15 minutes with Kylie Minogue… about F1, visiting Singapore and her global Tensions tour

The absolute legend that is Kylie Minogue visited our tiny island over the F1 Singapore Grand Prix weekend, and she performed to a crowd of 50,000 fans under a giant disco ball. We caught up with her to find out what she’s currently up to, and to congratulate her for receiving the Global Icon Award at the 2024 Brit Awards.

Above: Image courtesy Charlotte Rutherford.

NYLON: Congrats on being honored with the Global Icon Awards. Would you say that your music style has evolved over the years?

KYLIE: 100%. Yeah, absolutely. I certainly wouldn’t be talking with you today if it hadn’t. If I’ve been trapped in the late 80s and not gone anywhere, I don’t think anyone would be listening to it [my music]. So it’s definitely morphed; you can’t be stagnant. I’m a natural chameleon, and I’ve enjoyed morphing with the times.

N: Some of your newer songs have gone viral. Did you expect that?

K: No, absolutely not. And it was Padam Padam that was my first viral hit. It was so wild to me; I’ve been doing this a long time, and when I used to release something, you’d have to wait, and wonder if radio is gonna play it…  and what’s the chart, what’s the count? Like you don’t know what’s happening. So to have something that just took off and literally, as fast as I could watch something and scroll, that was something else. It was amazing. I loved it.

N: Congrats on that!

K: Thank you. Congrats to everyone who did hilarious videos and moving videos, who took the time and used their energy. I was really wowed by it and I was actually really moved by it at the same time.

Above: Image courtesy Charlotte Rutherford.

N: Do you still record yourself?

K: I mostly do. I’ve had a few sessions back in the studio, but it’s been a game-changer to learn about self recording. I just have my laptop; I use Logic Pro, and I worked my way up to a really beautiful mic, a Telefunken 251, which is like my baby that I carry. You know, you’re going through airports, and that’s in the carry-on… don’t drop it, don’t break it. But the rest of the kit can go in cargo, but I carry my mic. I’ve got my Apollo X interface, the Phantom power chords… I’ve got other mics for like, kind of scratch demos, and I’ve become kind of a geek with it.

It’s so empowering. I wish someone had mentioned this to me a million years ago. It’s changed everything.

Above: Image courtesy Charlotte Rutherford.

N: Share with us what you are in to now.

K: Like a lot of the world, I just kind of fell head over heels in love with Chappell Roan and her music and her everything. All my music friends were all just going, wow, wow. Just the whole thing’s amazing.

For fashion, just the last few months, I’ve kind of gone to trainers, because I just thought I don’t even want to walk from my hotel room to here [the media prep room in Shangri-La Hotel] in heels. I’ve gone into a little bit of… a less bothered phase; like less trunced up, right?

And I don’t know if that’s just me or my age. It’s not so much about comfort, because I’ve looked at some of my best fashion moments, and it’s not about comfort, but just to feel like you’re dressing who you think you are at that point in time. So that would be my kind of current fashion nice thing, which means my suitcase of my stuff that’s not work is literally… there’s nothing in it. I’ve worn the same t-shirt, trainers, jeans and jacket for literally months, which is fine.

For TV shows, on my flight yesterday, I binge-watched series three of Hacks, which was amazing, and the cherry on top was I got a name check in one episode! I loved Baby Reindeer, I love Ripley… I sent Andrew [Scott] a message. I was like, whoa, you really did it this time. Like that was beautifully shot.

Above: Image courtesy erik melvin.

N: How long are you staying in Singapore for, and what are your plans here? 

K: I don’t have as much time as I would like in Singapore, but I have it on good authority that I have to try some kaya toast, which I will be doing at the first possible opportunity. Aside from that, just enjoying the balmy outside, knowing there’s air conditioning inside when it all gets too much, and really enjoying being back here. I saw some video of me here in 1996 or something like that, just a few days ago. So the fact that I’m back here in 2024 is pretty damn cool.

Kylie’s ‘tension tour’ 2025 runs from feb 15, 2025 to may 31, 2025. Visit KYLIE.COM for full concert details. And you can pre-order her tension II album (launching oct 18, 2024) on the website as well.
Main banner image courtesy Erik Melvin.