The Netflix documentary Kylie is not just a portrait of a star: it is a tribute to the strangely indestructible look of Kylie Minogue. How can we explain that the world still can't get it out of their heads?
The world is in a Kylie fever. The new Netflix documentary Kylie is much more than a celebrity portrait: it is a tribute to the strangely indestructible look of Kylie Minogue. Stars come and go, but Kylie has always been rocking her hips. However, it's not supposed to be that way for dance-floor princesses — especially those who exploded in the 1980s, yet another disposable disco doll with a blow-dry haircut of the decade. It makes no sense that this Australian soap star became so famous; that she has become a darling of hipsters either; but that she stays on top of the world for so long? None other than Kylie Minogue.
One of the oddities of its history is that it has multiplied the comebacks without ever really having experienced a crossing of the desert from which to return. She reappears every two or three years with a new global dance floor hit — a “Can't Get You Out of My Head” or a “Padam Padam” — without breaking a sweat. At this point, she is the Lemmy of disco: indestructible in a musical environment of cruel inconstancy, simply by remaining herself. It lasted long enough to encounter a host of strange cultural phenomena. Two of the strongest presences of Kylie are rock stars from the dark side: her star-crossed lover Michael Hutchence, of INXS, and her longtime friend Nick Cave. “She had everything except credibility”said Cave. “I had credibility, but not much else. »
Hutchence, mad love and tragedy
The heart of Kylie is a love story: that of her torrid romance with Hutchence. Everyone was stunned to see them together: the ultra-smooth 1980s pop starlet and the bad boy of rock & roll. However, they were a couple for two crazy years, from 1989 to 1991. “We were good together — we should have, we could have, whatever”she said in Kylie. “It was truly an extraordinary moment. » However, the memory of his tragic death in 1997 still moves him to tears. As she confides: “I've probably been looking for something like this ever since, and never found it. »
But Kylie Minogue is the closest thing to a sure thing in pop culture. She never loses control. She even hit the highs in the 2020s with her huge club hit “Padam Padam,” sparking a new level of Kylie-mania — the “Padamic.” She carried all the euro-sleaze dance vibe of her album Tensionthen its brilliantly titled sequel, Voltage II. Her catalog is overflowing with bridal party hits, but also cult favorites cherished by hardcore fans, like her 1997 turn, Impossible Princessor his country UFO of 2018, Golden.
No one would have bet on it when it started. She came out of the Australian soap Neighborswith exactly as much musical promise as any other Australian television star. (Though the same soap later gave us Natalie Imbruglia.) She teamed up with the Stock British production stable Aitken Waterman and their glitzy, synthetic hi-NRG style, doped with the 1980s. Their most famous hits in the United States were Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Dead or Alive's “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” — although some of us will defend to the grave the idea that their masterpiece remains “I Heard a Rumour”, the shamefully forgotten feminist aggro-disco bomb from Bananarama, in 1987.
Her first single, “I Should Be So Lucky” (1987), was written in forty minutes, according to Kylie – the producer says it took a good two hours. But she was Britain's little bride, with an equally demure boyfriend, singer Jason Donovan. He was his partner in Neighbors — they played a brother and a sister! — who nevertheless followed her into music, with their duet “Especially for You”. Jason and Kylie were the quintessential syrupy pop couple of the 1980s, with their matching mullets and terrifyingly white teeth. They were young, innocent, madly in love. What could go wrong?
Unfortunately for Jason, his Titanic was going to hit an iceberg in leather pants named Michael Hutchence. Donovan is a poignant presence in this doc, as he relives the agony of losing her to the leader of INXS. It seems like he never got over it — talking about it even now brings him to the brink of collapse. “Love hurts, buddy”he told the interviewer, holding back tears. “I don’t think I can say more, to be f*cking honest.” »
As for Kylie, she took one look at this gentleman with “so crude movements”, crept up to him and gave him a good reason. Their surprise romance became one of the great pop love stories of the 1990s. She was the girl next door; him, the decadent rocker who sang “New Sensation,” “Need You Tonight” and “Don’t Change.” His image as a saint took a hit, as he brought out the devil within. “Sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it: he wanted to experience it”she said in the excellent BBC doc devoted to Hutchence, Mystify (2019). “It opened up an entirely new world for me. And a lot of it revolved around fun, let's be honest. »
Kylie was 21 and still doubted her talent; Michael was 29, the bulk of his hits already behind him, but oozing a sensual adult confidence. He wrote “Suicide Blonde” for her, inspired by her new hairstyle. The footage of these two together provides the doc's most poignant moments. For two years, Michael expanded his world, artistically and otherwise. “He was the first, in so many ways”she said. “And one of those “firsts” was heartbreak. » In 1997, after the road separated them, he was the first funeral she attended. But, she said, “I have the feeling that he is always with me”.
