She’s an icon, she’s a legend, she is Kylie Minogue, and she checked in with Audacy’s Mike Adam at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York to chat all about her new album, Tension II, her upcoming TENSION Tour, and more.

From putting together her setlist to touring North America again, while gaining new fans, and reflecting on the days of cassettes and CDs -- Kylie covers it all.

Starting off expressing her excitement to be touring in North America after “too, too, too long,” Kylie admitted that putting together the setlist for, as Mike put it, “a show of this magnitude,” currently “lives rent free” in her head.

“Obviously it’s the TENSION Tour, so we're going to have songs from 'Tension' and 'Tension II,' even 'Disco,' my previous album I didn't get to tour,” Kylie noted. "But," she added with a smile, “we’re going to serve you ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head,’ and ‘All The Lovers,’ and even take you back to ‘Locomotion.’”

Pointing out how Kylie’s influence spans generations, Mike mentioned how “it's gotta be mind-blowing,” to have songs on the setlist like ‘Locomotion’ that have “the eighties babies dancing,” but also have a song like ‘Padam Padam’ that has their kids’ heart rates rising, Mike asks Kylie if she expects her shows to be a family affair.

“I'm so glad that you've recognized that,” Kylie responded, adding, how “because that’s been… such a buzz. That the OGs fans that have been around… they’re having a blast. And then the newer fans, new people who come to the Kylie party… I know they've been introduced, a lot of them with ‘Padam Padam’ or 'Tension,' whatever -- but they lose their minds over ‘Locomotion,’ which is just brilliant. So it means I can encompass the scope of my career, which is over five decades.”

When asked if there is a key to longevity in this crazy business, Kylie expressed, “There's a few things that definitely count,” listing them off, “persistence, tenacity, passion, luck.”

Noting he’s nostalgic about the long-ago days of cassettes and CDs, “when you would find the secret song at the end when you would just let the final track play.” Mike asked Kylie if there was anything she missed about the industry, from when she was first getting into it.

“Just the thrill of, you had to make the effort, go to the shop… that was like your kind of own private Idaho is to have put that record on, "Or, have to argue with your brother and sister, like, ‘what are we playing?’, Kylie answered. Also noting that “until I got a Walkman… You didn't have music on the move. So, I guess I can be nostalgic about all of that, but cut to now and it's great to go, ‘What do I want to listen to? What's new?' So much has changed.”

Talking about the changes she’s seen for women in the industry since her start, Kylie expressed, “It’s very encouraging that I'm proof, I'm sat here,” but also acknowledged, “Now we bring up the age topic, but I think it's at least with a positive spin on it.” She goes on to reveal, “It wasn't that many years ago that I felt I was in quite awkward positions where people would question me to my face in an interview,” and basically ask her “When are you too old to be a woman in this business?” And to that, Kylie said, “firstly — rude, but secondly — I don't know.”

She continued, “I guess I've always had women in the industry that I've looked up to, I didn't really think about their age at the time. I'm 8, 9, 10, obsessing over Olivia Newton-John and Donna Summer, And then as an older teenager, you know, Whitney [Houston], Madonna, Cindy [Lauper], all of them, I guess there wasn't such an age gap between my teenage years and their years. But I don't know what happened where it was suddenly deemed distasteful or, I don't know. But thankfully it is becoming, certainly for the younger generation… they’ve just got new minds, and open minds,” when it comes to “ageism, and particularly in music.”

Fun fact — Kylie also revealed which chart-topping song was almost hers, but ended up going to another artist. Sharing, “Yeah, there’s a little song called ‘Toxic’ that was headed my way, and I was like ‘Toxic’? I don't know if I want a song called ‘Toxic’… As it's turned out, it was meant to be a Britney Spears song, I can't imagine it being anything else."

Before concluding their conversation, Mike asked Kylie, if she were to put together her own charity -- “We Are The World”-type track -- today, which artists she would enlist. “It might be a girl group because I'm giving the girls a lot of spins,” Kylie revealed. “I mean, I do really have a penchant for Indie bands, I definitely love some Yacht Rock just on in the background, but I wouldn't mind being with Chappell [Roan], Sabrina [Carpenter], Lana [Del Rey], Miley [Cyrus]… and Madonna.” Adding, that if she could broaden the number of members, she’d also add, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.

