Better with Age: Kylie Minogue Reimagines “Hand On Your Heart”

In 2012, to commemorate her 25th anniversary in the music business, Kylie Minogue released The Abbey Road Sessions, a 16-track album of remixes, not the expected dance remixes of her pop songs, but rather ones that were reimagined and recorded with her Aphrodite touring band and a full orchestra at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios. Let’s focus on one track in particular, “Hand On Your Heart,” originally appeared on her 1989 album, Enjoy Yourself. Written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman (S.A.W.), the Ford, Carnegie & Rockefeller of “hit factory” Brit-pop music of the ‘80s, the song initially sounded sunny and matter of fact, a carefree account of its main character asking her guy to “Put your hand on your heart and tell me/that we’re through.”

The Abbey Road Sessions’ version dons a mature feel. It embraces a soothing arrangement, complete with a delicate sweeping brush beat and mesmerizing acoustic-guitar sequence. It sounds as if the main character is retelling the same account, but from a different point of view and place in her life. The once nonchalant teenager is now a more serious, vulnerable woman, confident that even if this guy is not around, she’ll survive. Kylie’s delivery as a balladeer is sweet and sensitive with a somber lower register, especially at the resounding lyric: “that we’re through.”

By offering a quieter version of the originally upbeat, head-in-the-clouds track, it allows the S.A.W. lyrics to be honored, proving that although seemingly factory-like, pumping out shiny product off the line, their operation did in fact produce enduring gems. The Sessions also applies a similar treatment toward two other S.A.W. songs: the unrequited infatuation with a fantasy lover on “I Should Be So Lucky”; the devoted desperation on “Never Too Late.” The release is yet another example that disproves the many who thought Kylie was an Edsel of the ‘80s, confirming instead that after all these decades she’s always been a Bentley of pop.