Kylie Minogue shows the pop world how it’s done with Padam Padam takeover
Kylie Minogue’s song Padam Padam has taken the world by storm and she is also cashing in on the revival of an old school music item.
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Kylie Minogue may be blowing up on TikTok with Padam Padam but she is also cashing in on the revival of the old school cassette.
The pop superstar has announced another run of cassingles of her smash hit to meet demand from seasoned fans and younger music lovers who are embracing the troublesome format which was killed off by the arrival of the CD in the 80s.
“Lovers! Due to exceptional demand we have added a final run of Padam Padam single cassettes,” she posted.
Australian fans can order the cassingle from the UK for $6.44.
Most artists are now offering a limited run of cassettes for their new releases to cash in on the nostalgic revival of the tape, from Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus to Minogue’s sister Dannii, whose glitter-filled version of the 20th anniversary reissue of her Neon Nights record sold out within days.
“Vintage (formats) have had a resurgence,” Danni said last week. “My son kept asking me how do cassettes work; I had to teach him the pencil trick.
“They have become a big thing. It’s nostalgia for older people like myself but for younger kids, there’s nothing like a physical release...it’s cool.”
No one could have predicted Kylie Minogue would be responsible for giving the world a valuable linguistics lesson in 2023 with her game-changing hit Padam Padam.
Minogue and her songwriting team’s ingenious use of onomatopoeia has already made it into the Urban Dictionary in less than a month since the song’s release.
“Padam: An onomatopoeia for the sound a heartbeat makes when you’re a diva who’s slaying, coined by Kylie Minogue,” reads the dictionary entry.
Padam has also become a verb, a dance craze, “it’s not a word, it’s a lifestyle” and ushered in a pop culture “padamic” with Minogue as its sexy, red-hot conductor.
This latest career resurgence of the people’s princess of pop is perhaps her most remarkable because of its wild unpredictability.
The global music industry overlords have no track record of championing, let alone supporting, the ambitions of female artists in their 50s to keep giving pop music a red-hot crack.
And yet here we are in 2023, with Minogue defiantly and brilliantly staring down the conventions imposed by pop’s gatekeepers who decreed decades ago that female artists would have a short shelf life.
“The last time Australia’s big commercial radio networks – Nova, KIIS and Hit – added the new single from a 55-year-old female pop singer across the board was probably … never,” said one industry insider.
“She hasn’t had a big pop moment like this since Can’t Get You Out Of My Head or All The Lovers.
“Whether this song reaches No. 1 or not, everyone will know this song because the people who aren’t on TikTok, will hear it on radio.”
Minogue’s sister Dannii, who is also back in the spotlight with the 20th anniversary reissue of her Neon Nights album, shone a light this week on Padam Padam’s takeover of all the airwaves.
The younger Minogue pop princess shared how she filmed her son Ethan singing along when they heard it during a frantic grocery shop at their local supermarket in Melbourne.
“I was sneakingly filming Ethan and sending it to Kylie, which she loved,” she told The Morning Show.
Padam Padam, the first taste of Kylie’s 16th studio album Tension to be released in September, had all the essential ingredients to become a pop culture viral sensation.
A title which was meme-worthy and an earworm of a hook; just try getting Padam Padam out of your head after reading those two words.
A neon-soaked video featuring choreography which was easily imitated by all of the ages and, in turn, inspired content creators to make up their own moves.
It clocks in at 2:46 minutes; pop’s preferred song length in 2023 is under three minutes.
And at the heart of it all, Kylie wearing figure-hugging red outfits, a billowing superheroine cape and those knee-high boots which fans and fashionistas have been coveting since the video, directed by legendary British filmmaker Sophie Muller, dropped in May.
The world’s pop heart is beating in sync with Padam Padam as it builds momentum through the global music ecosystem.
The song is generating millions of videos on TikTok and is racing up both the global and Australian viral charts on Spotify, making Kylie a stream queen for the first time in her illustrious career.
Those 15 million plus streams for the song and video have added up to strong showings on the mainstream pop charts; the song is likely to jump into the top 30 here this week. Her last decent showing on the ARIA singles chart was in 2012 when Timebomb peaked at No. 12.
After her showstopping surprise cameo performance at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 screaming, singing fans last weekend during Capital Radio’s Summertime Ball, Padam Padam is poised to break into the UK top 10 this week.
And it hit the top 10 on the Billboard’s Dance/Electronic chart in the US.
Network Ten entertainment editor – and diehard Kylie fangirl – Angela Bishop said the Australian pop superstar’s success was a testament to her staying true to her dance pop lane rather than chasing trends.
“Our girl Kylie just has this magic power to put out the right song at the right time; she did it with Can’t Get You Out of My Head and All The Lovers,” Bishop said.
“And you can tell it’s Kylie. You can be cynical with music releases these days that there’s a whole team of people behind it telling the artist how to sound and what their look should be but Kylie is so savvy at following her gut.”
Padam Padam’s release was also perfectly timed for her biggest champions, dropping a week before Pride Month celebrations.
Minogue has carefully cultivated an authentic relationship with her millions of “Lovers” on social media, sharing their reactions and content as well as regular gratitude posts acknowledging their loyalty and support.
WHAT??? LOVERS!!!
— Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) May 28, 2023
â¤ï¸Padam Padamâ¤ï¸ is Number One on The Big Top 40! 😠Thank you, THANK YOU!!! @CapitalOfficialpic.twitter.com/nMVIg9J82x
“Kylie actually cares about her fans, we’ve seen that up close at events or on red carpets with the time she takes with them and now with social media, she makes sure to shout out their videos, to make them feel seen and that she appreciates it,” Bishop said.
“That love to fans has been paid back 100 fold.”
Underlying Padam’s appeal is the undeniable sexiness of both the song’s music and lyrics – “I know you wanna take me home, Padam, and take off all my clothes” – and the newly single superstar’s sizzling performance of it.
Every Lover wants our pop princess to find her prince.
“It’s so sexy,” Bishop said. “That’s what pop music has been about for decades, celebrating the magic of that initial attraction to someone. That is something that is so unabashedly, unapologetically Kylie.”
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