Makes Everything Right: Kylie Minogue: “Love at First Sight”
Full disclosure, this blogger’s favorite single of Kylie Minogue’s is “Love at First Sight. Although she’s been creating pop perfection for decades, it’s this track that has always made my heart aflutter. It captured what pop/dance music sounded like in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s. There are elements in “First Sight” that are similar to Ultra Naté’s 1998 anthem, “Free (the Mood II Swing Radio Mix),” especially the introductory guitar lines, and the deep bass lines that are pushed to the front—right where they belong.
“First Sight” speaks to how music, more specifically a DJ spinning the right record, can serve as clarity for the confused, a sense of connection, even a lifeline, for the temporarily disconnected. Its restorative power so immediately transformative, that not unlike being hit right between the eyes when it’s love at first sight, sound can hit you right between the ears.
Its superb construction sounds like a subway line in the underground. You can barely hear it coming, so you think it’s far away, but when you least expect it, it comes racing into a station. It arrives right on time, stops at the platform for a brief pause, then off it goes again, whisking passengers away on a journey, this musical journey unfortunately only lasting a total of four minutes.
Kylie has steered “First Sight” in different directions over the years, in the form of alternate studio versions (2002’s perky “Ruff & Jam Vocal 7””; 2012’s country-campfire acoustic ballad on The Abbey Road Sessions), as well as how the musical producer, Steve Anderson has arranged it for her concerts. It’s become a reliable crowd favorite and has been on every set list for her last eight major tours (KylieFever 2002; Showgirl 2005 and 2006; X2008; For You, For Me North America 2009; 2014’s Kiss Me Once; a “mashup” with “Can’t Beat the Feeling” for Aphrodite 2011; Golden - Live in Concert 2018), even appearing as one of just 13 tracks for the one-off show in 2003 to launch Body Language.
It’s no wonder that “First Sight” has mostly been reserved for the encore section or literally as the jovial finale; its message and construction inspire fans to bathe in its escapist, rejuvenating power, reminding all who are about to leave the venue that pop has the potential to turn everything wrong to right.