Kylie Minogue’s Light Years retrospectively reviewed: Future nostalgia from the year 2000

In every pop diva’s career comes an album that changes everything thereafter. For Madonna, it was Ray of Light; Cher, Believe. At the turn of the millennium, Kylie Ann Minogue was at her own crossroads. After ditching the brand of bubblegum pop that had made her a star in the 1980s, Minogue radically reinvented herself for the 90s and began to explore a more alternative sound. It was a bold but brave move. The press dubbed it her ‘indie’ phase, but it would fail to eclipse the success of her earlier hits with super-producers Stock Aitken Waterman (‘I Should Be So Lucky’, ‘Better the Devil You Know’). Following the lukewarm success of 1997’s Impossible Princess, the singer took a hiatus. She had a choice: reinvent once again or leave the music business indefinitely.

Closing a chapter by shedding ties with her previous label was vitally needed in order to start over musically. Freshly signed to Parlophone in the UK, a territory that quickly adopted Minogue as one of its own, the singer returned to the studio with a renewed sense of self. Her vision for ‘the new Kylie’ was clear and instinctive. She was ready to embrace her pop past again. Speaking on the album’s inception, Minogue gave writers and producers clear instructions as to what the album should feel like: poolside, disco and cocktails. Fabulous! 

The lead single alone, ‘Spinning Around’, achieved her mission statement. “And did I forget to mention that I found a new direction / And it leads back to me”, she declares over sparkly disco production. The track was co-written by singer and American Idol judge Paula Abdul for her own album, taking inspiration from a recent divorce. When Abdul’s project failed to materialise, the song found a new home with Minogue. The synchronicity of the track’s theme of reinvention and Kylie’s own rebrand was a lucky coincidence. The single, paired with an equally legendary video featuring an infamous pair of gold hot pants, rocketed to number one in the UK and Australia. Minogue’s instincts to return to her musical roots had been on the money, with the general public and critics alike embracing her new era.

Second single ‘On a Night Like This’ saw continued success, leaning more into the futuristic and ethereal Europop of the early 00s. The track proved the singer didn’t need to rely on nostalgia to make her mark as a credible pop star of the new millennium. Third single ‘Kids’ further cemented this. The pop-rock number saw Minogue collaborate with former Take That member Robbie Williams, who was in the middle of his own imperial phase. The decision to put the two former teenyboppers together would prove ingenious.

But it was a song that was never released as a single in the UK that would help to reinstate Minogue with one of the highest honours: gay icon status. ‘Your Disco Needs You’ is an over-the-top, giddy dance romp that expresses the power of the dance floor to fix a broken heart. Minogue herself described the track as one of the “campest songs of all time”. It’s laden with queer references — so much so that the record label pulled it from being released in the UK for fears of it being “too gay”. But that didn’t stop the pop princess from filming a music video and making it a staple in her setlist thereafter. Now, that’s allyship.

Light Years was a full circle moment in Minogue’s career. The multi-platinum album reached the top spot in Australia and just missed out on a number one in the UK. It saw the singer return to her roots with a newfound sense of maturity and self-assurance. It was the Kylie the world knew and loved, reimagined for the year 2000. The tunes were confident, sexy and undeniably catchy. Furthermore, it laid the foundations for an even bigger moment waiting around the corner: 2001’s Fever. 

Minogue continues to inspire today’s generation of pop girlies, including Dua Lipa and Kim Petras. She also remains as one of music’s most enduring gay icons. 

In an interview with Olly Alexander (Years & Years) in 2021, Minogue said of her affinity with the LGBTQ+ community: “I didn’t set out to do that [be inclusive]; it is just naturally how I feel. There is so much talk about inclusivity, and I felt I always had that from the beginning. I used to say, I loved to be able to look out at my shows, and there are just all walks of life. There has never been any judgement.”