Kylie Minogue's Light Years retrospectively reviewed: Future nostalgia from the year 2000
Closing a chapter by shedding ties with her previous label was vitally needed in order to start over musically. Freshly signed to Parlophone in the UK, a territory that quickly adopted Minogue as one of its own, the singer returned to the studio with a renewed sense of self. Her vision for 'the new Kylie' was clear and instinctive. She was ready to embrace her pop past again. Speaking on the album's inception, Minogue gave writers and producers clear instructions as to what the album should feel like: poolside, disco and cocktails. Fabulous!
The lead single alone, 'Spinning Around', achieved her mission statement. 'And did I forget to mention that I found a new direction / And it leads back to me', she declares over sparkly disco production. The track was co-written by singer and American Idol judge Paula Abdul for her own album, taking inspiration from a recent divorce. When Abdul's project failed to materialise, the song found a new home with Minogue. The synchronicity of the track's theme of reinvention and Kylie's own rebrand was a lucky coincidence. The single, paired with an equally legendary video featuring an infamous pair of gold hot pants, rocketed to number one in the UK and Australia. Minogue's instincts to return to her musical roots had been on the money, with the general public and critics alike embracing her new era.
Second single 'On a Night Like This' saw continued success, leaning more into the futuristic and ethereal Europop of the early 00s. The track proved the singer didn't need to rely on nostalgia to make her mark as a credible pop star of the new millennium. Third single 'Kids' further cemented this. The pop-rock number saw Minogue collaborate with former Take That member Robbie Williams, who was in the middle of his own imperial phase. The decision to put the two former teenyboppers together would prove ingenious.
But it was a song that was never released as a single in the UK that would help to reinstate Minogue with one of the highest honours: gay icon status. 'Your Disco Needs You' is an over-the-top, giddy dance romp that expresses the power of the dance floor to fix a broken heart. Minogue herself described the track as one of the 'campest songs of all time'. It's laden with queer references — so much so that the record label pulled it from being released in the UK for fears of it being 'too gay'. But that didn't stop the pop princess from filming a music video and making it a staple in her setlist thereafter. Now, that's allyship.
Light Years was a full circle moment in Minogue's career. The multi-platinum album reached the top spot in Australia and just missed out on a number one in the UK. It saw the singer return to her roots with a newfound sense of maturity and self-assurance. It was the Kylie the world knew and loved, reimagined for the year 2000. The tunes were confident, sexy and undeniably catchy. Furthermore, it laid the foundations for an even bigger moment waiting around the corner: 2001's Fever.
Minogue continues to inspire today's generation of pop girlies, including Dua Lipa and Kim Petras. She also remains as one of music's most enduring gay icons.
In an interview with Olly Alexander (Years & Years) in 2021, Minogue said of her affinity with the LGBTQ+ community: 'I didn't set out to do that [be inclusive]; it is just naturally how I feel. There is so much talk about inclusivity, and I felt I always had that from the beginning. I used to say, I loved to be able to look out at my shows, and there are just all walks of life. There has never been any judgement.'
