Kylie Minogue – Did It Again

1997 was slap bang in the middle of Kylie’s lost years. Since leaving Stock, Aitkin and Waterman 1992 and signing with deConstruction she had been searching for credibility (“I’ve got a second name, you know.”) and fumbling around for her own style; recording everything from dark disco-pop (‘Confide In Me’) to murder ballads (‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ with Nick Cave). The 1997 album ‘Impossible Princess’ continued this trend.

The first single from the album, ‘Some Kind of Bliss’, was co-written with the Manic Street Preachers. It sees Kylie moving into decidedly unfamiliar indie-rock anthem territory (a sound with which fellow Neighbours alumnus Natalie Imbruglia was having great success at the time). It wasn’t the first song the Manics had written for Kylie. They originally intended Kylie to sing on ‘Little Baby Nothing but, unsurprisingly, Kylie didn’t show and had to be replaced with porn “star” Traci Lords. Unfortunately, Kylie’s vocals on ‘Some Kind of Bliss’ sound very similar to those of Lords. Her thin, reedy voice was never going to make her a rock star and the single limped into the charts at number 22.

Most of Impossible Princess, including today’s track, was co-written with the Brothers of Rhythm Steve Anderson and Dave ‘Not That Dave Seaman’ Seaman. ‘Did It Again’, the second single from the album, tones down the rock sound with a drum machine and wobbly keyboard and as a result it performed slightly better and reached number 16.

The release of the album itself was held back after the death of Princess Diana with the spurious excuse that some may find the title ‘Impossible Princess’ offensive. It seems more likely that it was due to the poor chart performance of the singles. However, the delayed release didn’t do much for sales and Kylie parted ways with deConstruction in 1998.

Although ‘Impossible Princess’ was Kylie’s least successful album commercially there are still some bright spots. The heavy breathing, spoken word ‘Too Far’ and the trippy, spacey album version of ‘Breathe’ firmly point the way to the records which would again take her to the top of the pop tree.

Kylie Minogue – Did It Again

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