JAN 31, 2011 UPDATE: At the beginning of this semester, my Advanced Writing professor emailed me and said she wanted to nominate my paper for a research paper contest that only accepted professor-nominated entries. So, I had to hop back onto working on this paper and made a few changes. The version below is the newly revised version.
For my Advanced Writing class, we had to write a research paper with an argument on an issue, so I chose to discuss Kylie Minogue and Madonna. I'm posting this due to popular request.
For my Advanced Writing class, we had to write a research paper with an argument on an issue, so I chose to discuss Kylie Minogue and Madonna. I'm posting this due to popular request.
To get into it, I will mainly be discussing Madonna's "Erotica" from Erotica and Kylie's "All the Lovers" from Aphrodite, so I would suggest checking the songs out below in order for you to get a feel of them before my analysis. Generally, if you've never heard a song before, I would also impress you to listen to the song for a play before watching the music video, so you can get your own image and feel for it before you view someone else's translation. I suggest the same for these two songs. I also feel I must WARN that both videos tend to be quite SEXUAL and SENSUAL in nature.
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| Kylie with her OBE |
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| Charlene from Neighbours |
Initially, Kylie stood free of being critically assimilate to Madonna as she gained popularity with her character Charlene Mitchell on the Australian television soap opera Neighbours. This led to her eventual break into pop music in the late 1980s (“Kylie Attends”) with the single “I Should Be So Lucky,” whose accompanying video helped her adopt a girl-next-door image, eventually known as CuteKylie (Sutherland and Ellis 58). She immediately skyrocketed to international success and still remains strong, as her latest album release in July 2010, Aphrodite, reached number one on the U.K. album chart (“Featured”) and number two on the Australian chart (“Kylie Minogue”).
Her Madonna comparison began with the release of her Rhythm of Love album in 1990, which introduced the world to the phase known as SexKylie. At the time, Kylie “wanted to develop, to experience different things and express [her]self beyond primary colours […] [She] was twenty-one and growing up. [Her] own sexual revolution” (Baker and Minogue 41). The sexual direction she took was mostly sparked from her recent relationship with INXS singer Michael Hutchence who taught her the power of sexuality (Baker and Minogue 50). Regardless of her own ambitions, this change in persona from CuteKylie and shared similarities of her Rhythm of Love Tour to Madonna’s Blond Ambition World Tour led many to regard Kylie as a “Madonna wannabe” (Baker and Minogue 85, 86; Baron 52), a term often used in negative dismissal of an artist’s credibility and originality.
For a modern example, Lady Gaga is frequently coined the same, especially for her “Alejandro” music video’s use of Catholic symbols (“Lady”), which Madonna already exhausted in her “Like A Prayer” music video, on her Confessions Tour, and on several other occasions (“Religious”). In cultural critic Camille Paglia’s article “Lady Gaga and the Death of Sex” for The Sunday Times, she continues referencing the “Alejandro” music video, citing “Gaga has borrowed heavily from Madonna.” The article trashes Gaga, strongly posing her as a “copycat” and failing to mention anything that makes Gaga valuable as a standalone artist. Paglia’s criticism limits her perception of Gaga’s individual potential. In this instance, a cultural critic places Gaga under Madonna’s shadow, just as so many critics have done with Kylie. In fact, in research for this paper, no scholarly article could be found about Kylie without comparison to Madonna. To cling to such arguments that certain pop artists are merely borrowing from Madonna narrows one’s ability to see what those artists can contribute themselves, and they potentially miss the artists’ own valuable offerings.
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| Blond Ambition World Tour, 1990 |
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| Rhythm of Love Tour, 1991 |
In support of her comments, this paper proposes that despite similarities in artistic pattern between Kylie and Madonna, the two are separate in the meaning and purpose of their work and Kylie is credible as an artist in her own right with artistic value that extends beyond the limiting label of a wannabe. Madonna presents the use of sexuality to gain power until her theme’s peak with the release of Erotica in 1992, while Kylie’s musical artistry stands apart in its mission to gain love and express vulnerability until her artistic message’s pending peak with Aphrodite. The lead singles from both albums, “Erotica” from Erotica and “All the Lovers” from Aphrodite, will be analyzed in support of these themes.