The post Kylie Minogue's Light Years retrospectively reviewed: Future nostalgia from the year 2000 appeared first on Attitude.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Refinery29
16 hours ago
- Refinery29
30 Years Later, Clueless Fashion Is 'Still Totally' Iconic: Revisiting The Looks With Its Costume Designer
For Clueless costume designer Mona May, there's a psychology to crafting a character's wardrobe. 'I think authenticity is one of the most important things when you design costumes, to make sure these characters feel real, and not just like talking Barbies,' she tells Refinery29. 'You want the audience to leave the theater and feel like, 'There was something about that character that felt like me.'' For a film as far-fetched as the 1995 classic, starring Alicia Silverstone as a spoiled Beverly Hills high school student, grounding the characters in reality was crucial. Yes, these affluent teenagers had access to runway fashion and daddy's credit card, but May also wanted to portray girls who loved the mall and were youthful and vibrant. While May — whose book The Fashion of Clueless is coming out in October — had no idea what a cultural phenomenon the movie, which celebrates 30 years this month, would become, she knew the costumes were crucial to the storytelling. From the introductory shot — which showed a montage of glitzy high schoolers poolside, cruising in high-end cars, and shopping in their finest threads — fashion was the focus. 'It was colorful, it was California, it was high-fashion, it was teenage fun. It had to immediately grab your eye,' she says. Pulling together thousands of costumes — 63 of them belonging to Cher (Silverstone) alone — on a $200k budget was no small task, according to May: '[We had to find] every headpiece, every backpack, every pair of sunglasses, every piece of jewelry seen. I don't even know how I did it, seriously, but we just went for it.' She emphasizes that the film was made in the mid-'90s, before social media made it easy to discover and access fashion. 'It was just the beginning of computers and cell phones, so my research was different. People behaved differently. There was a certain kind of innocence to the time as well,' she says. Because of that, May felt it was important to establish sartorial social cues (ie: graphic tees for the skaters, exposed slip and stockings with runs for a scattered teacher, etc.), as well bring attention to culturally relevant designer labels (the Calvin Klein slip dress that Cher's dad refers to as 'underwear,' and 'totally important designer' Alaïa dress) to the audience not privy to Melrose Avenue. Because the cast was fairly unknown at the time, there were no giant 'PR machines' sending boxes from fashion houses to dress the actors. Still, May enlisted luxury labels for looks such as Cher's iconic yellow plaid skirt set by Jean Paul Gaultier, along with pieces from Fred Segal and Anna Sui. She also pulled pieces from secondhand stores, army surplus shops, and then-popular mall brands: Body Glove, Roxy, BCBG, Gap, American Rag, Esprit, Vertigo, and Wet Seal (RIP). By combining designer names with mall mainstays, May says she was able to bring out the multifacetedness of each character. 'Dionne [played by Stacey Dash] is a really good example of that. She wears a lot of different things, from high-end Chanel to the leopard jacket that was thrifted and the vinyl skirt that was from a rave store on Melrose,' May explains. Cher also embodied the juxtaposition, sporting preppy co-ords as much as she did cap-sleeved dresses, while also dipping into the soft grunge looks popular at the time, like her layered black sheer top and chunky jewelry. 'She's not just one kind of girl. She's good-hearted, discerning, but can also be a bit of a mean girl, too.' May believes the style holds strongly three decades later because, in many ways, the cult classic was ahead of its time. The movie was nuanced in its portrayal of teenage girls, who were fashion-obsessed and naive, but also quick-witted and opinionated. There was a complexity to them — one May felt a responsibility to translate through their clothing. 'It was hard to make that movie,' she says. '[Director] Amy [Heckerling] said that many studios passed on it because they didn't want girls to talk like this. They wanted movies about boys. It was important to introduce young girls speaking that way: being smart, being self-assured, and knowing what they want. Smart girls deserved smart clothes.' May made sure that the outfits reflected each of the characters' personalities: Dionne's bold accessories and prints spoke to her spunky personality, Cher's meticulously coordinated shoes and outfits spoke to her perfectionism. Meanwhile, Tai (Brittany Murphy) had an evolving wardrobe — which went from baggy flannels and graphic tees at the beginning of the film to Cher-approved plaids and finally a happy grunge-meets-girly medium — that spoke to her journey of losing, rediscovering, and coming into herself. With so many characters to dress, the looks had to work together as well, like Cher and Dionne's coordinated school looks. On one hand, it brought to mind a familiar scenario of phoning your friend to plan outfits the night before school and, on the other, it symbolized that the two were counterparts. 'Throughout the film, I wanted to make sure that they were equally fashionable, equally important,' says May. Given that the film was set in Southern California, May felt it was important to also portray the many subcultures, from the posh upper echelon to skaters, stoners, and the business-casual kids who took themselves too seriously. Though they were all living in this platinum credit card world, Dionne's and Murray's style, for example, was culturally relevant for Black American teenagers at the time, with the Kangol hats, leopard print, and gold jewelry. May accomplished this authenticity by working with each actor to build the character's wardrobe together. Dash, for example, was slightly older, from New York, and had a strong sense of personal style, which played a huge role in constructing her character's look. In turn, according to May, 'Murray [Donald Faison's character] had to look really good too, because she would never date a slacker.' The same care was extended to Christian Stovitz (Justin Walker), the suave transfer student from Chicago, who we later find out is gay. May wanted the clothing to lead with his personality and interests — like fashion, which resulted in him wearing hats, a blue tuxedo, and slicked-back hair — and not be a reductive version of what a gay character might 'look' like (which wasn't a given at the time for the industry). The fashion in Clueless cemented May's signature style across all her works — which later included other cult classics like Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Never Been Kissed — and gave the movie its staying power. It's the reason why not a single Halloween goes by without a Cher and Dionne recreation, why clothing collections in 1995 and thereafter exploded with Clueless -inspired threads, and why 30 years later, we are still celebrating the film that introduced Alaïa into many of our vocabularies. 'It's just incredible that this movie has lived in so many people's hearts. It's changed them and made them feel good. I'm so proud, I'll have a pink bow on my grave.'
