CD Review: Kylie Minogue –“Disco” (2020)

When looking back in the history books, people will wonder how anyone survived 2020. With COVID-19 still running rampant (in some cases, the worst daily numbers) and endless natural and financial disasters, one has to wonder why the world didn’t just get consumed into a pit, birthed anew as some new freak species. It’s been a surreal year and one that is so fraught with tension that one can’t help but wonder where the escapism lies. The whole world is suffering, and if you trust the advice of Kylie Minogue, the only answer is to get up and dance.

Whether intentional or not, Minogue’s new record “Disco” feels like a turning point in the year. Joe Biden became president-elect on Saturday and, by Monday, there was an announcement that Pfizer had a Coronavirus vaccine that was “90% effective.” The world feels like it’s ready for some form of release, and it’s coming with the ultimate throwback album. Sure, artists like The Weeknd, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, and Keisza have released contemporary dance records, but nobody does it like this Australian songstress. Pulling as much from her soul as she does the history of the genre, “Disco” is straightforward catharsis embodied over 12 songs that leave you no choice but to swing your hips, shimmy your shoulders, and get ready to let the sunshine in.

During a time where everyone has been cramped in their homes, feeling the moroseness of the walls bearing down on them, it makes sense to give into a little escapism. If just for 45 minutes, let Minogue come into your world and remind you of happiness, the feeling of life. We may not be hygienically allowed to go to dance clubs, so she brings the experience to you. For those minutes, we feel less alone, able to imagine the dance floor in our living room, the overhead fan turning into a disco ball. As ridiculous as it sounds, Minogue commits to it with earnest perfection.

Like most of us, Minogue’s art came as a result of feeling restrained, feeling cooped up nonstop since the pandemic kicked in. While she had been working on the album since 2019, she claims that the majority of “Disco” was done from her home studio, finding her drawing inspiration from her own past with a record that recalls the greatest hits of the genre without feeling like a pastiche. While many will likely recognize passages, such as a shout-out to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” it’s only part of the bigger message of self-expression; a need to get up and feel the blood flowing through your bones and feeling life return. 

Don’t believe me? Minogue kicks things off with her second single “Magic,” which is accompanied by a disco haven of a music video. The floor lights up, swirled in the intoxication of sensory overload. The costumes are bright, giving into a fantasy that finds her singing through the chorus “Do you believe in magic?” So long as you’re not expecting a deeply emotional journey a’la Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” you will find what follows to be brilliant catharsis, going retro in just the right ways. Why not give in to your lavish side as the harmonies build, Minogue hitting those high notes and thrusting bliss upon the world.

She kicks things off with a fairly straightforward message, and one that brings a longing for a dance floor to fill up, the speakers filling the dead air with life:

Dancing together

Ain't nothing that could be better

Tomorrow don't matter

We'll make the night last forever

It’s the mantra that everyone’s singing right now, finding a warm embrace of humanity and the need to hold onto. There’s something mystical about dancing. There doesn’t need to be anything greater than the exertion of the soul, bringing out an inner joy. Even if “Disco” has lyrics, it’s more about the mood that one gets when experiencing joy. It’s the magic that will continue to build throughout the album, and by the end leave you with an exhilaration that was necessary. Whether consumed as a single song or whole, it overwhelms. Minogue’s gifts don’t sound like a callback to another era. It’s simply a transfer of that energy to a new generation.

“Miss a Thing” is another fun song, more pattering as she sings about not wanting to let this night end. It’s a state of ecstasy as she sings “runaway” repeatedly as if calling you to the dance floor. It’s followed by “Real Groove” and the search for a melody that connects with your soul, making you feel overwhelmed with emotion. 

In a literal sense, “Monday Blues” is the antithesis to everything up to this point. Where there’s been nothing but joy and excitement, the song centers around what John Travolta would call a Saturday Night Fever. Everyone’s working for the weekend when everything gets to come alive. They’re sad that the weekend is over. With a lively acoustic guitar and a series of handclaps as percussion, everything builds to the falsetto of Minogue singing:

Come on

One second without you is just too long

Been calling out your name like it's my song

Keep counting down the days to you

It's getting me through those Monday blues

In some ways, it’s the most optimistic song so far, recognizing a world outside of a disco that needs that excitement. If everything else is a form of the literal escapement, this is a shift towards the metaphorical, finding her calling out the days of the week, making them go as quickly as possible. It’s a dance of the soul and one that maybe feels the most reflective of the world’s current predicament. We’re all waiting for our metaphorical weekend to return. The only difference is that where most would sing in sadness, Minogue sings in celebration, juxtaposing reality to create a more optimistic outlook of the world.

“Supernova” continues the album with electronic vocals a’la Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” or Daft Punk. It’s clashing with the sensation of the frantic melody, eager to get back to dancing. The mysticism continues on the next song, lead single “Say Something,” finding her cries echo into the guitar and atmosphere, making it sound like a star swirling through the galaxy, looking for something magical:

 Oh, we all got wanderlust in the darkest place

So we're going with our heart, yeah, it's all the rage

Oh, we're just, just tryin' to find ourselves in the storms we chase

Eh, eh, eh

Baby, in an endless summer, we can find our way

More than anything, what makes the album feel exceptional is that it acknowledges the addiction of music, but it also recognizes the value of having somebody to dance with. Considering how social the genre has been, it makes sense to have that longing, that need to reach a center of peace and let out the energy.

What’s amazing is how Minogue balances her themes on this album. While everything is extravagant, there is that emptiness at her core. She needs someone to dance with and this vibrant fantasy feels like an epic journey to find it. There is no such thing as a depressing song on “Disco.” There may be tales of loneliness, of wanting to get to the weekend, but these aren’t sad moments. They’re just journeys to cross, to reach that comfort that we all seek. It’s a very COVID-19 interpretation of the genre and one that equates love for the return to a normal life. It’s subversive in the best ways possible.

With the next song “Last Chance,” it begins a journey into the happiness that ends a long night of partying. It’s the last chance for a first dance, and the potential to make these wonderful, life-changing memories. It continues on “I Love It,” where Minogue sings with such bliss that you realize that this is what the whole album has been building to. It’s the sensation of being caught up in the moment, swirling in bright colors as your heart races. 

But, all good things must come to an end. As quickly as Minogue meets her new love, she must say goodnight to the night. With “Where Does the DJ Go?” she forms an existential crisis, even then presented with tender poetry. She adores the DJ and how they look so lovely. It’s a desperation to keep dancing, claiming that she “didn’t get all dressed up for nothin’.” In a sympathetic cry, she asks “Tell me where you go,” realizing that as much as The DJ is saving her, who is saving The DJ?

The rest are further songs regarding the power of dance. “Dance Floor Darling,” “Unstoppable” and the closer “Celebrate You” all find the journey of longing coming to an end. Everything is at peace, the smile coming over her face. Everything may be over, but the memories are enough to give her hope. As she sang earlier, she’s just going to count down the days until the next time they meet. Imagine how much fun that will be.

In a year full of shameless and subversive pop records hearkening back to disco, Minogue is one of the few to create something more reminiscent of what the sound originally intended. It was about shameless passion, a need to be celebrated with vibrant clothes, eccentric melodies, and a bearing of the soul that is cathartic. In 2020, in a year where so much pain has been bestowed upon the world, a record like “Disco” feels more invaluable than ever. It’s a search for an optimistic future and one that suggests that the best way to do so is to dance with somebody you love, watching each other’s back as the next phase of life comes. Everything will be all right, so long as they have this unifying way to remind each other that we are not alone.