Nick Cave, the most unlikely friend
One of the confidants who helped her through this ordeal was Nick Cave, the baddest of bad seeds. These two stars have one of the most strangely heartwarming friendships in the music world. Australian or not, they came from opposite extremes of the 1980s — Nick, goth-punk troublemakers from the Birthday Party; Kylie, soundtrack to real-life birthday parties. When he recruited Kylie as his duet partner on the surreal murder ballad “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” in the role of a tragic virgin sacrificed between sex and death, most people thought it was a joke — for one or the other.
They performed it together at Top of the Popsbut even Nick was intimidated by his rabid fans. “Evil, evil people”he says with a shudder. “They were terrifying. Just these kind of horrible, monstrous teenage girls. They didn't like me, and they didn't like seeing me near their princess. »
Yet they shared a strange bond over the decades. In the documentary dedicated to Cave, 20,000 Days on EarthKylie suddenly appears in the back of his car, while they are confessing their secret fears to each other – she confides to him: “I'm afraid of being forgotten and alone. » He gave him a strange form of literary notoriety in his novel The Death of Bunny Munrowhich features a serial killer obsessed with his music. “There's a certain 'Spinning Around' video that captivated the whole of Britain for a year”Cave told me in 2010. “Kylie's hot pants were all the tabloids knew about. I think she has to take some responsibility in this novel, for wearing those hot pants. »
Kylie Minogue, the “joy machine” who never falls
In the late 1990s, Kylie made her most artistic and daring music, capturing Mo' Wax grooves and trip-hop for her excellent 1997 album Confidential, Impossible Princess. This is his declaration from his thirties, comparable to Ray of Light by Madonna or Deadline for My Memories by Billie Ray Martin among the hipster-disco milestones of the era. But she heard the call to return to mega-pop, leading to 2000s classics like “Can't Get You Out of My Head” and “Love at First Sight.”
It was Nick Cave, in fact, who convinced her to return to the dance floor. “I said to him: 'What the hell are you doing? » »he says. “Indie? No one wants to be indie willingly! We can pretend that — but that's not it, Kylie. Kylie is this force that is there to touch thousands and thousands and thousands of people. Everything is outward facing. Everything is a gift. » As he sums it up: “The great beauty of pop is that it is a joy machine. »
Kylie Minogue took his words to heart. “You have the coolest guy on the planet asking you, 'Where are the pop songs?' » So okay — let's put on the jet packs and get back on the dance floor. » The rest is just padam padam : this “joy machine” alone has never stopped running — with a highly publicized fight against cancer in 2005, and another, more recent, that she kept secret until this documentary. Musically, she can try whatever she wants. I will forever remain a die-hard fan of his country gem Goldenheaded to Nashville with her rhinestone cowgirl disco twang. It's a confident statement about the art of moving into middle age, facing mortality and heartbreak — from the elegiac ballad “Music's Too Sad Without You” to the banjo-disco “Raining Glitter.” It's difficult to name a single 1980s pop star who remained famous for so long without going through a phase of unbearable annoyance.
Musical docs being what they are, Kylie tries to craft a three-act story for her — rise, fall and rebirth — but it doesn't work, because she's never experienced any of the career disasters that documentarians love. She never lost her audience, never had to play the outsider. The doc tries to arouse pity in the face of his bad press reviews – yes yes – but it's the silliest way possible to frame his golden life. Hell, Kylie was never even broke: her accountant father advised her very early on to invest in real estate, so she always rolled in gold. Can you maintain a pop legend for four decades without the slightest fall from grace? For Kylie Minogue, it's child's play.
