Kylie Minogue
Fever

THE REVIEW

Until the dawn of the new millennium, the intoxicating Kylie Minogue still had a long way to go before conquering the cold hearts beyond the Commonwealth with her magical concoction of charm, talent, and overflowing sensuality.

If her debut as a young adult had gone more than well and even the very funky Loco Motion had broken through the Yankee greyness, the decade following her self-titled debut remained somewhat dull and lackluster purely commercially; not even the daring and superb transition from the teen image of Rhythm Of Love and Let's Get To It to the more grown-up and mature era of Kylie Minogue had achieved great numbers. Yet, Kylie's ability to reinvent herself, to practically exhibit that hidden surplus of energy and artistic value, to show the general public that she was not the typical Australian shooting star in a pop-ish interlude between soap operas had already been fully demonstrated: first, with the delightful mix of the aforementioned Kylie Minogue, then the famous duet with Nick Cave, Where The Wild Roses Grow (a collaboration particularly appreciated even by the fiercest pop detractors), and finally that jewel that was mistakenly forgotten, Impossible Princess, a masterpiece of experimental and brave artistic sound that even managed to anticipate Madonna's legendary electro-mystical turn in Ray Of Light. Impossible Princess, hindered by the unfortunate coincidence of Princess Diana's death and a record label – Deconstruction – that was not convinced of the album's significant potential and the artist herself, caused some mild sparks on the London-Canberra axis, yet splendid tracks like Say Hey, Dreams, Limbo, Breathe, Jump, and Too Far were relegated to a very small niche of the market and audience that soon placed them in the mothballs of unknown masterpieces.

The rebirth – at least commercially – of Miss Minogue came anyhow with the simpler yet enjoyable and frivolous Light Years, thanks to a series of singles and music videos dedicated to erotomaniacs and lustful people (Spinning Around), the already loyal gay audience (Your Disco Needs You), the early millennium clubs (On A Night Like This), and the Quinquennial chart biases (Kids, duet with Robbie Williams). A particularly favorable conjunction that, naturally, could not be exhausted: and thus Kylie gave birth to the heir of the delightful wiggles of Spinning Around, namely Fever.

Before analyzing what turned out to be the most lucrative work of the ultimate godmother of Australian pop, I wish to make a personal premise: Kylie has done better. She has managed to go beyond the classic disco-dance style more akin to the charts from the 2000-2002 biennium, she has succeeded in providing a richer, more nuanced, refined, and colorful image of herself compared to the tableau of the queen of the dance floor and has produced excellent creations of the caliber of X and Body Language of a semi-pop perfection so rare that very few distinguished mainstream ladies have been able to offer to their fans of the past and present.

Fever, however, in its pleasant disco-pop simplicity, represents a worthy record from our Kylie: a great handful of tracks that delve into the then-fashionable nu-disco trends (I cannot refrain from mentioning the English counterpart, Sophie Ellis-Bextor), offering an atmosphere of intimate joy and charming frivolity to relieve stress. Besides the well-known Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (which even the most alternative and anti-mainstream rocker on Earth knows and hums between a riff and a bass), an undisputed anthem to the robotic se(n)s(s)uality of the dance floor, it is essential to mention the somewhat childlike funk of the title track Fever, the post-ballroom nostalgia of Come Into My World, the bionic freshness of Give It To Me and More More More, the disco-instrumental blend of Burning Up, the energetic starlet unleashed for the other hit In Your Eyes, the "nomen omen" of Saturday night fever Dancefloor, and finally the classic mix of hypnotic femininity and "well-made" pop in Love At First Sight.

A name, a guarantee: Kylie, a full demonstration that commercial music does not mean just catchy tunes more lethal than strychnine or eccentricities good only for filling the third page of newspapers. Here we are at high and pure pop levels. And although Fever is not yet the tip of Kylie's goodness iceberg (a peak achieved with the nearly perfect X), the pleasure of enjoying simple yet "well-made" music remains impeccable and undeniable.

Kylie Minogue, Fever

More More More - Love At First Sight - Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Fever - Give It To Me - Fragile - Come Into My World - In Your Eyes - Dancefloor - Love Affair - Your Love - Burning Up