theHerald writing:“Even the Kylie look is changing:slightly older,more sophisticated,even heavens - sexier.”
These days Minogue avoids commenting on politics and is judicious about what causes she aligns herself with. However,the Marriage Equality Yes campaign in 2017 was a no-brainer given her undying popularity among the gay community.
She has survived breast cancer and several high-profile relationship breakdowns,as well as the rollercoaster that is showbiz,though she has largely managed to escape becoming tabloid fodder.
When she turned 50 she told theHerald:“I don’t know if it is the 50 thing,it probably has a lot to do with it,but life is maybe slowing down,which sounds ridiculous because there is still so much going on,but it’s happening at a slightly different pace,and a different headspace,and a different understanding.”
But it almost didn’t happen.
When I interviewed her in 2011,she recalled her trip to London with long-term manager Terry Blamey just asNeighbours mania was gripping the country. They were going to meet with the world’s biggest pop hit factory:Stock,Aitken&Waterman.
“Yes they forgot I was coming,” Minogue laughed.
“We were there for about a week finding things to do. I was still onNeighbours at the time and it was difficult to secure time off. I think I was maybe recognised once or twice,people had not become quite so fanatical.
“We went to Harrods,on bus tours,to Madame Tussauds,then finally,on the last day,they wrote I Should Be So Lucky. I was completely stressed and went in there,sang it then flew straight back to Melbourne.”
What did she think of the song?
“I honestly cannot recall,” she admitted. “It was so rushed I just did the recording and had to get ... back to Melbourne.”
And at that moment a showbiz legend was created.
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