Album Review: Kylie Minogue – 'Disco'

Ushering her 15th studio album into the limelight, Kylie Minogue posted a video on her Twitter to say: "I hope you've got your dancing shoes on." She wasn't joking. You're going to need them.

For any pop music fan, Minogue is a staple. Before Carly Rae Jepson and Lady Gaga, Rina Sawayama and Charli XCX, Kylie was blazing a chart-topping trail. Disco is the Australian pop star's follow up to 2018's Golden, and it's safe to say that in a year when the very notion of dancing seems a distant fantasy, Minogue has delivered the ultimate escapist record – and her best in almost ten years. Heavily rooted in 70s and 80s (you guessed it) disco, Minogue's latest is a non-stop party from start to finish.

'Last Chance' and 'Say Something' straddle the line between retro and modern, borrowing – as with much of the album – from disco tunes to turn classic elements into fresh, glittery trance-pop. Songs like 'Monday Blues' and 'Miss A Thing' both hark back to early the bubblegum pop of the early 2000s, while 'Dance Floor Darling' is ridiculous, over-the-top, and drenched in decadence – joining Disco's bass-forward penultimate track 'Unstoppable' as two of the record's uncontested highlights.

Disco is relentless in the best possible way – nary a slow jam is in sight (until perhaps the album closer 'Celebrate You', but even that song remains gleefully uptempo). This mirrorball of a record is classic Minogue, who delivers everything you could ever want from a Kylie album. Disco is flashy, showy, dreamy and camp, but undeniably innovative in its own way.

You might not be able to get to a dance floor right now,  but put your dancing shoes on and have a bop around your kitchen to this: I promise, you'll feel better.

8/10
Out Now.