Kylie Minogue Brings Glitz & Glamour to the Hollywood Bowl

Last Friday I attended Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite World Tour at the Hollywood Bowl. I reviewed the show for The Examiner.com, which you can read HERE. Also, I of course took a bunch of photos which you can find after the jump. Enjoy!

Kylie Minogue For the Holidays

Last night Kylie Minogue performed the two Christmas songs she's recorded, "Santa Baby" and her latest one, "Let It Snow," on NBC's Christmas at Rockefeller Center special. See both performances below. Enjoy!

Santa Baby:



Let It Snow:

Kylie Update

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...just a quick Kylie update. She's had one busy week. She recently released the video for her third single off her "Aphrodite" album, "Better Than Today," performed an acoustic set on BBC's Radio 2, AND appeared on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade singing "Get Outta My Way." You can find the music video, one of the acoustic performances from Radio 2 (a beautiful orchestral version of "Confide In Me") and the Macy's Day Parade appearance below. Can't wait for you to come back to the US on tour, Kylie...still waiting on those dates. Enjoy!

Better Than Today Video:



Confide In Me on BBC Radio 2:



Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade performance:

Madonna Finally Speaks Out About Gay Teen Suicides!

Finally! FINALLY! Madonna has been my all time favorite artist since I was 9 years old, but lately it hasn't felt like it. This is in large part because of the fact that she hasn't really made any statement whatsoever about any of the MANY gay rights issues floating around today. See, I feel connected to my favorite artists on many levels. I connect to their music for sure, but I also connect to them as people. This is the case for all four of my favorite artists (Madonna, Lady GaGa, Robyn and Kylie).

Lately, I have been majorly disappointed in Madonna. While younger artists, with more to risk one might argue, have been completely outspoken for gay issues like Prop 8, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and the recent tragic string of gay teen suicides, Madonna has not said anything. Sure, she voiced her opposition to Prop 8 passing during her Sticky & Sweet concert in Los Angeles, but that was about it.

As an artist who owes a lot to the gay community and has been an outspoken advocate of gay rights in the past, her silence now was a bit disheartening. When everyone in the 80s was afraid of AIDS and labeled it a "gay disease," she was donating money from her concerts to AIDS charities (and continued to do so in the 90s). She popularized vogueing (a huge dance trend in gay clubs before she brought it mainstream), hired numerous gay dancers and even featured a gay pride parade in her documentary "Truth or Dare." But I was just a little boy then. Now that all these other gay issues that directly effect me are being discussed and debated, I was a bit disappointed that Madonna, my all time favorite artist and huge proponent of gay rights, remained silent. Until yesterday that is.

Yesterday, Madonna went on the The Ellen Degeneres Show (via satellite from New York) to talk about the recent gay teen suicides. She actually said, "I wouldn't have a career if it weren't for the gay community. I feel like it would be incredibly remiss of me to not say something." YES. Thank you! Madonna, the gay community has always been proud of you and looked up to you, almost as a spokeswoman for our causes. Thank you for stepping up to do so once again...we were scared for a second there you wouldn't. See the full, unedited interview below:

Kylie Debuts New Single On The X Factor

Last night, Kylie appeared on the hit British show "The X Factor" and performed her newest single, "Better Than Today" for the first time on TV. The song is her third single from her "Aphrodite" album. This isn't actually the first time the song was ever performed live because Kylie sang this song on her 2009 North American Tour months before the album was released. This is, however, the first time Kylie performed the song for more than just a theater full of people. This is not my favorite song on the album, but I thought Kylie's performance was pretty fun and definitely fit the mood of the song. And Kylie of course looked gorgeous as usual. Enjoy!

Kylie Minogue Takes Over America!!

...Well, kind of. But the past week saw more Kylie Minogue-related news in America than there has been in a very long time. She appeared on two different television shows, "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" performing her latest single, "Get Outta My Way." What's even more exciting though is she also tweeted the following:


Yes!!!! I CANNOT wait!!! so told me and whoever is reading this over until we're able to really see her performing live in person on her tour, here are her two American television appearances from this week. The "Dancing With the Stars" one is fairly similar to the performance of "Get Outta My Way" Kylie did on "America's Got Talent" but the "Tonight Show" one is a bit more stripped down; no dancers or props, just Kylie, her beautiful voice with Ricky Minor and his whole band backing her up. Update: Unfortunately, the "Tonight Show" video has expired.

Dancing With the Stars:

One Year Ago: Kylie Minogue Tours North America!

