Time for haters to lay off Kylie
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Not miming … Kylie Minogue was forced to defend her performance at the Logies.
Source: Channel 9
IT has been a busy week for Kylie Minogue.
She single-handedly ruined the Logies by insisting her microphone was switched off and snatched food out of the mouths of starving dancers who she demanded must work for free on her new video while she sat on a golden throne lighting Cuban cigars with $ 100 notes.
There is talk she may have had her limo driver run over a puppy as well but this is yet to be confirmed by anonymous sources on social media.
Sheesh. With all this Kylie bashing it’s like 1988 all over again.
Why do Australians seem to enjoy eating our own success stories? Twitter has turned this into a blood sport.
ARMCHAIR CRITICS: Celebs and viewers slam Kylie’s Logies performance
Without being a Kylie apologist, let’s look at the facts before the Twitstorm continues.
Minogue’s new video I Was Gonna Cancel was filmed in Melbourne last Thursday, her first clip made here since Better the Devil You Know in 1991.
It is also her 61st music video since 1987.
In those 60 previous videos, no issue of anyone in the clips not being paid has ever surfaced.
The vision for Cancel is Minogue in the centre of a peak hour rush of extras walking past her. Some of them dance.
Australian director Dimitri Basil, who usually works on low budget indie clips, roped in some friends, as he has in the past, as walking extras in a crowd scene.
It turned out to be an innocent mistake amplified by Facebook venting attached to a very famous name.
Millionaire Kylie Insists On Unpaid Dancing With the Stars is a much sexier headline than DIY director ropes in mates to walk past Kylie to help make up numbers and meet the tight one-day deadline.
Kylie is now incorrectly the poster girl for artists not being paid properly — again, with a 25-year career and 12 world tours Minogue has long known the benefits of working with creative people and has never been accused of being stingy. Minogue has probably spent more time with dancers than her own family over the last two decades; she’s aware of their skills.
If anything good comes out of this, focus has been put on creative types being paid for their creativity.
All paid up … Kylie Minogue and video director Dimitri Basil on the set of the I Was Gonna Cancel video clip.
Source: Supplied
There was a mistake made, but it was not like Kylie was sitting in a VIP dressing room burning cheques that were meant for the dancers.
Basil owned up and apologised, Minogue (who runs her own Twitter, unlike many pop stars at her level) tweeted that all the dancers were paid. As they were for the Logies performance.
So, to the Logies. Admittedly, trying to recreate the Cancel video at the Logies, before anyone had seen it and understood what it was referencing, in hindsight was not the best idea. It should have been a triumphant homecoming moment, instead it was more ammunition for haters.
And yes, compared to Minogue’s usual slick dance-based performances it looked like a Rock Eisteddfod held at Flinders Street Station at rush hour as styled by Big W.
On Saturday night Minogue and her band performed I Was Gonna Cancel live for the first time anywhere in the world in Melbourne at a secret club gig.
Playing it with a band would have been a better and more credible choice for the Logies, although TV award shows generally baulk at live bands and prefer live vocals sung over pre-recorded music.
Harsh criticism … Kylie Minogue at the Logie Awards. Picture: Scott Barbour
Source: Getty Images
The Logies was, again, plagued by frustrating audio problems. Jason DeRulo’s microphone was not working for the start of his performance.
Kylie used the method most pop stars adopt when performing on TV. That is the prerecorded musical backing track features Minogue’s backing vocals which she then sings over the top of live. So she can drop in and out mid dance routine.
She’s not Adele or Barbra Streisand, obviously, but she’s also not Britney Spears. It’s clear listening back that there’s one or two wobbly moments that show she isn’t miming. Her microphone appeared to be turned off at the end of the track when she said ‘thanks’ (which is still audible) but was clearly on when she ad libbed during the song.
Kylie has dealt with miming accusations since day one, almost always from people who’ve never seen her live in concert doing her job as, you know, a singer.
She’s an easy target and never takes the bait and bites back. It’s how she was raised, but sometimes people mistake that gracious silence for an admission of guilt.
I Was Gonna Cancel is clearly not the best song Kylie Minogue has ever made, but, like everyone else there, she was on the Logies to sell either a new album or a new tour. It’s show BUSINESS people.
Kylie’s in an interesting position in her career. There is not a long tradition of female pop singers making pop music beyond 40. There’s Cher (67), Madonna (55) and now Kylie at 45.
This year the major FM radio networks were happy to have Minogue on for an interview slot, but while they think their audiences want to hear her talk, they didn’t play her quality single Into the Blue.
I Was Gonna Cancel is a good strategic move to get Kylie back on the radio; it was produced and written by Pharrell Williams, who has dominated radio over the last 12 months. She’s always aligned herself with people at the peak of their fields.
So while radio may be trying to put her out to pasture, Minogue has, like many artists, had to embrace new ways to get her new music heard.
Being on The Voice (in Australia and the UK) is a smart business decision; it’s no accident she’s got new album Kiss Me Once out to capitalise. If radio play isn’t guaranteed, you find attention in other ways. The tongue-in-cheek
Sexercise video did the job in becoming a viral hit. Again, Sexercise isn’t her finest three minutes but it was also interesting to watch women tell Minogue at 45 she’s too old to show off her body. But that’s a whole other column.
Minogue is again letting the latest controversy wash over her. She’s too busy making people happy by doing what she loves to sit on Twitter and anonymously spill out bile. Maybe there’s a lesson in that for all of us.