To catch it all, check out Kylie’s entire interview above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Adam

She’s an icon, she’s a legend, she is Kylie Minogue, and she checked in with Audacy’s Mike Adam at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York to chat all about her new album, Tension II, her upcoming TENSION Tour, and more.
From putting together her setlist to touring North America again, while gaining new fans, and reflecting on the days of cassettes and CDs -- Kylie covers it all.
Starting off expressing her excitement to be touring in North America after “too, too, too long,” Kylie admitted that putting together the setlist for, as Mike put it, “a show of this magnitude,” currently “lives rent free” in her head.
“Obviously it’s the TENSION Tour, so we're going to have songs from 'Tension' and 'Tension II,' even 'Disco,' my previous album I didn't get to tour,” Kylie noted. "But," she added with a smile, “we’re going to serve you ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head,’ and ‘All The Lovers,’ and even take you back to ‘Locomotion.’”
Pointing out how Kylie’s influence spans generations, Mike mentioned how “it's gotta be mind-blowing,” to have songs on the setlist like ‘Locomotion’ that have “the eighties babies dancing,” but also have a song like ‘Padam Padam’ that has their kids’ heart rates rising, Mike asks Kylie if she expects her shows to be a family affair.
“I'm so glad that you've recognized that,” Kylie responded, adding, how “because that’s been… such a buzz. That the OGs fans that have been around… they’re having a blast. And then the newer fans, new people who come to the Kylie party… I know they've been introduced, a lot of them with ‘Padam Padam’ or 'Tension,' whatever -- but they lose their minds over ‘Locomotion,’ which is just brilliant. So it means I can encompass the scope of my career, which is over five decades.”
When asked if there is a key to longevity in this crazy business, Kylie expressed, “There's a few things that definitely count,” listing them off, “persistence, tenacity, passion, luck.”
Noting he’s nostalgic about the long-ago days of cassettes and CDs, “when you would find the secret song at the end when you would just let the final track play.” Mike asked Kylie if there was anything she missed about the industry, from when she was first getting into it.
“Just the thrill of, you had to make the effort, go to the shop… that was like your kind of own private Idaho is to have put that record on, "Or, have to argue with your brother and sister, like, ‘what are we playing?’, Kylie answered. Also noting that “until I got a Walkman… You didn't have music on the move. So, I guess I can be nostalgic about all of that, but cut to now and it's great to go, ‘What do I want to listen to? What's new?' So much has changed.”
Talking about the changes she’s seen for women in the industry since her start, Kylie expressed, “It’s very encouraging that I'm proof, I'm sat here,” but also acknowledged, “Now we bring up the age topic, but I think it's at least with a positive spin on it.” She goes on to reveal, “It wasn't that many years ago that I felt I was in quite awkward positions where people would question me to my face in an interview,” and basically ask her “When are you too old to be a woman in this business?” And to that, Kylie said, “firstly — rude, but secondly — I don't know.”
She continued, “I guess I've always had women in the industry that I've looked up to, I didn't really think about their age at the time. I'm 8, 9, 10, obsessing over Olivia Newton-John and Donna Summer, And then as an older teenager, you know, Whitney [Houston], Madonna, Cindy [Lauper], all of them, I guess there wasn't such an age gap between my teenage years and their years. But I don't know what happened where it was suddenly deemed distasteful or, I don't know. But thankfully it is becoming, certainly for the younger generation… they’ve just got new minds, and open minds,” when it comes to “ageism, and particularly in music.”
Fun fact — Kylie also revealed which chart-topping song was almost hers, but ended up going to another artist. Sharing, “Yeah, there’s a little song called ‘Toxic’ that was headed my way, and I was like ‘Toxic’? I don't know if I want a song called ‘Toxic’… As it's turned out, it was meant to be a Britney Spears song, I can't imagine it being anything else."
Before concluding their conversation, Mike asked Kylie, if she were to put together her own charity -- “We Are The World”-type track -- today, which artists she would enlist. “It might be a girl group because I'm giving the girls a lot of spins,” Kylie revealed. “I mean, I do really have a penchant for Indie bands, I definitely love some Yacht Rock just on in the background, but I wouldn't mind being with Chappell [Roan], Sabrina [Carpenter], Lana [Del Rey], Miley [Cyrus]… and Madonna.” Adding, that if she could broaden the number of members, she’d also add, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.
To catch it all, check out Kylie’s entire interview above.
Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Adam

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

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