To separate the women further, both artists’ imitation of societal expectations of gender roles, each fulfilling the opposite of the other, reflects their overarching themes and the polarity between them, as supported by a music video study by Jennifer Hurley. While a doctoral student at Deankin University in Geelong, Australia, Hurley worked with Media Studies students of secondary education and reported the students’ description “of Madonna as 'masculine', when [asked] to name pop stars who they thought were either feminine or masculine. [They] referred to Madonna's 'attitude' […] —being assertive, active, and significant, as opposed to being submissive, passive, and insignificant— […] and muscular body as distinguishing her from other 'feminine' performers such as Kylie Minogue” (330, 331). These impressions joyride the themes of Madonna’s power and Kylie’s love. Naturally, the masculine individual is associated with power while the feminine with vulnerability.
With power as Madonna’s super-objective in her artistry, she uses tactics of sexuality in pursuit of her objective. She has played with gender roles on many occasions in order to deconstruct sexual boundaries, as shown in her music videos for “Express Yourself” (1989), where she dresses in a pin-striped suit and performs crotch grabs, and for “Justify My Love” (1990), in which a woman wears a pen-drawn mustache and Madonna kisses another woman (Hallstein 125). She does not limit the expression of one’s sexuality and demonstrates the power one has to express that sexuality. Lyrically, both songs emphasize a woman on a pedestal, informing her lover to express himself and to justify a reason for her to love him and have sex with him. In this, there is a power play that is less commonly given to the female, where she holds sexual expression hostage if the man does not reach her expectations.
Her climb with pushing these social boundaries peaked [in 1992] when she praised a variety of forms of sexuality with the release of her soft porn coffee table book Sex and the accompanying album Erotica. The album’s explicit songs and video promotion thoroughly demonstrate power through sexuality.
The opening and title track and first single establishes Madonna as a leader of sexuality, declaring to the listener, “I’ll be your mistress tonight,” and promising, “I’ll hit you with a truck/ I’ll give you love/ I’ll teach you how to… aahh.” Madonna is forward with her declaration of power as a well-versed and well-experienced guide on the listener’s journey of sexual discovery, even posing, “If I’m in charge/ And I treat you like a child/ Will you let yourself go wild […] / Give it up, do as I say.” She places herself in a position of power above the listener, putting her audience in a schoolroom to be educated “like a child.” She is the teacher with authority of the classroom. The track’s music video expands her power beyond educator to that of disciplinarian, since she sports a dominatrix outfit and samples BDSM (Bondage Dominance Submission Masochism) in many scenes.
Madonna continues her power play with gender roles in the video. In some scenes, she dresses as a feminine figure in an elegant, glittery gown and straps a group of nearly naked men together, bowed down on all fours facing the direction away from her. The image is reminiscent of sled dogs or horses pulling a carriage. In her fancy dress suggesting her womanhood, she bears a whip, declaring her as the leader and driver of her team. She once again takes the dominant role, subjecting the male figure to her rule. The men are her slaves, and she is their master. They are under her command to serve her fantasies. She maintains power over them, so they will be at her disposition for her sexual desires.
Naturally, controversy surrounded the explicit material of Sex and Erotica. In reflection of her build to Erotica and its peak of her theme, in 1995 Madonna released the single “Human Nature” from her following album Bedtime Stories (1994). The song serves as an unapologetic and direct response to those who were critical of her effort with Erotica (Rooksby 45). She picks up the controversial train labeled “sex” she has been driving and sarcastically approaches her criticizers with backing vocal statements as, “Oops I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex/ (I musta been crazy) […] / Oops I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about you.” She once again hangs sex over her audience’s head, stating they are involved in the topic, because “it’s human nature (I’m just like you).” The video reprises her role as a dominatrix in acts of BDSM, retaining her as the hand of power through the song’s conversation, repeating, “I’m not sorry,” and finally ending confrontational and cold, retorting, “Absolutely no regrets.”