Over 20 years into her career, Kylie Minogue toured North America for the first time ever in 2009. One year ago this week (October 4, 2009), she played in Los Angeles for the first time ever on tour at the Hollywood Bowl. This post is to commemorate the occasion, which was honestly one of the most fun nights I've had in a while and was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. All of these photos I took myself, so please credit me and don't steal them.

Song of the Week (Week of October 3, 2010)

Even though today is Gwen Stefani's 41st birthday and I was really tempted to pick one of her solo songs or a No Doubt song as the song of the week, I decided to go with Kylie. This week's song is "Everything Is Beautiful," which is on her most recent album, "Aphrodite." This is actually one of the few songs on the album that Stuart Price had no hand in either producing or writing.

The vocals in it are spot on, and it perfectly showcases why I love Kylie so much: this song is all love and happiness. She sings "And if I lie with you long enough, I can see the things I'm dreaming of." It's really a very sweet thought. More importantly, there is nothing wrong in Kylie's world. It's all fun, music, dancing, and love. And that sometimes is very important in a song or in a musical artist in general. Sometimes when you're really sad or even really happy, all you need to hear is a sweet voice singing about the best part of life, with no worries or problems. Enjoy!



Beautiful
Beautiful

I'm losing my way in this night
Walking away from the light
Surrender will be my escape
Breaking the walls of my mind
I'm one step ahead of the truth
I hear what I want to hear, and I hear you

And if I lie with you long enough,
I can see the things I'm dreaming of
Let's go through the ritual
Until everything is beautiful (Beautiful)

Getting a taste for this high
For bending the rules of what's right
But fooling myself feels so sweet
Reality looks black and white
Pulling the ripcord I dive
It's a cardboard kingdom, but it makes me feel

That if I lie with you long enough,
I can see the things I'm dreaming of
Let's go through the ritual
Until everything is beautiful (Beautiful)

And now I'm traveling at such blissful speed
No need to think at this velocity
The things I feel begin to fade to black
Now I've burned my map and I won't go back

So if I lie with you long enough,
I can see the things I'm dreaming of
Let's go through the ritual
Until everything is beautiful (Beautiful)

And if I lie with you long enough,
I can see the things I'm dreaming of
Let's go through the ritual
Until everything is beautiful (Beautiful)

Kylie Minogue Goes Acoustic!

Earlier this week, Kylie Minogue appeared on England's BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, where she was interviewed and gave acoustic performances of 4 songs. Her acoustic versions of "Get Outta My Way" and "All the Lovers" (both from her latest album, "Aphrodite") and her biggest hit ever, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (from 2001's "Fever" album) have really struck a cord with me, so I decided to post them after the jump.

Her vocals in both are spot on and perfect (as always), and her harmonizing with her back-up singers is just delightful to hear. The lounge version of "Can't You Out of My Head" gives the song a whole new life in a more serene, stripped down form. She truly is an amazing artist. Enjoy!

Song of the Week (Week of September 12, 2010)

It's that time of the week again...

For this week's song, I decided to pick "Love At First Sight" by Kylie Minogue because I almost sang this song last night at a straight karaoke bar in front of everyone haha! (They didn't end up getting to the song before the place closed, so it never happened, but I was impressed with the fact that I was going to sing a Kylie song a straight bar after all these straight guys sang things like Iron Maiden).

This song is perhaps Kylie's most well known song in the States, after "Can't Get You Out of My Head," of course. It was on her mega-successful 2001 album, "Fever," also her most successful album in the U.S. This is a great song, although I do think Kylie has a lot of other songs that are actually better. Like most of her songs, "Love At First Sight" is pure happiness and fun, but not too much more. It is an incredible crowd-pleaser though...Kylie still used this song to close her show on her last world tour. Enjoy!



Thought that I was going crazy
Just having one those days yeah
Didn't know what to do
Then there was you

And everything went from wrong to right
And the stars came out and filled up the sky
The music you were playing really blew my mind
It was love at first sight

'Cause baby when I heard you
For the first time I knew
We were meant to be as one

Was tired of running out of luck
Thinking 'bout giving up yeah
Didn't know what to do
Then there was you

And everything went from wrong to right
And the stars came out and filled up the sky
The music you were playing really blew my mind
It was love at first sight

'Cause baby when I heard you
For the first time
I knew we were meant to be as one

And everything went from wrong to right
And the stars came out and filled up the sky
The music you were playing really blew my mind
It was love at first sight

New Kylie Video, "Get Outta My Way"

Today Kylie's new music video was released for her second single off her "Aphrodite" album, "Get Outta My Way." It's pretty much a typical Kylie video...everything is beautiful (herself, her dancers, the set, the costumes, the choreography) but there isn't anymore substance to the video (a la a Madonna or GaGa video). Sometimes though beauty is only skin deep and it's nice to just watch something pretty. Enjoy!

