Kylie Minogue: why all the hype? Photograph: Gareth Davies/Getty
Gossip mag hags and GAY-goers will doubtless be ecstatic at the news that Kylie Minogue's recorded comeback is proceeding apace, this time with the news that Hot Chip have been approached to write for her. This comes hot on the heels of Calvin Harris' much-mentioned production work with the evergreen pop singer as well as rumoured collaborations with the Scissor Sisters and Boy George.
You don't have to strain hard to see the tidal wave of hype for Kylie's latest project on the horizon, but let's use this period of calm before the storm to consider the fact that her recorded output has been average at best. While not forgetting that all pop fans must sincerely wish her well after her recent battle with cancer, why's everyone getting so excited?
OK, so she is a true stateswoman of the pop genre. She does demure and sexy well, her live show is reliably spectacular, and my god, people even literally go on pilgrimages to touch the hem of her dress. But it's surely the effect her glamorously amiable persona has on the British public that accounts for her success, along with a couple of key classic pop songs amid a mountain of tepid high-street muzak.
Can't Get You Out Of My Head is great, of course, as was the lascivious Confide In Me, while a decent case could be made for the likes of, say, Come Into My World. Yet second-tier hits such as Spinning Around, Slow, On A Night Like This and Love At First Sight are all duffers. Compare her output over this decade with the likes of Girls Aloud and Sugababes to see who's doing it better.
Then, of course, there are the duets. Where The Wild Roses Grow with Nick Cave was a gothic oddity, a stab at credibility for Kylie, yet some way short of Cave's best. The Manic Street Preachers' contribution to the Impossible Princess album really doesn't bear mention, while Kids with Robbie Williams - albeit successful - was another so-so chart clogger. Only 2004's Scissor Sisters-abetted I Believe In You approaches a success.
Still, each of her collaborators (yes, even Jason Donovan) would doubtless say it was a success to have been associated with her. Why? Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor sums it up: "[New track] Ready For The Floor is probably our best shot at a catchy single, so we've been thinking of giving it to her and earning loads of money."