Madonna steps down from her peak, remaining a power figure and convinced that what she did was right. Madonna knows what she has done and is perfectly aware of the message of power-gain through sex that she is sharing through her art.
Such heavy material contrasts to that of her “wannabe” counterpart, Kylie, who follows a theme of love throughout her career and explores vulnerability as a by-product of love. Now, in order for there to be a peak in Kylie’s theme, there must be a climb to that summit, just as there was with Madonna’s theme.
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| "I Should Be So Lucky," 1988 |
A deeper meaning of love comes from the album Kylie Minogue in 1994 with the single “Confide in Me,” whose message simply lies in its title. The song offers a more mature move for Kylie, dealing with an honest concern for another individual, whether lover or not. She is open to vulnerability, induced by empathy, as suggested by the lines, “We all get hurt by love/ And we all have our cross to bear/ But in the name of understanding now/ Our problems should be shared.” She is matured in matters socially and emotionally to include others and to consider their feelings. At the same time, she enters vulnerability by opening up and allowing herself to care enough to be the wailing wall of another individual and to love them, even if they are a stranger, “Should I offer some assistance?/ Should it matter who you are?”
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| Fever (U.S. Edition) |
Of that set list, highest potency towards her message is “Fragile,” which is yet another title that forwardly suggests its lyrics’ journey. It is the epiphany of vulnerability towards a lover in its description of potential wounds. She is so consumed with admiration and feelings towards her love interest that she claims disappointment would be her emotional undoing, “Scared of what’s to come […] / I get butterflies/ Water in my eyes/ When I think of you/ I could break in two/ ‘Cause I’m fragile when I hear your name/ Fragile when you call/ This could be the nearest thing to love.” Yet, she also does not claim that it is love. She has more maturity to gain on the subject but, eventually, she reaches her summit.
In July 2010, Kylie promoted her status to Goddess of Love with the release of the album Aphrodite, whose overall concepts enrapture the idea of love and vulnerability. A glimpse at the track list, with songs like “Cupid Boy,” “Everything is Beautiful,” and “Looking for an Angel,” is simple enough to explore its concepts of love, beauty, and the celestial, as these are recurrent associations with the goddess Aphrodite.
“All the Lovers,” Aphrodite’s opening track and lead single, portrays the epitome of Kylie’s theme of love and vulnerability, much like what “Erotica” did for Madonna’s power through sexuality. “All the Lovers” sums up the ideals of finally finding a true, honest love after so much search, “All the lovers/ That have gone before/ They don’t compare/ To you.” From the moment the song begins, Kylie reveals how strongly she feels for her lover, “Dance, it’s all I wanna do so won’t you dance,/ I’m standing here with you why won’t you move/ I’ll get inside your groove ‘cos I’m on fire […] / It hurts./ When you get too close but baby it hurts.” She loves him enough to dedicate a dance through life devoted to him. She opens up with complete honesty of her greatest desire, because she is on fire with emotion to the point that it is overwhelming, due to her vulnerability towards her lover.
The second verse encourages her lover to be open to the sensations he is feeling, coaxing, “Feel […] there’s so much here to feel […]/ Breathe […]/You’ll be next to me it’s all you need […]/ I’ll take you higher.” Kylie’s performance is sweet and caring. She is humbly begging, pleading for her benefit as well as his. She has come a long way from her self-interested concern in “What Do I Have To Do?” and has graduated to becoming a true lover. She finds the vulnerability as not just an ache or longing needing cure, but she is reaching something beyond herself, something only attainable with the companionship of another.
As the persona of Kylie understands this, she is qualified as the heavenly Aphrodite in the music video. The video begins on a skyscraper-lined city street with a flash mob stripping to white undergarments—the white, their purity in love; the revealed undergarments, the stripping of layers down to the core of an individual, where they are most vulnerable. Physically, this is also a vulnerable position, as there is nothing to cover and protect the body from harm if it is attacked, especially the vitals within the body core. Also, it reveals parts of the body that one may not be fully comfortable with exposing, since it is rarely seen to be judged and accepted by others.
