Kylie Minogue's tips for staying on top

Kylie Minogue.

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Kylie Minogue is having a capital-M moment, and Brittany sits down in studio with the pop star to talk about how to keep reaching new heights in a career full of peaks.

Hot off her Vegas Residency, Kylie just dropped her new album Tension II and is gearing up for a world tour. The legend shares her tips for staying on top for three decades, and Brittany asks what's the secret for turning underground dance music in pristine pop bangers.

Transcript

BRITTANY LUSE, HOST:

Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luse, and you're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LUSE: Hello.

KYLIE MINOGUE: Hi.

LUSE: Oh, my God. Please have a seat.

MINOGUE: Oh, thank you.

LUSE: Oh, my gosh. Well, I want to go ahead and, like, jump right in.

MINOGUE: Do it, Brittany.

LUSE: Y'all, right now, you are listening to me, sitting in the same room as Kylie Minogue.

I just got to say, I don't get to fan girl out like this very often, but I'm so pumped...

MINOGUE: Oh.

LUSE: ...To be sitting here with you in the same room.

MINOGUE: That's amazing. And the fact you said pumped. I think that came from Australia. I think we said - we...

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: A lot of things start in Australia, and that might be one of them - I'm so pumped.

LUSE: I tried to fact-check that, but unfortunately, I cannot prove that pumped originated in Australia. But I can verify that the woman speaking is, in fact, the Australian pop star, legend, icon, Kylie Minogue. And she was just as lovely as you would expect in person. She had perfect blonde highlights. Her makeup was done with care. And she had that megawatt smile, just blasting across the table from me. It was perfect.

(Laughter).

MINOGUE: This is really cute.

LUSE: Isn't it? Isn't it? It's nice. I love it.

What she doesn't know is that for years, she's been a part of my spiritual routine, my spring cleaning, if you will. Every year, to transition from winter and to the warm, sexy summer vibe, I walk into my bathroom, stare myself down in the mirror and blast Kylie's 2014 deep cut "I Was Gonna Cancel."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WAS GONNA CANCEL")

MINOGUE: (Singing) I was gonna cancel. Then I looked into the sky and knew that bad news won't prevent the sun to shine. I was gonna cancel.

LUSE: Come on. Is that not, like, the perfect little antidepressant? Oh, I love that song. Ah.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WAS GONNA CANCEL")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Go, go. Go, go, go, go girl.

LUSE: Kylie means a lot to me, and she's meant a lot to a lot of people since her first hit in 1988. We're talking about someone who has been a pop star and winning over people's hearts for 36 years. So, yeah, I was excited to talk to her, and so were so many people in my life.

My husband is excited. My best friend from college is excited. One of my other best friends from college, Keith (ph), he loves you. He's excited. One of our producers has been talking about how his group chat of gay men are going to be so upset when they find out...

MINOGUE: They're going to be livid.

LUSE: Yes.

MINOGUE: They're going to be furious (laughter).

LUSE: When they found this is happening and they didn't know anything about it. I mean, all that to say, Kylie, you know, people love you. The people love you and have for decades. What do you think it is that people adore about you?

MINOGUE: I don't know the answer to that.

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: It's very hard to - that's, I mean, that's a huge compliment. And if I was to take a guess, I think that a lot of people have known me for a long time. I feel a bit like a family member, but, you know, one that's kind of pretty extra sometimes.

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: And certainly - but this isn't an entire truth because I'm realizing that since "Padam" last year and "Tension," there's, like, Gen Z are going, oh, that's the la, la - that's that girl.

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: And the OGs are going, yeah, that's that girl.

LUSE: So for those who are new to Kylie Minogue, here's what she's talking about. The girl who made one of last year's songs of the summer - "Padam Padam."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PADAM PADAM")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Padam, padam, I hear it and I know. Padam, padam.

LUSE: Also made this mega-hit - "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." Shoutout to all the OG fans. I see you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD")

MINOGUE: (Singing) I just can't get you out of my head. Boy, your loving is all I think about.

I do the work. I can present what I'm supposed to present, but somehow, I think they can see the person through the work. And I'm very touched by that.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LUSE: Really fast. Let me stop the track and tell you why I'm talking to Kylie right now. Yes, I love her, but I think there really is something remarkable about her story. She's in the middle of having a capital-M moment. In the past year, she's dropped two albums, had a smash hit single, sold out her Vegas residency and now she's about to embark on one of her biggest world tours. But the thing is, this isn't her first capital-M moment. We're talking about someone who, back in 2000, wore a pair of gold booty shorts from a flea market in one of her music videos, and they caused such a stir that they are now behind bulletproof glass in an art museum in Melbourne and worth $10 million.

