The album is the singer’s most ingratiating collection of dance-pop songs since Aphrodite.
"Article published in Slant Magazine. Author: Alexa Camp."
If Kylie Minogue’s Tension generated its, well, tension from its fluctuations between propulsive electro-pop and breezy synth-pop, the album’s sequel, Tension II, fully commits to the former. “Padam Padam” is a direct influence here, with the slinky, undulating synths and robotic vocal hooks of tracks like “Kiss Bang Bang” and “Hello,” an outtake from the original sessions, clearly indebted to that sleeper hit from Tension.
The new album, which could have easily been called More Tension, is Minogue’s most shamelessly ingratiating collection of dance-pop songs since 2010’s Aphrodite—maybe even 2001’s Fever. The Aussie pop singer has, admirably, never before tried to replicate that album’s global smash, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” but the frothy “Diamonds,” with its unrelenting bassline and earworm vocable, makes a valiant attempt. Elsewhere, the rollicking bass and string sample of “Taboo” nods to another infectious club anthem from the beginning of the century: Madonna’s “Hung Up.”
Lyrically, Tension II sticks largely to themes of fun, flirting, and fashion (take a shot every time Minogue mentions a high-end label like YSL or Birkin). She pines for a friend’s lover on the standout “Someone for Me” and unapologetically makes a booty call on “Hello”: “Hello, I am at your door/I know you’re awake/Yeah, it’s close to four/Let me in.”
But lest you think that the album is all empty-calorie dance-pop, “Good as Gone” finds Minogue delivering her most gutting kiss-off to date: “Love the way I look ripped out of your arms/Who would think that losing you would be so much fun?” Paired with a deliciously wobbly bassline and live disco strings, the track is a more than worthy addition to the lineage of the mother of all breakup songs: Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”
Minogue originally planned to repackage Tension with a handful of bonus tracks, including previously released duets with Sia (the repetitive “Dance Alone”) and Orville Peck (the country-infused “Midnight Ride”). Unfortunately, these songs feel tacked on to an otherwise cohesive set. The exception is the positively electric “Edge of Saturday Night,” a collaboration with the Blessed Madonna, which features a massive piano hook and a breathless bridge that any pop girl half Minogue’s age would kill for. Swap it with, say, “Dance to the Music,” which is about as generic as its title suggests, and Tension II would be an even stronger album than its predecessor.
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