Are we bearing witness to the last hurrah of Kylie Minogue?
After 30 years of hit-making and dance floor-filling, it’s more than fair for the Australian pop princess to at least consider hanging up her heels. Of course, the irrepressible diva has never found an occasion that she can’t turn into a celebration; why should retirement be any different?
That seems to be the spirit of “Dancing,” the lead single from the forthcoming album Golden, her first since 2014’s woefully underrated Kiss Me Once. Against a country-tinged guitar backdrop (calling to mind 2010’s “Better Than Today”), Minogue considers what her perfect ending would be, and it’s a very pretty picture: fireworks, glorious blazes, someone’s arms wrapped around her. Before things get too wistful – and we wonder if Kylie has traded in heels for cowboy boots for good – some finger snaps and hand claps pick up the pace and we get the joyous, highly danceable chorus we’ve come to cherish from her. Still, it’s an understated kind of euphoria, as she presumably sings about her desire to end it all where she’s at her best: the dance floor. It would be a lie to say there isn’t a sliver of disappointment that she didn’t break out a barnstorming dance track, but this song’s relaxed feel is utterly charming and as Kylie as you can get it.
“Dancing” is a more muted affair that you might expect from the most effervescent of dancing queens, but I wouldn’t worry if Kylie Minogue has lost steam. Whether or not Golden is the beginning of a goodbye or an extension of the Kylie legend, Minogue will always find a reason to dance it out, and pop music has been so much better for it.
Listen to “Dancing” below; Golden is due for release April 6th.
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