Right now, I look around at all these new pop stars who are having their first peek of their career and also how open some of them, like Chappell Roan, have been about how scary or invasive being the it girl can be. I don't know which one of them will someday have fits behind bulletproof glass, but I do know Kylie has a thing or two to teach them about finding another peak after you summited the first. And that's why I'm talking to Kylie Minogue, to find out how to keep dreaming when you keep achieving your dreams.

Take me to a moment in this past year where you were just like, oh, my gosh, I'm killing it, where you could really feel yourself being in the peak. Where were you? What was happening?

MINOGUE: When I got a Grammy.

(LAUGHTER)

LUSE: Congratulations.

MINOGUE: Which was pretty amazing, which was in Los Angeles. That was definitely a moment. It was extra sweet because it was my second, which is crazy to say, but the first was 20 years before, so there's - I'm still here. I'm still trying. And currently achieving.

LUSE: Yes.

MINOGUE: So, yeah, it was really sweet that there was longevity right in front of my eyes.

LUSE: I mean, and there's so much more to come. I mean, you're about to embark on this huge world tour. And by my count, this is, like, your - what? - your 20th world tour or something like that.

MINOGUE: Is it?

LUSE: I think...

MINOGUE: Brittany, I haven't even done the calculation.

LUSE: No.

MINOGUE: What?

LUSE: (Laughter) By our research...

MINOGUE: I'm exhausted.

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: (Laughter).

LUSE: It's 20 or at least there. At least there.

MINOGUE: Is it?

LUSE: You know, your first tour was Disco in Dream in 1989. And you were - what? - in your early 20s, maybe just 21 or 22 years old. I mean...

MINOGUE: I was just 21. Yeah.

LUSE: Yeah. I mean, how has the feeling of walking out onto the stage changed for you since then? Like, what do you see and feel now when you go on stage versus that first tour?

MINOGUE: I mean, where do we start? There wasn't a guidebook on how to be a pop star. So I would have been really nervous. I was kind of rabbit in the headlights, and that's OK. I was a kid, and I was learning. But as with everything, I feel the fear and do it anyway. My first demo when I was 17 - I did three songs. What did I know when I was 17?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LOCO-MOTION")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Everybody's doing a brand-new dance now. (Come on, baby, do the loco-motion). I know you'll get to like it...

All these years later, I've spent time with the mic. Like, I have taken ownership of record. I know what I'm doing. It's not a mystery. I don't do anything special. I just get to spend time with it myself.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION")

MINOGUE: (Singing) 'Cause this place is the space where I let it go. (I let it go). If you can't keep the pace, walk out of the door. I got shades on my face...

LUSE: You know, thinking about your latest album, your next era that's going to be defined by this new tour, you sound so comfortable and self-assured and at ease on "Tension II." Have you reached a point in your career in pop stardom where you feel like it's gotten easier? Like, maybe is it more natural for you to create or come up with the next hot thing or, you know, embark on a tour?

MINOGUE: To embark on a tour, yes. To make the thing, no.

LUSE: So the creative part doesn't get easier?

MINOGUE: In a way, yes, 'cause I enjoy walking into a studio, into a session. And if I flash rewind back to my early days, I would have been less...

LUSE: Self-assured, maybe?

MINOGUE: Self-assured or, you know, to contribute. I kind of just, you know, here's the song, sing it. So over time, that has definitely changed.

LUSE: I mean, and you produced, like, on "Disco," 'cause that was - you were creating that during...

MINOGUE: I did...

LUSE: ...A good portion of lockdown, right?

MINOGUE: Yeah. I mean, I did my vocals, and that's changed my life, honestly.

LUSE: Really?

MINOGUE: Yeah.

LUSE: Say more.

MINOGUE: At the time, it was just a scramble, like, there was no choice. So...

LUSE: Yeah. So you were, like, opening GarageBand?

MINOGUE: Yes.

LUSE: Really?

MINOGUE: I started with GarageBand. And then when we ordered everything that I need and - where do all these cables go? What do I do? And anyway, I learned how to do it. And now, three albums later, it's changed everything.

LUSE: Oh, that sounds so great.

MINOGUE: Because this guy here, this microphone is the portal. And if I have one bit of advice for someone starting out, it's like...

LUSE: Oh, yes.

MINOGUE: ...Get on it.

LUSE: Get on it. Just, like, jump in.

MINOGUE: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Lights, camera, action, that's it. Lights, camera, action, that's it.

LUSE: Speaking of your lengthy career, all of this stuff about performing and having and maintaining and fighting for a long career makes me think of a show called "Hacks," which I have found out - yes (laughter) you've guessed. You've raised a hand. I have found out that you've watched. I've heard that you've watched and that you're caught up on Season 3.

MINOGUE: I've done it. I've done it. I mean, it's - yeah, I've done it.

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: And...

