FinishMySong Blog

I’m not naïve enough, of course, to think that Kylie isn’t very aware of what makes her audiences tick – she has a huge following with teenage girls and gay men, and is adored pretty much without exception by the tabloid press – or that she doesn’t do her best to maintain the status quo on that score, but it’s got to be said in her defence that this successful manipulation of the mass media to have her presented in the most positive possible light at all times is just another example of how well she carries off her job as a ‘pop princess’. I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that actual musical ability is only one very small part of the criteria required to thrive as a singer in the popular music charts of the early 21^st Century (let’s face it, many people get by without any ability at all!) and that the manner in which these people allow themselves to be seen and heard has far more to do with whether or not they manage to sell a lot of records, and ultimately make it in this fickle industry. Kylie’s sister, Danii Minogue, is a perfect example of this principle in action : she’s never managed to maintain such extensive popularity as Kylie, due partly to her inability to gauge where her fans' comfort zones lie – xenophobic remarks have not helped to elevate Danii in the public’s hierarchy of stardom any more than the poorly chosen and badly performed records she has released over the years!!

And therein lies the problem for Kylie Minogue : she has a distinctive, pleasant singing voice and enough vocal training behind her to carry off a tune. She’s also recently had a flurry of excellent songs written for her, including the hits Spinning Around, Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Love at First Sight. But from her earliest single recorded in 1988, I Should be so Lucky, to her latest song I Believe in You, her image, and so ultimately her success, has relied heavily on the public’s view of her as a happy-go-lucky girl next-door type who also happens to exude sexuality in a manner that is both playful and alluring. Her assets as a sexual female are displayed at every opportunity in a way that both outshines and cleverly outsmarts the efforts of her competitors, such as Madonna and Britney Spears. Kylie does not ‘bare all’ either literally in smutty photo shoots or metaphorically by means of telling press about relationships and breakups etc. She has managed even to come off relatively unscathed after awkward and upsetting events such as when her ex-boyfriend, the INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was found dead having been involved with what appeared to be a fetish act involving self-asphyxiation.

The most recent trauma to hit Kylie’s life, of course, was when she was diagnosed last year with cancer. During a routine check made by doctors (most likely for insurance purposes during her international tour) a tumour was discovered in her breast, apparently in the very early stages of development. Equipped with the money and resources only available to someone of such vast wealth, Kylie underwent treatment immediately and has for the past six months been recovering from the after effects of radiotherapy, with the intention of resuming her career as an international pop singer (against doctors’ recommendations) in December of this year – she has also been invited to headline the Glastonbury music festival in 2007.

I really do hope that she makes a full recovery and gets right back into the limelight when she feels strong enough to do so, but I also feel that this huge event in Kylie’s life can’t help but set her on a slightly different career path from that of the outgrown Charlene we knew before her illness – a course that is elevated by a new sense of importance and perspective. When the international media first heard of Kylie’s illness many were quick to criticise her lifestyle, jumping unfairly to the conclusion that she had a part to play in the development of her own cancer. True, women who choose not to have a family so early in life do run an increased risk of contracting these cancers, but the cause and effect argument cited by certain narrow-minded individuals about Kylie’s personal case seemed to me to be unwarranted. When all is said and done, we all make choices about the lifestyle we wish to pursue and those choices inevitably come with a series of pros and cons. But, more important than shrugging off this brutish criticism (and inevitable comment on her subsequent engagement to Oliver Martinez) I think will be the need for Kylie to find a new way to present herself. She has already shown the world in a number of photos released with her fiancé that a woman can lose her hair through aggressive cancer treatment and still stand strong, looking fantastically healthy and radiant, and this goes some way to acknowledging that she can continue to play the naïve girl next-door no more. A blow has been struck to the very tools that Kylie used to maintain this earlier image of herself: her breasts have for 20 years been flaunted as a symbol of the sexuality of youth while her wild curly hair danced in the breeze of numerous wind machines. But now I think she owes it to herself, and to other women and men who have suffered this terrible illness, to rediscover and represent these parts of her anatomy not as objects of male fantasy but as symbols of the strength of mind and body required to overcome such terrifying obstacles. Only then can Kylie look forward to a brighter, more fulfilling career in music without stepping back into her previous role as a singing pin-up.

Kylie is due to release her version of Over the Rainbow in the UK shortly and resumes her Showgirl Tour in Australia at the end of the year. Further information can be obtained from her official website.