Regardless, the mob is completely open to one another, participating in passionate kissing with other members and signifying their role as the lovers. When the chorus is sung for the first time, Kylie is lifted by the mob and surrounded by ascending doves, an animal sacred to Aphrodite (Berens 61). She is caressed and touched like a holy Messiah, an Aphrodite, their deliverer of love. Kylie rules as love, and the manner of loving expression from her followers shares the deep purpose that is more meaningful than the bump-and-grind presented by Madonna, the leader of lust. As the song progresses, more and more lovers hear the song of love and join the mob, until the group is nearly as tall as the skyscrapers.
Another motif throughout the video is a QR Code, a barcode-like device defined as a “two-dimensional matri[x] that represent[s] text,” even “a phone number, a URL, a paragraph or any other type of textual information” (“QR”). It is seen on a coffee cup, a milk bottle, the pavement, and banners. It is not forwardly evidenced what text is encoded in the QR Code, but it is designed the same every time it is seen, therefore, stating a repetitive message. Nonetheless, the presence of the QR Code represents the immaterial of love.
Love is not something tangible, but it exists, even on a coded frequency that is felt and registered within oneself. Its availability rests in a lover’s own desire and willingness to seek, recognize, and handle its communication. Just as anyone trying to receive the message from a QR Code must have the proper technological equipment to obtain the encoded message, the lover must be prepared and have the tools ready to access those sought messages coded in the emotional language of love, so they can recognize those communicated emotions and know how to handle them.
The location of the QR Codes demonstrates the universality of Kylie’s love message across different demographic groups, stating that love is everywhere, among everyone. The Codes on the coffee cup and the milk bottle represent love crossing the boundaries of race—the coffee distinguishes those of colored skin, while the milk denotes those of pale skin. The cup and the bottle fall and spill their liquids to show the release and freedom of seeking love beyond the container of one’s own race.
The Code on the pavement is accompanied by falling white marshmallows that symbolize the gay male community. Marshmallows are sweet and flavorful, just as the male homosexual personality is commonly connoted as being gentle and flamboyant. Furthermore, the marshmallows in the video all share the same appearance, and the clip following is of a male with an earring. The next scene is an opening briefcase with white paper falling out and a QR Code on a banner in the background. These images are representative of those of lesbian interests, since individuals aligning in that manner tend to follow more butch and masculine paths as symbolized by the defined edges of the briefcase and the papers. Also, the follow-up character shown is female to denote a female tendency. The white of the marshmallows and paper qualify the homosexual love as pure, as well. The banner is seen in later scenes as a reminder that love language is communicated through emotion and is manifested in the lovers’ physical expressions the audience views. However, the marshmallows and sheets of paper can also symbolize different body sizes—fluffy like a marshmallow or thin like paper—and qualifies everyone to love, no matter how they are physically shaped.
Returning to Kylie in the video, her role as Aphrodite is not the only deity present. Her efforts are supported by the appearance of the elephant-headed Indian god Ganesha, represented in the video by a gigantic inflatable white elephant. Ganesha is “worshipped as a guardian god, bringer of luck, and regularly invoked as the ‘Remover of Obstacles’” (Coomaraswamy 30). His presence is made during the second verse, as Kylie encourages her gathering lover followers to sense their feelings and recognize the emotions and stakes as “going higher, higher, higher.” She calls on Ganesha’s assistance as a guardian and “Remover of Obstacles” to help her lovers remove their barriers and walls they have placed around their hearts. At the same time, Ganesha hovers above as a guardian to protect from potential harm that may come when Kylie’s lovers open their hearts to the vulnerabilities she beckons them to give one another. Later in the video, when the mob of lovers has grown in height, Ganesha floats a ways off from Kylie, providing a protectant journey to new lovers on their way to join the group.