LUSE: For people who don't know, I mean, it's about a female comedian with a Vegas residency, long-standing Vegas residency. The show is about how as soon as she, you know, gets offstage, she's got to basically clock into another shift of fighting, you know, keep her career going and staying relevant and staying sharp. And, I mean, you're one of the few people who could watch "Hacks" and kind of be like...

MINOGUE: I related to it...

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: ...A bit.

LUSE: I mean, yeah, and actually say, oh, this looks like my life.

MINOGUE: I don't have the mansion like that, just FYI. I got to work on that.

LUSE: You don't have a Deborah Vance mansion?

MINOGUE: I need a mansion - yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

LUSE: But I mean, I wonder, like, after the show is over, do you feel like you have to keep fighting like Deborah Vance? I mean...

MINOGUE: It's not a constant thing, but yeah, it's a grind, and it does take determination. It really does. But if you've got the passion that can power that, I think that, you know, you've got a fighting chance. But Deborah Vance, I love you.

LUSE: I love Deborah Vance as well.

MINOGUE: I love it. Deborah, the wigs off, the things on. She needs a lymphatic drainage massage. She's got her people.

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: I mean, she's, like, she has to put that, you know, her kind of armor jacket on and...

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: Go and do the do.

LUSE: Do you have to do a similar thing when you're in Vegas?

MINOGUE: I kind of have to do a similar thing a lot of the time. Not solely Vegas, but yeah, my show wasn't on till, like, 11:15 at night. So...

LUSE: Oh.

MINOGUE: I mean, 5 a.m. rolled around real fast, and I was totally in a Vegas twilight.

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: And I liked it. I did like it. It worked for me, come to think of it.

LUSE: (Laughter).

Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but all these pop girls have been dipping more and more into underground dance music. I'm looking at you, Charli XCX. But do you know who's been doing that her whole career? Miss Kylie Minogue. When we get back, I ask Kylie the secret for turning dance music into pop music after a quick break.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LUSE: Since the pandemic began, we've seen pop music sounding more and more like dance music, which kind of makes sense. I mean, big pop stars like Beyonce and Charli XCX are using dance music to make pop songs. And, I mean, I think you are a person who really made the blueprint, you know, for that kind of, like, pop dance music back in, you know, the early 2000s.

MINOGUE: Y2K.

LUSE: Yes.

MINOGUE: (Laughter).

LUSE: I mean, with "Fever."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEVER")

MINOGUE: (Singing) I'm lovesick when you're not around to check me over. Strong hands of healing. I'm dancing on the ceiling. Fever sure has got me good.

LUSE: I mean, you took these kind of underground dance beats and these grooves and kind of - and repackaged it as pop music of high quality, right?

MINOGUE: I can kind of trace that. I'm thinking Y2K. And then I go back to the '90s, which was taken by my kind of measuring - what's the saying? - my pleasuring stick.

LUSE: Your standards?

MINOGUE: My Yardstick.

LUSE: Yeah, yardstick. Yardstick.

MINOGUE: (Laughter) Quite underground from me in the '90s. I kind of tapped into that. So then some of the other songs on "Light Years" and even the Donna Summer reference on that, which was travel in light years.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIGHT YEARS")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Travel in light years.

LUSE: There's so many people who are now making the kind of music that you, in a sense, pioneered at that time and - with those albums.

MINOGUE: That's a crazy thought. Thank you.

LUSE: But, I mean, and now you're all making music together. But I wonder, like, what is the secret for turning dance music into pop music that people love?

MINOGUE: I don't know what the secret is. But...

LUSE: (Laughter).

MINOGUE: ...As you were talking about it before, I was thinking at that time, millennium fever, we're all in a kind of modern, you know, futuristic mood. I was working with Biff. We still work together 20-something years later. But most famously, he did Spice Girls. So he's a pophead through and through. But he's tapped into all these other sounds. And around that time, you know, we've been through someone like Air, Daft Punk.

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: That kind of influence.

LUSE: Yeah.

MINOGUE: So if I in any way have the blueprint, I'm just trying to think, how did I arrive at that? It was because of influences. I think I had a real merge of super pop, new wave disco, like, French disco that I just, like, it was like a light bulb went off in me. I absolutely loved it.

LUSE: You know, bringing it to today, I've heard you say that this moment right now is your most liberated era. I wonder, how does that relate to what's happening in your life right now?

MINOGUE: Well, I'm 56. And, I mean, why wouldn't I feel liberated? It's a beautiful, crazy time for me. To know that I can still do that is really amazing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANCE TO THE MUSIC")

MINOGUE: (Singing) Living for the moment, we can go again. I know a place where we can dance to the music, make it never end, dance to the music, get you outta bed, dance to the music...

LUSE: Well, Kylie, thank you so much. It was so fantastic.

MINOGUE: Thank you.

LUSE: That was one of my heroes - Kylie Minogue. She has a brand-new album out right now called "Tension II." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.