Kylie Minogue Tension II review: ‘A glorious victory lap that surpasses its predecessor’

Reinvention has long been a dominating currency in pop music. Nowadays, every new album cycle is dubbed an era, accompanied (usually) by a sharp aesthetic or musical pivot. It’s clever marketing, sure, but can also offer an opportunity for transformative growth – or a chance to leave a less successful experiment behind. Someone who knows about this better than most is Kylie Minogue.

Over the last 37 years, the 56-year-old has adopted numerous different musical guises, from teen pop princess (‘Locomotion’) and indie darling (‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’), to disco diva (‘Spinning Around’) and barn-dancing country singer (‘Dancing’). Some, like 1997’s Impossible Princess and 2018’s Golden albums, were markedly more drastic shifts, whereas others, such as 2007’s X and 2014’s Kiss Me Once, were far tamer.

Running through most of Kylie’s material, though, has always been this affinity for glassy dance pop. It’s the space she’s continuously returned through over the past four decades, and one in which she clearly excels.

We saw this most recently, of course, with 2023’s Tension and its viral hit ‘Padam Padam’, a song that brought about a career resurgence (although the title track is arguably the stronger song). Who can blame her, then, for wanting to capitalise on that momentum with a new album 12 months later?

What makes her new record so curious, however, is the distinct lack of reinvention. Titled Tension II, it is a direct continuation of the club-ready electro-pop of its predecessor, and described by Kylie in an interview with NME as a “kind of hybrid” between a deluxe edition and a new album. “[It] was never intended to be another volume of work,” she said.

That may be true. But to use a Star Wars reference, Tension II is to Tension what The Empire Strikes Back was to A New Hope – more of the same, yes, but also deeper, darker and, dare I say it, better than its predecessor.

Take propulsive opening track and lead single ‘Lights Camera Action’ – reminiscent, perhaps, of Kylie’s 2012 single ‘Timebomb’ – which feels more warehouse rave than Tension’s chintzy gay club. Sweat soaked and muscular, its thick and rubbery electronics whir under strutting beats and campy lyrics: “I got shades on my face and I’m looking like Lagerfeld’s in Vogue,” Kylie sings on the pre-chorus. “Here I go.”

It sets the tone for what’s to come: ‘Taboo’ partners glissando strings and cowbells with greasy synths and whispery come-ons to form something akin to a baby oiled ABBA song. ‘Someone For Me’ tricks you with airy Balearic guitars and schmaltzy opening lyrics before Kylie, her vocal clipped and robotic, becomes clouded with jealousy: “Yeah, you look happy/But do you have someone for me?” And ‘Edge of Saturday Night’, a collaboration with The Blessed Madonna, rattles under the weight of its bass, only for it to evaporate in a smattering of house pianos, which arrive like a gasp for fresh air.

Even when the mood lightens, there’s an emphasis on the dance floor. ‘Kiss Bang Bang’, with its cartoonish chorus and europop production, feels primed to soundtrack a night on the Zante strip, while ‘My Oh My’, featuring Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo, provides the same sugary high as guzzling a bottle of White Zinfandel at a Pride afterparty. Those searching for more sophistication will find it in the upmarket groove of ‘Dance To The Music’, which could be lifted from Kylie’s 2020 album Disco, and the turn-of-the-millennium disco pop of ‘Diamonds’. In fact, only the bleary-eyed ‘Shoulda Left Ya’ is haunted by the regrets of the night before: “Losing my head is not what I came for,” Kylie worries on the chorus. “Shoulda left ya on the dance floor.”

What’s obvious is Kylie is having a blast. ‘Good As Gone’ takes the tropes of heartbreak and lampoons them (“Love the way I look ripped out of your arms”). The bucking ‘Midnight Ride’, a duet with Orville Peck, has a preposterous spoken word bridge (“I love the morning sun,” Kylie whispers at one point. “Can’t wait for the moon to rise”). And ‘Hello’, which at times strays dangerously close in construction to ‘Padam Padam’, is all about a 4am booty call: “I am the why you are still awake,” she sings nonsensically. “You and I make a good mistake.”

The only thing missing from Tension II is a Padam-sized viral hit. But at this stage in her career, Kylie knows better than to overexert herself by chasing one. Instead, she’s settled on a victory lap. That it happens to be superior to what preceded it is just icing on the cake.

Kylie Minogue’s Tension II is out now.