With the protection of Ganesha’s vigilance and of being lowered into the mob of lovers, Kylie is safe during the song’s bridge to softly express her vulnerability through her vocal performance, which is helped by dropping the pounding bass line and synthesizers and only backing her with a gentle piano and warm strings. She once again pleads her desire to “dance […]/ Even if it throws you to the fire.” She longs to live harmoniously with her lover and wants him to open himself to a vulnerable position, though he is fearful of it. As she comes out of the bridge, the music builds again until it reaches its climax with its bass line and a soaring synthesizer melody. At this segment of the video, a white horse, often a symbol of spiritual illumination (Tresidder 241), runs through the street of kissing lovers. Kylie’s lover, along with her followers, released inhibitions and entered the vulnerable state Kylie required, earning the spiritual illumination that “love is really good.” During the second half of the last chorus, the soaring synthesizer melody plays in the background to show the lovers’ spiritual illumination and adherence to the lines, “Don’t be frightened/ Just give me a little bit more.” With her mission accomplished, Kylie ends the video as Aphrodite, releasing a white dove into flight, releasing love into the world.
Kylie has come to understand what it means to love and how to be open and share vulnerability with her lover. She has finished her climb to her peak. She is Aphrodite.
Kylie completes her theme of love and vulnerability, just as Madonna completed her theme of power through sexuality. Their artistry may have crossed paths on occasion, but their meanings and intentions for their audiences’ experience are totally different and unique to themselves. Both patterned themes that led to eventual peaks, but both women stand alone in their artistry, neither requiring a pigeonhole label of a “wannabe,” limiting the perception of their artistic value by critics, whether cultural or scholarly. Kylie possesses profound artistic integrity, deserving individual praise for her work without the mention or backup of Madonna and her works.
Works Cited
All the Lovers. Dir. Joseph Kahn. Perf. Kylie Minogue. EMI, 2010. Film.
Baker, William, and Kylie Minogue. Kylie: La La La. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 2002. Print.
Baron, Lee. “The Seven Ages of Kylie Minogue: Postmodernism, Identity, and Performative Mimicry.” Nebula 5.4 : 46. Print.
Berens, E. M. A Hand-Book of Mythology. New York: Maynard, Merrill, & Co., 1894. Print.
Celebration: The Video Collection. Perf. Madonna. Warner Bros., 2009. DVD.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda. “Ganesha.” Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 26.154 (1928): 30. Print.
“Featured Artists: Kylie Minogue.” The Official Charts Company. The Official UK Charts Company, 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
Hallstein, D. L. “Feminist Assessment of Emancipatory Potential and Madonna's Contradictory Gender Practices.” The Quarterly Journal of Speech. 82 Vol. Print.
Hurley, Jennifer M. “Music video and the construction of gendered subjectivity (or how being a music video junkie turned me into a feminist).” Popular Music 13.3 (1994): 327–338. Print.
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“Lady Gaga dismissed as ‘Madonna wannabe’ for ‘Catholic bashing’ music video.” Catholic News Agency 12 June 2010. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.
Lister, David. “Kylie Minogue: Goddess of the moment.” The Independent. Independent Print Ltd., 23 Feb. 2002. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.
Madonna. Bedtime Stories. Maverick, 1994. CD.
Madonna. Erotica. Maverick, 1992. CD.
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Madonna. Sex. U.S.A., Warner Books, 1992. Print.
Minogue, Kylie. Aphrodite. Parlophone, 2010. CD.
Minogue, Kylie. Fever. Parlophone, 2001. CD.
Minogue, Kylie. “I Should Be So Lucky.” Kylie. PWL, 1988. CD.
Minogue, Kylie. Kylie Minogue. Deconstruction Records, 1994. CD.
Minogue, Kylie. “Please Stay.” Light Years. Parlophone, 2000. CD.
Minogue, Kylie. Rhythm of Love. PWL, 1990. CD.
Paglia, Camille. “Lady Gaga and the death of sex.” Sunday Times Magazine. Times Newspapers Ltd., 12 Sept. 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.
“QR Code Information.” Harold B. Lee Library. Brigham Young University, 2007. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.
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Rooksby, Rikky. Madonna: the Complete Guide to her Music. London: Omnibus Press, 2004. Print.
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Tresidder, Jack. The Complete Dictionary of Symbols. Thailand: Chronicle Books, 2005. Print.
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