Friday Video #20: Kylie

This coming Monday--February 26--will mark the fifth anniversary of Kylie Minogue's Fever album release in the United States, with "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" as the big hit single from that album. ("CGYOOMH" would peak at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.) Fever would debut at #3 on the US album charts and eventually go platinum (I million copies sold in the US), which would arguably be the biggest comeback of 2002 with Kylie leaving her "Loco-Motion" 80s kitsch stigma in the dust. It was a thrill to see Kylie reconquer the pop charts in America and radiate a sense of joy. It was almost like the first rush of falling in love.

Looking back, "Can't" would sadly be a last gasp of sorts for the dance-pop world in the US. As it was getting in the US Top Ten in early 2002, hip-hop and R&B was already starting to take over the US pop radio airwaves. By the following year they had pretty much pushed dance music off the Top 40, which would be a reflection of the post-9-11 and President Bush-led national mood of the country. A smiling Kylie seemed too frivolous to fit into America's long night of dispair with the US commercial disappointment of her following album Body Language, so she moved on and concentrated on Europe and Australia and left the American Kylie fans having to go to bed listening to the inferior likes of Britney and Jessica Simpson. May Kylie have another US comeback--her joie de vive is missed here.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Fever's US release, here is a video of Kylie performing "Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head" at the Brit Awards in 2002. This is a mash-up of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" and New Order's "Blue Monday."