Golden (Kylie Minogue album)
Golden is the fourteenth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. On 6 April 2018, BMG Rights Management and Minogue's company Darenote made it available in a variety of formats. This is Minogue's first album with BMG, and her first musical release since Kylie Christmas (2015). Minogue began work on the album in London and Los Angeles before briefly visiting Nashville. She was inspired by Nashville's culture and music, particularly its country music influences. Inspired by her journey, she enlisted several producers to create new music, including Ash Howes, Richard "Biff" Stannard, Sky Adams, Alex Smith, and Mark Taylor, among others.
Golden
6 April 2018
2017
40:33
- Ash Howes
- Richard "Biff" Stannard
- Sky Adams
- Lindsay Rimes
- Jesse Frasure
- Jon Green
- Alex Smith
- Mark Taylor
- Eg White
- Samuel Dixon
- Charlie Russel
- Seton Daunt
Golden represents Minogue's musical shift away from traditional dance-pop music and towards country-infused pop and dance music. Minogue co-wrote every song on the album, which features lyrics about failed relationships, death, escapism, family, and freedom. Music critics praised Minogue's vulnerability and honesty, as well as her songwriting abilities, but they were divided on the composition and overall production standards. Commercially, the album was a success, reaching number one in Australia, Scotland, and the United Kingdom, and earning certification in the latter. The album also made the top ten in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Hungary.
Golden produced six singles, including "Dancing," "Stop Me from Falling," "Golden", "A Lifetime to Repair," "Music's Too Sad Without You," and "Sincerely Yours." Minogue appeared at a number of live shows and events to promote the album, primarily in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Minogue also embarked on two concert tours, the first was Kylie Presents Golden, a promotional tour of Europe and the United States that preceded the album's release in March 2014, and her Golden Tour, which traveled throughout Europe and Australia. The critically and commercially successful tour was followed by a live audio and video release on 6 December 2019.
Background and production[edit]
Between 2014 and 2017, Minogue continued to appear as a featured artist in the works of Giorgio Moroder and Fernando Garibay, eventually branching out into film and television.[1][2] In 2016, Minogue released Kylie Christmas: Snow Queen Edition, a repackaged version of her previous year's studio album and her final Parlophone release.[3][4] Minogue signed a deal with BMG Rights Management in February 2017 to release new music while keeping ownership of all of her material.[5] Minogue and BMG agreed in December to release her new album in Australia and New Zealand through Mushroom Music Labels' subsidiary Liberator Music.[6]
Throughout 2017, Minogue worked on new songs with Amy Wadge, Sky Adams, DJ Fresh, Nathan Chapman, Richard "Biff" Stannard, The Invisible Men, and Karen Poole.[7][8][9] Initial sessions began in London and Los Angeles, with Minogue describing the material as "synth-pop dance songs" that her fans would "expect from her".[10] However, Minogue's A&R manager Jamie Nelson suggested that she try country music, to which she agreed.[11][12] In July 2017, she spent two weeks in Nashville recording four songs, and she described how "it all started to make sense. We were able to take inspiration from this country and incorporate it back into my life."[10]
She described the end result as "Dolly Parton standing on a dance floor" and added, "I did a lot of work on the album before that, but Nashville had a profound effect on me."[7][10] Minogue co-wrote every song on Golden, which marks her first time doing so since 1997's Impossible Princess.[13] Minogue "kept writing songs" without intending to, and the results were very "cathartic"; additionally, the singer believed the song's lyrics came across as more "authentic" and "story-telling" than her previous work. In Nashville, she described her songwriting process as "therapy".[10][14]
Release and formats[edit]
Golden was released in a variety of formats on Minogue's website on 6 April 2018.[23] It is her fourteenth studio release, and the first from BMG Rights Management and Minogue's company Darenote.[24] The standard album contains 12 tracks totalling more than 40 minutes in length, while the deluxe edition includes four additional songs: "Lost Without You", "Every Little Part of Me", "Rollin'", and "Low Blow". Pre-release versions included a signed autograph.[25] Both the standard and deluxe editions include slipcases, digipacks, and a mediabook.[26]
