1997: The Minogue Sisters
We all know that the nineties had an unbeatable selection of emerging and established musicians releasing albums. 1997 was great year for music, we saw artists like Björk, Erykah Badu, and Blur all release career defining work while acts like All Saints, Destiny’s Child, and Missy Elliott were making their debut on to the scene.
In this piece, I want to focus on two sisters who would go on to release albums in this year, both of which I consider to be underrated - either in the general landscape of music or in their discography overall. They are the Minogue sisters; Kylie and Dannii Minogue.
Kylie Minogue I’m sure we’re all aware of, the pop princess of both Australia and the UK, she has been scoring hits since her musical debut in the late eighties with “I Should Be So Lucky”, and has constantly reinvented herself both aesthetically and sonically since. While I’m not the biggest fan of her late eighties or very early nineties releases, I can appreciate that they helped to propel her into the musical stardom she experiences now, my own interest in her music doesn’t peak until 1994 when she releases “Kylie Minogue”.
As for Dannii, I had always known of her, mainly as Kylie’s sister but also from her work on television. It wasn’t until recently I decided to actively listen to any of her work, growing up in 2000s Britain I’d hear a few singles from “Neon Nights” on the radio but that was it. It’s actually a fairly decent pop album, following in the same vein as her sister with the disco-esque pop sound, which really suits both sisters’ voices. I think a lot of people unfairly dismiss Dannii when it comes to her musical ventures because she is Kylie’s sister however “Neon Nights”, and “Girl” as we’re about to discuss, are great pop albums that deserve to be revisited.
So, it’s 1997, Kylie releases “Impossible Princess” and Dannii releases “Girl”. The visuals for the albums are striking, both are very atmosphere in their own context; Kylie’s is darker and more troubled, while Dannii’s is clinically bright, tranquil, and almost dreamlike. It’s a clear case of the album covers clearly reflecting the sound of either album. Where Dannii was inspired to name her album Girl, I’m not sure, however Kylie’s is a reference to Billy Childish’s work Poems to Break the Hearts of the Impossible Princesses. There was also a moment during Impossible Princess’ initial release in the UK where it had to be renamed to Kylie Minogue, as it coincided with the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. So, for moment Kylie Minogue had three self-titled albums, two of which were released consecutively.
The mid-90s solidified Kylie’s shift from ‘girl next door’ type pop to the more experimental mature sound we hear in 1994, where she’d finally parted ways with Stock and Waterman (formerly Stock Aitken Waterman), and would step into more control over her songwriting and production, gaining a lot more free reign than before. In terms of music, both albums a pretty experimental for either sister. Kylie’s incorporates more live instrumentation and merges other genres like Alt Rock, while Dannii’s is completely electronic and is a pop take on what was emerging from the British club scene. Both albums hear the sisters play with spoken word on songs, and their light and breathlessness to their voices compliment either albums production choices, showcasing their sisters comfortability in higher-registers.
My favourite songs from Impossible Princess are:
- Too Far
- Cowboy Style
- Breathe
- I Don’t Need Anyone
- Dreams
Starting off “Impossible Princess” with “Too Far” was a bold choice, and immediately you can see why it would’ve put off a lot of listeners coming from the “I Should Be So Lucky” or “Better The Devil You Know” Kylie. It’s interesting to learn that it was one one of the first tracks written for the album, since it’s set the tone for the rest of the project. Both written and co-produced by Kylie and British duo Brothers In Rhythm, it starts off as an intense spoken word piece that evolves into a drum and bass track, that also plays with elements of breakbeat and club music.
While my favourite songs on Girl are:
- All I Wanna Do
- So in Love With Yourself
- Am I Dreaming?
- Everybody Changes Underwater
- If It Moves - Dub It
“Everybody Changes Underwater” was a pleasant surprise on the album, when I first heard it, and I practically stared at the jewel case in shock, and it is completely different to any of what Dannii had or would release in the future. It reminds me a lot of Madonna’s Ray of Light album, especially the albums opening track as well as ‘Mer Girl’. While doing some research for this piece I came across a Pitchfork review that described “Impossible Princess”, “Ray of Light”, and Janet’s “The Velvet Rope” as almost sister albums. All three albums are experiential electronic albums that explore each artists anxieties, fears, wants and are in general just very personal albums – and from what I interpret from Girl, Dannii’s album could easy join this sisterhood of albums. Having listened to each album continuously in one single session, I have to say that they do complement each other also.
Now commercial success and chart position is not something I care about, however I do find it interesting that either sister experienced commercial failure with their respective albums. “Impossible Princess” and “Girl” are both really good albums that deserved more appreciation. However, I understand that they were vastly different to what either sister had previously released, and so fans might’ve been apprehensive towards the shift. At the turn of the millennia both sisters then headed into the more disco-dance-pop sound that they’re widely associated with, Kylie with “Light Years” (2000) and Dannii with the aforementioned “Neon Nights” (2003) and never revisited the sound again. I do wonder, if either album had succeeded would they have continued to explore this experiential sound further, mixing into a pop sound that would’ve become more palatable for the mainstream – especially in Kylie’s case, however I’m grateful such a shift gave us the pop masterpiece that is “Fever” (2001). I would love to hear both sisters reflect on those albums almost 30 years later.