music

Christmas comes early for Kylie

Princess of Pop Kylie Minogue has been churning out the hits for decades. From pop to dance to a brief flirtation with indie with Nick Cave, Kylie’s ability to cover all genres of music and produce smash hits is undeniable. This festive season sees Kylie release her first full Christmas album stuffed full of classics as well as three brand new tracks.

Recorded at London’s famous Angel Studios and Sarm Music Village, the 13 track album has something for everyone this Christmas. Kicking off with ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ it’s a struggle not to find yourself carried away with the festive spirit. The big band opening, featuring a choir, instantly has that Christmas movie scene feeling. You can picture walking down Oxford Street with the perfect amount of snow falling around you. Even though we all know this isn’t the reality, it’s nice to dream anyway.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxUtEywJJ3s]

Classic Christmas songs feature heavily on the album, and it’s a very good move to make. Covering ‘Winter Wonderland’, ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’, amongst others, was a great decision. Many often complain that the same songs get overplayed year after year but secretly, or not so secretly, everyone loves them and they often hold particular memories for us. Kylie’s version of these classics has a very sweet and lovely feeling. They feel familiar yet fresh, and may even be brought to new audiences besides her existing fanbase. 

The album features four duets and each are with very different partners. ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ is a posthumous duet with King of Swing Frank Sinatra. Given his already existing association with the Christmas season this duet was a no-brainer. The posthumous duet is often one that splits opinion but here it really works and the two voices work extremely well together. The Iggy Pop duet, ‘Christmas Wrapping’, may possibly be the weakest of the tracks as it feels a little out of place and Kylie’s vocals don’t seem as strong on this style, however it is out there and a little different.

James Corden, of Gavin & Stacey fame, may not seem an obvious duet partner, but he’s the perfect one. ‘Only You’ is easily the stand-out track on the album by miles. It’s emotional, heartfelt and feels like a totally new song. Kylie and James’ voices compliment each other incredibly and together they’ve produced something special. This track could be one that steals the nation’s hearts and it’s surely only a matter of time until the two are together somewhere on TV singing this live.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=107C8PMY8cM]

The reunion of Dannii and Kylie Minogue has been long anticipated, and whilst they’ve managed to produce a fun disco track, it’s debatable if ‘100 Degrees’ works as a Christmas tune or not. As with the Iggy Pop track, it feels out of place and may have been much better as stand-alone release. In some ways it also feels a little outdated and not something timeless as with a large proportion of the other tracks on the album. 

Kylie Christmas is a wonderful collection of Christmas classics with some new ones thrown in. ‘Every Days Like Christmas’, composed by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, feels like a classic Kylie song and it’s nice to have someone still producing new Christmas songs rather than always relying on the old ones. However, it’s the old classics that steal the show here and just prove that the old ones really are the best. A great festive treat for the ears. 

Are you a fan of Kylie? Have you been looking forward to Kylie Christmas? Let us know in the comments below!