There were also five vinyl variants available: a standard black vinyl, a clear vinyl with gatefold packaging, a picture disc, a limited white test pressing of the album, and a coffee-table book with 30 large gloss pages containing both the vinyl and standard disc.[27] With the exception of the picture disc and white test pressing versions, each vinyl included a digital copy of the album.[27] Four cassette tapes were also released: a black tape, a gold tape, a collectors tape featuring a special message from Minogue, and a Christmas-themed collectors tape.[28] The latter two cassette versions were created so that Shazam users could access exclusive content.[28] Golden was also available in digital and streaming formats, including the standard and deluxe edition.[29][30]
Leif Podhajsky, an Australian art director and graphic designer, developed the creative direction and design for Golden, while British photographer Simon Emmett took the photographs.[31] In a lengthy article about the artwork, Idolator's Mike Wass wrote, "She casually poses on a sofa with tousled hair and minimal make-up. There's even a (sequined) guitar next to her, not an instrument you would normally associate with the Queen of dance/pop."[32]
Commercial performance[edit]
Golden was a commercial success. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 48,032 album-equivalent units; 1,870 of those units were taken from sales-equivalent streams as reported by Music Week.[84] The album became Minogue's sixth number one and her first since Aphrodite (2010).[85] Golden outsold its closest competitor and previous week's number one, The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, by 13,000 units according to the Official Charts Company.[85] The album also debuted at number-one on the UK Vinyl Albums Chart with 6,400 records sold, becoming fastest selling vinyl album of 2018 in the region.[85]
Furthermore, Golden became the year's fastest-selling cassette, outselling the best-selling artist album cassette of 2017 in its first week of release.[85] Prior to the album's release, Adam Sherwin of I reported that all 4,000 limited edition Golden cassettes had sold out on pre-order, with Minogue's first week cassette sales in the UK totalling 2,600.[86][87] Sherwin stated that the cassette format, once thought to be "obsolete," is experiencing a revival thanks to a new audience of "hipsters and music nostalgists" who value cassettes' "coffee table appeal."[86] By September 2023, the album had sold 179,872 copies in the United Kingdom, and has been certified gold by the British Photographic Industry (BPI) for exceeding sales of 100,000 units.[88]
Golden debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart in her native Australia, with 8,745 sales, becoming her fifth studio album to reach the top and making Golden Minogue's first album to peak at number one in both the United Kingdom and Australia in 17 years, a feat she previously accomplished with Fever (2001).[89][90] It then debuted at the top of the Australian Artist Albums Chart and the country's Digital Albums Chart.[91][92] In New Zealand, it peaked at number 16 on the regional albums chart.[93] In Japan, Golden debuted at number 14 on the daily Oricon Albums Chart, number 64 on the weekly chart with 1,052 physical sales, number 10 on the Western Albums Chart, and number 18 on the Digital Albums Chart, selling 586 digital units.[94][95][96][97][98]
In Italy, the album debuted at number 14 on the Italian Albums Chart.[99] In France, Golden debuted at number 33 in the national album charts, with 2,800 total sales in its first week.[100] In Belgium, it debuted at number four and twelve on the albums charts for Flanders and Wallonia.[101][102] In Scandinavia, Golden debuted at number 38 on the Swedish Albums Chart and 47 on the Finnish Albums Chart.[103][104] In Germany, it debuted at number three on the albums chart, becoming her second highest-charting album after Aphrodite and trailing only 2001's Fever.[105] In the Netherlands, the album debuted at number eighteen on the Dutch Album Top 100 and sixth on the vinyl chart.[106] In the United States, Golden opened at number 64 on the Billboard 200, exceeding 10,000 album-equivalent units, of which 8,000 were from pure album sales.[107] It also reached number 33 on Billboard's Canadian Albums Chart.[108]
Personnel details were sourced from the Golden liner notes booklet.[26]
Performers and musicians
Technical
Design