Impossibly Indie: Three HD Videos from Kylie in the ‘90s
Kylie Minogue’s sixth studio album, 1997’s Impossible Princess, marked another major shift in Minogue's career. Gone was the late-‘80s bubble-gum pop singer; g’day to ‘90s singer/songwriter, ready, willing and able to delve deeper into experimental territory. Surrounding the material, some of which explored topics such as personal happiness, and inner peace in spite of chaos, was a new sound, one significantly different from 1987’s “The Loco-Motion,” even from the dance-pop direction of 1990’s “Better The Devil You Know.”
This late-‘90s shift actually originated in the early part of the decade. In 1992, Minogue parted ways with her record company, PWL, and signed with the independent dance-music label, Deconstruction Records, who afforded Minogue more creative direction and input. The first result: the 1994 self-titled album, Kylie Minogue, with the eerily effective, “Confide In Me” representing the first effort in an era that would be coined, “Indie Kylie.” A year later, a musical collaboration with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on “Where the Wild Roses Grow” was another confirmation that trying new things came with commercial and critical accolades. On the personal front, she was in a relationship with the French photographer, Stéphane Sednaoui, who inspired her to push the professional envelope. However, when Impossible Princess was released, it became her most polarizing album to date, due to its sharp departure from what many were accustomed. Yet over the years, the artistic endeavor has garnered acclaim as one of Minogue’s most respected works, and a fan favorite, for its unexpectedly bold foray into rock, electronica, drum and bass, even Celtic-folk influence on the fourth and final single, “Cowboy Style.”
On October 22, 2022, the enduring album celebrates its 25th anniversary. To help celebrate, Minogue recently released HD versions of the music videos for the first three singles: “Some Kind of Bliss,” “Did It Again” and “Breathe.” Much like how the musical direction for each single served as a departure for Minogue, the visual companions followed suit:
I’m With the Bandits
The David Mould-directed video for “Some Kind of Bliss” features Minogue and the actor, Dexter Fletcher, playing a devilish duo on the run (or more like on a ride, in a classic Pontiac). The Bonnie and Clyde-inspired tale is edited in a non-linear format, so it’s left up to the viewer to determine the actual order of the crime-spree events. Here’s a theory as to what the storyline would be if it was edited in linear sequence:
Minogue’s character, in a black dress, picks up Fletcher’s from jail. He’s wearing a black shirt, tan pants, and carries a black-and-red bag as he leaves the jail. After spending some time at a motel, Fletcher’s character has changed into a white suit; Minogue’s into a blue mini-dress. They’re seen fleeing to the Pontiac, while he carries the same black-and-red bag.
The couple descends upon a gas station in the middle of the desert, still wearing the white suit, still wearing the blue mini-dress. As Minogue flirtatiously distracts the attendant, she heads to the restroom, while Fletcher robs the station. When she leaves the restroom, we see she’s changed into a white tank top and blue hot pants that we can presume were under the mini-dress. (Three years later, Minogue would wear a pair of gold hot pants in the video for “Spinning Around”; the article of clothing would later become synonymous with the singer.)
Post-robbery, the two once again change outfits: He adds a green shirt to the white suit; she into a white top and pink pants, her ginger-red hair now in a ponytail. Back in town, he robs a business, while she remains outside near the Pontiac, only to observe a police car pulling up to the building, just as he runs out and right into the cops. He yells at her to make a break for it, as he’s put into the back of the squad car. She drives away, crying, her Bonnie separated once again from her Clyde. In summary, based on this theory, this would mean that Fletcher’s character returns to jail mere hours after initially being released, carrying the black-and-red bag. Not watching the video below would be criminal.
Kylie Chameleon
Many of Minogue’s previous videos, particularly the ones from the ‘80s, showed her as a happy-go-lucky (“lucky, lucky, lucky”) late-teen. “Better the Devil You Know” (1990) showed her as a girl all grown up, with “Some Kind of Bliss” showing Kylie as that good girl gone bad. What makes the video for Impossible Princess’ second single, “Did It Again” compelling—and comedic—is that it’s a tongue-in-cheek look at Kylie’s various professional personas in direct opposition with each other. The Pedro Romhanyi-directed video features four characters: Sex Kylie; Cute Kylie; Indie Kylie; Dance Kylie, in a police lineup, battling it out for the camera’s attention.
These monikers doubled as references to, and commentary on, the media coverage Minogue had endured up to this point, often pigeonholed by the press into a confined category, a current incarnation put “in quotes,” a creative pursuit reduced to an easily digestible soundbite. It’s no wonder the four figures are set against a mugshot backdrop; it’s as if Minogue daring to change direction, musically and visually, was a criminal act. Lyrically, Minogue co-wrote the track as self-commentary, reportedly frustrated at not learning valuable lessons when it came it to her personal relationships. (“Clever girl, think you know, but you don’t know much.”) “Did It Again” is all about conflict, both external and internal.
“It Won’t Be Long Now”
If “Some Kind of Bliss” is Impossible Princess’ most cinematic video, and “Did It Again” its most technically creative, the video for the third single, “Breathe,” directed by Kieran Evans, is its most beautiful, thanks, in part, to its artistic simplicity. Most of the video has Minogue, floating in a vast openness, in a nude-colored dress. Blurred, fragmented shots of her hands, fingers and feet are almost embryonic in nature.
At video’s end, the visual concept connects to the central theme of the track, which revolves around living inside one’s own head. (“I’m sorting everything inside/I’m looking in the space.”) “Breathe” was a fitting follow-up single, and antidote, to “Did It Again.” Just as Minogue expressed feelings of frustration towards herself, the introspective, meditative “Breathe” is her seeking inner peace. (“It won’t be long now, breathe, breathe.”) A new Kylie is born.
And it won’t be long now until fans are putting Impossible Princess on repeat, and these three videos on replay, revisiting one of the most intriguing chapters in Minogue’s now legendary career. It’s a chapter that’s impossibly indie, yet still consistently Kylie.
Label-Mate Legends Step Back in Time
BBC Radio 2’s festival in Hyde Park last weekend featured headliner, Kylie Minogue singing some selections from Golden, and some Kylie classics of course, to a massive crowd of (reportedly) 60,000. Jason Donovan joined Kylie on stage during “Especially for You,” and in another feel-good musical moment, Rick Astley and his still-phenomenal voice stepped out in front of a welcoming audience to sing “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and Kylie’s “I Should Be So Lucky,” with his former PWL label mate. Their harmony at “… gonna play/And if you ask me how I’m feeling” delivers all the feels. It’s a fun return to 1987 and the “hit factory” days, plus a reminder that true talent stands the test of time.