is the undisputed Princess of Pop. With era-defining hits such as 1987’s ‘I Should Be So Lucky’, 2001’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ and 2023’s ‘Padam Padam’, the Aussie songstress has managed to maintain her status as a Main Pop Girl for almost four decades. But that’s not to say the road to icon status has always been easy. The 90s, for all intents and purposes, were filled with critical and commercial setbacks. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight that we can look back at this period and recognise just how important it was in shaping her 2000s renaissance.
The centrepiece of her output during this period is 1997’s . Her sixth studio album, a record which capitalised on the Britpop movement led by the likes of Blur and Oasis, was a far cry from what came before. The 12-track LP also touched on the emerging trip-hop sounds that would truly reach the mainstream shortly after with Madonna’s Ray of Light and All Saints’ ‘Pure Shores’.
It was a departure from the commercial hits and girl-next-door image manufactured by Stock Aitken Waterman – Minogue’s main collaborators up until this point. This reinvention actually sparked life in 1995, when the singer teamed up with fellow Australian and alt-rock frontman Nick Cave. The pair released the brilliant ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ to critical acclaim and befuddlement. It kickstarted what became known as the “Indie Kylie” era, and it was cemented with .
Lead single ‘Some Kind of Bliss’ christened this new chapter with guitars, restless percussion and a far less polished vocal production than fans were used to. It wasn’t an obvious first single, and that was precisely the point. Here was a pop star rejecting the cookie-cutter identity that had made her a household name. Yet despite extensive promotion, the track failed to light up the charts. It was her lowest entry on the Australian Singles Chart for some time, scraping into the top 30. It peaked at a modest 22 in the UK. Audiences didn’t know how to feel about this bold redirection.
A woman of many eras
Follow-up ‘Did It Again’ was sharper and more immediate, and fared better with the public. In its accompanying music video, Minogue pokes fun at the different versions of herself the public had created. We meet “Cute Kylie”, “Dance Kylie”, “Sex Kylie” and the latest iteration, “Indie Kylie”. It was playful, but the message was clear: she was done with being pigeonholed.
That conflict runs through the rest of the album. On opening track ‘Too Far’, Minogue delivers a frantic stream of consciousness as if sounding trapped inside her own thoughts. “Can I smash all of this open?/Can I pass the hurt with a little pain?/Wanna see all of it crumble”, she contemplates over jittery electronics. Elsewhere, ‘Limbo’ captures the frustration of feeling stuck between personal freedom and public expectation. This isn’t the carefree Minogue of ‘Better the Devil You Know’. She is uncertain, angry and occasionally exhausted. A standout is the cheekily titled fourth and final single, ‘Cowboy Style’. This unexpectedly psychedelic number infuses Celtic strings with Middle Eastern flourishes. The influence of Björk and even The Beatles is evident.
Commercially, the album failed to match the heights of her earlier successes. It broke the top five in Australia and the top 10 in the UK. Critics were divided and the public appeared confused by a Minogue who no longer wanted to deliver accessible, radio-friendly pop. But the passing of time has been kind to and it has since become a fan favourite. It’s a pivotal part of her story and a crucial moment of artistic agency that opened the door for what came next. From the glittering disco revival of to the sleek electronic perfection of , we may very well not have got there without this initial pivot.
Today, the album feels less like an anomaly and more like the foundation of modern Kylie. Its fingerprints are all over the next three decades of her musical output. From her playful vocal delivery to her confidence in shifting between genres, is the work of an artist tearing up the pop rulebook while the world watches in confusion. Nearly 30 years on, we finally understand what she was trying to tell us: Kylie Minogue was never just lucky – she was fearless.
This is a feature appearing in the September/October 2026 issue of Attitude, available on digital platforms and in print now.