When I think of that quintessential, feel-good, high-energy, earworm pop music, Kylie Minogue is one of the first artists that comes to mind. I first started listening through her collection during the pandemic. Her light, catchy songs offered a much-needed boost while completing twelfth grade from my bed. Since then, I’ve called upon her many-a-time when looking for some tunes to help burn off steam or relieve stress. 

This past Friday, Minogue released her sixteenth studio album “Tension,” and while it delivers on the feel good vibes I’ve come to expect from the artist, I wouldn’t consider it to be an especially worthwhile entry in her impressive discography. 

The album has a strong early 2000s to early 10s quality to it, which is to say it definitely draws on the sound of the time, including Minogue’s own entries during those years. It is these entries that she found great success with. Admittedly, I am most familiar with Minogue’s earlier works, from the 1980s and 90s, so I took a deeper dive into the time in question for this review. Specifically, I listened to her 2001 album “Fever,” which redefined her career. Within the album, I saw innovation and an impressive ability to remain distinctive while incorporating timely trends. “Tension” often feels like it’s clinging to a sound that has come and gone, without much attempt to modernize or bring anything new to it. I don’t mind when artists take inspiration from their past. In fact, I think it can work really well in the right circumstances, such as something like Duran Duran or Tears for Fears’ latest albums, “Future Past” and “The Tipping Point,” respectively. To me, those albums demonstrated a mastery of ability to draw on the sound that made them popular, without using it as a crutch. They found a way to blend those sounds with new influences, and create a product that feels both classic and fresh all in one. 

I don’t think “Tension” does this nearly as successfully. I think beats and techno infusions that are meant to sound nostalgic often come across as stale. It’s not that it sounds poor, it’s just that it feels like it’s already been done. 

There is a strong sense of energy and dance-ability across the album; I could see it fitting right in at the night clubs I’ve never been to. The single “Padam Padam” is definitely the strongest of this variety, and probably one of the strongest songs on the album in general. This is clearly a well-known fact, considering there’s around ten remixes of it on Minogue’s Spotify. This song is one of the most vocally interesting and unique, with a decent thumping backing that supports it pretty well. 

Still though, I don’t think that energy necessarily saves the album or excuses it from feeling repetitive or unvaried. Yeah, you can dance to it, the dance club elements are there, but I don’t think the songs are genre-redefining by any means. You could do worse than this, but you could also certainly do better, just from Minogue herself. 

One element that I really wish there would have been more of was the disco infusion. There were touches of it here and there throughout the album, but for the most part it was greatly underutilized and overpowered by the 2000s nostalgia. What could’ve been a unique angle felt more like an afterthought. It’s probably most prevalent on “Green Light,” the backing of which I noted as being one of the more unique and interesting. I loved the saxophone, I thought it was infused very thoughtfully. 

The vocal work on the album is strong. Minogue has an excellent voice, and it’s readily apparent across the album that she’s a seasoned professional. That being said, one thing I did find to be a little disappointing was the heavy use of autotune in certain songs. I think it was done stylistically more so than to fill in any vocal imperfections, but it felt mostly distracting and unnecessary when Minogue displayed her vocal prowess on one song just for it to be covered up with autotune on the next.

Of all 11 tracks, or 14 if you’re listening to the deluxe edition, “Story” was my favorite. I think it has some of the best vocal work of the album, and one of the catchiest and most unique sounds. This one probably comes closest to her 80’s sound of anything on the album, using a heavy synth infusion. The next most notable after that was “Padam Padam.” Title track “Tension” actually made me somewhat uncomfortable, not just the first time, but every time I listened to it. The song contains a chorus that’s a little too descriptive, for lack of a better phrase. “Love Train” insulted me in a way it probably wouldn’t anyone else because Kylie’s proven she can do better for trains than this. 

This was probably one of the more challenging pieces of media I’ve looked at to review. “Tension” was a real mixed bag for me. I wouldn’t call it a bad album; it was competently made, and all of the songs are passable at the very least. The problem is that what’s there isn’t all that interesting, at least to me. The majority of it sounds like something Carly Rae Jepsen would have put out in her heyday, or Britney Spears when she was starting to lose steam. Yes, it carries the high energy and dance-ability that fans of Minogue have come to expect from her work, but compared to what she’s shown that she’s capable of throughout her career, it’s not especially impressive. It’s an honorable attempt with a misplaced focus. Instead of experimenting further with a sound that Minogue has proven she can innovate and manipulate, she fell victim to its cliches, and now we have something that sounds like it could’ve been the music for a 2015 middle schooler’s Flipagram. 

If you’re a fan of Minogue, I would still recommend giving the album a listen, but if you’re not familiar with her, I definitely wouldn’t recommend starting here. Try “Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection” instead.