Aussie pop star gets huge US honour

One of Australia’s biggest exports will get a huge US honours today - and the pop star herself has said it’s “mind blowing”.

Australian musical superstar Kylie Minogue has got lots of honours in her life, but perhaps none quite literally as big as this.

On Friday night in the US, New York’s 102 storey high Empire State Building will be lit in the Australian green and gold colours in celebration of Our Kylie.

At an event at the iconic structure on Thursday, New York time, Minogue said it was “mind-blowing” and that she “can’t wait to see the glorious building lit up”.

The pop icon is on a roll on the US. While she’s always been known of stateside, her light hasn’t always shone as bright in the US as in Australia or Europe, outside of the occasional hit (two top 10s, to be exact: The Loco-Motion in 1988, and Can’t Get You Out of My Head in 2001).

But then came 2023’s global hit Padam Padam.

Kylie Minogue performing at Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena, as part of her Tension tour on February 18, 2025. Picture: Frontier Touring/Erik Melvin

The Tension tour is currently heading across the US and Canada. Picture: Frontier Touring/Erik Melvin

It became her first song to break the top 10 of the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It then topped the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay charts as radio stations across the US picked the electro-pop banger up.

She performed at November’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City which is broadcast live across America.

The Empire State Building will be lit up in green and gold on Friday to celebrate two Australia icons: Kylie Minogue end the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Then she was cast in hit Netflix comedy crime caper The Residence. She plays herself, performing at astate dinner for the Australian prime minister in the White House when a murder occurs.

That’s been wowing audiences in the US. The show includes the memorable line from Minogue’s character, exasperated at having to perform all night: “I have sung Can’t Get You Outta My Head seven times … seven f****** times”.

Minogue is currently in the middle of the North American leg of her Tension tour - her first-ever American arena tour.

She will play two nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden, including the night the Empire State Building is lit up.

“Two nights at MSG which is just mind-blowing but to be lighting up the Empire State Building in green and gold – thank you so much,” Minogue said.

Kylie looking at a model of what the lights on the Empire State Building will look like when they go green and gold on Friday. Picture: Benedict Brook

Kylie said her New York stop over had been “mind-blowing”. Picture: Benedict Brook

Minogue switched on the green and gold lights on a miniature Empire State Building with Australia’s consul general in New York Heather Ridout, ahead of the real thing on Friday.

“I feel like everyone is shining in their individual ways and I love to feel and see around me everyone being the best versions of themselves,” Minogue added.

“Thank you for adding some sparkle to my day and I can’t wait to see the glorious building lit up.”

Kylie Minogue also performed Padam Padam at last year Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)

The green and gold Aussie illumination of the 93-year-old landmark is also in honour of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation which aims to preserve the World Heritage listed coral reef.

“I have had the pleasure and privilege of visiting the Great Barrier Reef on a few occasions and that’s my happy place – to be feeling alive in the sea,” Minogue said.

“I can’t wait to get back there again.”

Ms Ridout said it was an “honour to be part of this terrific ceremony and to do it with icons like Kylie Minogue and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.”

Kylie Minogue appears in the new Netflix series The Residence which has been one of the streamer’s most popular US shows. Picture: Netflix.

The Empire State Building is, by default, lit up in shimmering white lights. But several times a month it takes on a different hue, often to celebrate public holidays, major events or charities – or, on this occasion, an Aussie icon.

Minogue’s Tension tour opened in Perth in February, the first of nine dates in Australia.

The tour will play 70 dates worldwide taking Minogue to Asia, Europe and North and Latin America.

As well as big cities like London, New York, Berlin, Tokyo and Paris the actor turned music star will play smaller cities including Odense in Denmark, Tallinn in Estonia, Kaunas in Lithuania and Montevideo in Uruguay.