Here is my track-by-track analysis of the new Kylie album:
1. "Into the Blue" - This is simultaneously a perfect pop song and one of the most quintessentially Kylie tracks to date. I love its shimmering optimism and deep feelings of self-reflection and perseverance. With its wise lyrics and glitteringly complex production, I'm always noticing new little details with each listen. Lately, I've really fallen in love with that tiny little vocal bit at the end when Kylie sings "Into the Bluuuuueee" in an incredibly high tone. Beautiful!
2. "Million Miles" - Excellent choice for a second track. We all know that the second track has to be maybe not as epic as the first one, so our brains don't short out so early in the album. But it does need to further the agenda of the first song stylistically, while delving more into some other emotional expressions thereto. I love the way this song segues from the idealism of "Into the Blue" into a murkier romantic zone, examining the angst of miscommunication and longing. It's also unstoppably catchy.
3. "I Was Gonna Cancel" - Hmm. Not one of my favorites at this early juncture, but I'm fairly sure it'll grow on me. I do like the "get up and go" self-esteem boost, but it has a pretty awful lyric in "a mirror is to a woman, just the same as a dog is to man." And I'm not too crazy about that operatic voice that is occasionally in the background, as it's distracting and a continuation of an irritating trend we recently heard on Katy Perry and Jessie J's albums.
4. "Sexy Love" - Yes! I love this song. It's one of those utterly fabulous, purely Kylie tracks that could just as easily have come from Fever, X, or Aphrodite. Sweet, smooth, disco lusciousness intertwines with love-dazed fun. Easily the best song on the album with the root word "sex" in the title. I mean, by a country mile.
Also, one of the best lyrics on the album: "you look so sexy, so sexy in my head / you look so sexy, so sexy in my bed." Fan-bloody-tastic.
5. "Sexercize" - Okay, this is ridiculous, and sort of insta-destined to become a fringe favorite for its complete shamelessness, combined with the undeniably catchy beat and vocals - especially the chorus hook "let me see you take it down / let me see you take it up." Only a fool would try to resist Kylie at her cheesiest.
6. "Feels so Good" - This is a nice, classy mid-tempo number that's just what the album needs at this juncture. Lyrically, it focuses on realizing and appreciating the immensity of true love.
7. "If Only" - Gorgeous! I love the sort-of fake-out in how this begins sounding like a dance-floor scorcher and then collapses into another mid-tempo pondering of romantic possibilities. "True love is waiting in the wings / only, if only..." One of my favorites on the album for sure.
8. "Les Sex" - I admittedly thought very little of this song the first time I heard it, not least of all for the completely absurd lyrical hook "les love, les sex." Then I gave up and now I love it.
9. "Kiss Me Once" - Tied with "Into the Blue" as my very favorite song on the album! A stunning ode to epic love surrendering to itself, it teeters right along the edge of balladry with fascinating, sweeping prettiness. "Me and you / baby, we made it through...kiss me once / and you will watch me fall / kiss me twice / and I will give you my all." I also love the '80s-sounding production.
10. "Beautiful" ft. Enrique Inglesias - Hrrm. I'm not completely sold on this one yet, mostly due to the overproduced, roboty vocals that just sound silly. I do like the lyrics and the sentiment here, which feel sincere in the duet vibe between Kylie and Enrique. As the only true ballad on the album, it would have been nice to have it simply sound pure, without annoying vocal effects.
11. "Fine" - The album ends kind of abruptly with this quite delightful, encouraging little number. Somehow, Kiss Me Once feels like it's just getting started. While I know Kylie doesn't typically do long-running albums, I wish she would!
Bonus Tracks:
12. "Mr. President" - I really don't like this one at all, whatsoever. I think it's destined to be an auto-skip for me.
13. "Sleeping with the Enemy" - This is a pretty good romantically pained song in the ilk of "Illusions," "Promises," et al, with a melancholy, regretful, searching tone that reminds me of the Deconstruction era stuff like "Put Yourself in My Place" and "Dangerous Game" (even mentioning those songs always makes me want to run back to them like a flash. Two of her very best). Anyway, this is a cool addition to the album, and would have been better placed right in the middle of it.
All in all, I have to give Kiss Me Once 10 pink flowers out of ten just as a pop album. As a Kylie album, I shall give it 9 out of ten.
Best tracks: "Into the Blue," "Kiss Me Once," "Sexy Love," "If Only," "Million Miles"