Kylie - Aphrodite

Yes people, I'm back! I won't babble about what happened to me while I was gone 'coz I don't feel like it and you wouldn't wanna hear it, so I'll just write.

Kylie, Kylie, Kylie. I wasn't blogging about English songs that much when Aphrodite (the single) was literally unleashed, but I clearly remember professing my love for it upon my return. So why not write my first album review in quite a while? Hmmm.

One thing I miss about a lot of Western singles and albums is that I don't have to tell the artists off about such basic things - no more questioning where the melody is and giving lessons in cohesion or even lack of vocal ability, no more kicking and screaming 'coz the production sucks. For seasoned "professionals" like Kylie, these things are natural - my only business is whether the songs themselves are good and if I like them.


I remember just starting my sojourn into the wonderful world of pop music when X came out, and I remember not listening to it for months but when I did, my jaw dropped. I've heard all the standard Kylie singles (who hasn't?) and I liked some of what I heard, but I know for a fact that I personally never become a huge fan of an artist until I myself experience an album release. And here it is.

Megamixes and samplers usually don't do justice to new albums (see: GA's Out of Control), but holy crap I was in love with the megamix and I'm practically worshipping the album - it's like you get the Koreans' ability of making bad songs sound good for teasers and use it on good songs. YESSSSSSSSS.

All The Lovers is, in one word, calming. It's epic, yes, and Kylie's vocals are nice and light, but put all those together and you get something very calming. It most certainly doesn't hit you over the head because this is Kylie, she doesn't do hitting-over-the-head anymore, she does blowing you away. All the Lovers is solid proof that you don't have to assume your listeners have ADD to be able to make a good pop song. The running synth lines and the possibly cheesy but not cheesy background vocals finish everything off - spectacular.

The people who didn't like Get Outta My Way when they heard it on the megamix are now eating their words - I TOLD YOU IT WAS BRILLIANT. While everyone was raving about other songs, I was rejoicing Get Outta My Way and the fact that it's the second single. It's a contrast to Aphrodite in the sense that it's nice and fun and cheery while Aphodite is epic and Kylie's saying "I'm the goddess - worship me," but they're both still very light - even if Get Outta My Way is cheery, the instrumentals are very light, there isn't a lot of it. The song as a whole, in Filipino is "Bihasa" - Kylie knows what the hell she's doing on this, and it takes a certain skill to pull it off. I love the piano loop, everything about the instrumental, and the melody just blows me away - how there's a mini-explosion on the transition from the verse to the chorus.

I'm not feeling the verses of Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love), but I like the chorus - it's very Kylie. Reminds me a bit of Stars on X. That and I LOVE the middle 8. Which reminds me, I better keep track of how many brilliant middle 8s there are on this album - that's one, and two. The only part of Closer that I really love is the percussion part. The verses and the melody's OK, really freaky and sci-fi-ish, but it's a matter of taste for me. I like the percussion part because it's crisp and it has conviction, I like convincing percussion parts.

Everything Is Beautiful is another really Kylie song (I think?) - it sounds like something I think my dad will like. It sounds very British, ala-Robbie Williams (actually, a lot like Robbie), then you have Kylie's signature elements like the running synth line and the crisp percussion parts throughout the entire album - I like it, A LOT. OK it's a Robbie melody slapped on a Kylie instrumental, that's it.

I hope no one kills me for saying this but parts of Aphrodite remind me of After School's Bang!. The drum rolls and actually even the melody of the verses really sound like the AS song to my ears. The chorus of course is all Kylie, even if it goes through me a bit. It's much more dynamic than Bang!, and I think that makes the song for me - I like dynamics, and the drum rolls hit a soft spot.

I love the synths on Illusion, they're so Euro. Other than that I have mixed feelings - it's OK, but nothing special. The melody sounds a bit resonant to my ears, but I do like the string section on the middle 8 and how the synths play a big part on the chorus. Better Than Today has very interesting synths at the beginning, but the song sounds a lot like something for the sound track of this American chick-flick that they play at the end of the movie just before the credits roll and they show this slideshow of outtakes or whatever. I'm serious!

Too Much was one of the songs I was initially bracing myself for when I heard the megamix, and I still wasn't ready. I love how it just kinda explodes and here we go again with the very crisp percussion line - can I die now? It's sooooooo Kylie. The guitar line at the beginning of Cupid Boy reminds me of Since You've Been Gone. I believe this was the song a lot of people were freaking out over when the megamix came out, but I don't know, I'm not feeling it. I mean yeah it's like a more intense Aphrodite with a guitar line and all sorts of stuff running around, but I'm not sold.

I LOVE the string section on Looking For An Angel, and I LOVE how the thing builds up but doesn't. And I love how it builds up then builds back down. I missed music like this, I really did. Reminds me of Aphrodite with a more prominent percussion part. Aphrodite wraps up with Can't Beat the Feeling, and I'm blown away - it's a lot like Get Outta My Way, only different. (duh? duh.) It's fun, and I love the synths.

You can't just read a few reviews and get the sound from there, trust me when I say you have to hear Aphrodite to really feel it. You do!

Best Track: Get Outta My Way or Everything Is Beautiful
Better Tracks: Aphrodite, All The Lovers, Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love), Too Much
Worst Track: None of them.
4.9/5