This Is What'll Happen If You Ain't Giving Your Girl What She Needs

So I thought I'd post a link to watch Kylie's performance of "Get Outta My Way" on "America's Got Talent" from last night (since I mentioned it in my post yesterday). It's actually a pretty good performance...she looks great and sounds amazing.

The choreography is also really exciting, as is the montage on the screen in back of her showing images of Kylie throughout the years. This song was actually never one of my favorites on the album, but this actually made me like the song better. And that, my friends, is the mark of a great performance. Enjoy!

Dance, It's All I Wanna Do So Won't You Dance

Today Kylie Minogue performs "Get Outta My Way," the second single off her new album "Aphrodite," on the TV show "America's Get Talent." This is her first live performance on U.S. TV in support of the "Aphrodite" album. In honor of this, I decided to share my thoughts on the Australian singer's latest effort (after the jump).

Welcome!

Hello all! My name is Mike...I'm 23 (about to be 24 in...13 days) and i LOVE music. specifically pop music. even more specifically dance-centered pop music. even more specifically dance-centered pop music by strong female artists.

This blog is not meant to be a Perez Hilton type of blog...in fact, you'll probably hardly read anything about the personal lives of any musical artists on here. Rather, it's about my personal opinions on performances, albums, songs and careers of the women I admire and respect in the music business.

My all time favorite artist is Madonna...


...Followed closely by Lady GaGa...


...Kylie Minogue...


...And finally, Robyn


So you will most likely be reading a lot of posts that have to do with these four. Out of all the strong female pop artists out there, why these four you ask? well besides the fact that they're all gay icons and all have really fun, catchy, danceable music that's relatable, they each have a very deep meaning to me personally in their own way.

Madonna set the bar for what the perfect female pop star strives to be...without her, there would be no GaGa, Kylie, or Robyn...or Britney, Christina, and Katy Perry for that matter. She was one of the pioneers of the music video and changed the way musical artists are marketed and concerts are performed. Lady GaGa's current Monster Ball Tour would be nothing without Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour in 1990 to pave the way. Not only that, but she took a stand for things she believed in, especially female empowerment and gay rights. She is known as a bitch, and she probably is, but strong women in our culture are often labeled that way because they intimidate. i have been a Madonna fan since i was 9 years old...there is no one like her and no one will ever be like her.

Lady GaGa has only been around for a couple of years, yet her mark on pop music and pop culture is undeniable. every other pop star now is trying to out-gaga lady gaga (wearing outrageous outfits, putting together elaborate performances, making big budget epic music videos, etc). yet, she does has it all: she has an incredible voice, she writes her own music that is both lyrically rich and melodically catchy, she plays the piano, she dances her ass off, and she wears costumes and outfits no one has ever seen before. plus, her explicit support of gay rights even surpasses madonna's back in the day...as a relatively new artist, she has already put her career on the line by being vehemently outspoken against homophobia and the unequal treatment of the gay community. not only that, but she cares more about her fans than any other pop star i have seen around in a while. being one of her "little monsters" make you feel like you're part of a community who accepts you for who you are no matter what.

Kylie is not a great dancer and doesn't write most of her music, but she has an incredible voice. more importantly, her music is pure fun. sometimes you dont want to listen to music without a lot of weight and meaning behind it. if im in a happy (or sad) mood, sometimes i just want to hear a beautiful voice singing about dancing and love.

Finally, robyn is an incredible songwriter who completely reinvented herself since her teeny bopper "show me love" days in the 90s. out of all these women, her music is perhaps most relatable because she writes about love and heartbreak so truthfully. if you have ever liked someone and your feelings for them have not been returned, listen to her song "Be Mine!"...no other pop star sings about these kind of subjects period, let alone as eloquently as Robyn does.

Aside from these 4 women, you will no doubt see some posts pop up here and there about some of the other female pop stars I admire such as Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Alison Goldfrapp of Goldfrapp, Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, and Janet Jackson, among others. So I hope you enjoy this blog and feel free to comment if you agree or disagree with my opinions.

Night!