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
I Won't Watch "Clueless" The Same Way After Reading These 34 Fascinating Behind-The-Scenes Facts
This week marks the 30th anniversary of Clueless — and what better way to celebrate than to learn some fun facts about the classic? It's greater than a game of suck and blow... Amy Heckerling originally pitched Clueless to Twentieth Century Fox as a TV series called No Worries — but the executives thought it "needed more boys". when working on it as a movie, it took awhile to settle on the title Clueless. Before that, Amy Heckerling used the titles I Was A Teenage Teenager and later Clueless in California. was partially inspired by Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which Amy Heckerling also directed. She recognised he was the most popular character she'd created and decided that that was because he's "positive", so she wanted to create a lead who was positive and happy — which became Cher. was when she was re-working the idea from a TV show to a movie that Amy Heckerling revisited Jane Austen's Emma and realized Cher was basically a modern Emma, and she could base the plot of Clueless on Jane Austen's novel. she was writing the script, Amy Heckerling pictured the Beastie Boys' Adam Horovitz as Josh. Witherspoon, Alicia Witt, Keri Russell, and Tiffani Thiessen all auditioned for the role of Cher — and so did Brittany Murphy, who went on to play Tai. / WireImage, Jim Smeal / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Affleck and Zach Braff both auditioned for the role of Josh, as did Jeremy Sisto, who got the role of Elton, and Justin Walker, who went on the play Christian. Ron Davis / Getty Images, Getty Images being cast as Josh, Paul Rudd originally asked to read for the role of Murray, not realising the character was black and thinking he was a "white guy who's trying to co-opt black culture". He also read for Christian and Elton before Amy Heckerling suggested he try Josh. Green — who is Breckin Meyer's best friend — was the other top choice for Breckin's role of Travis. Terrence Howard, who is close friends with Donald Faison, was a top contender for the role of Murray. Hill auditioned for the role of Dionne. Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Amber, but couldn't get out of her obligations to All My Children, which she was working on at the time. Silverstone thought Cher was a "materialistic, annoying little bitch" when she first read the script. She changed her mind when she realised how much Cher cares about her dad and other people. had no idea that Clueless was based on Emma until after she'd finished filming. Dash, who played Dionne, was 27 years old and had a six-year-old son at the time of filming. making Clueless, Jeremy Sisto had previously worked with Alicia Silverstone on a movie called Hideaway — he played a serial killer who goes after her character. Heckerling based the role of Mr. Hall on a friend of hers who was a teacher, who helped her observe real classes while she was working on the script, and even had a cameo as the principal in the final movie. she always had Wallace Shawn in mind to play Mr. Hall — and he was actually a teacher for three years in real life. Heckerling had a cameo as a bridesmaid for Miss Geist's wedding to Mr. Hall — she is best friends with Twink Caplan, who played Miss Geist, in real life. Heckerling borrowed the unique slang used in the movie from a bunch of places, including real teens at Beverly Hills High School and those auditioning for the movie, the castmembers and crew, the queer community, and, of course, her own brain. wanted Josh and Cher to be next-door neighbours because they thought the ex-step-sibling relationship was "too incestuous" — but Amy Heckerling pushed back, arguing (truthfully) that her own grandparents had been step-siblings who met as teenagers. Meyer sprained his ankle while rehearsing one of the skateboarding scenes, and subsequent scenes that featured him had to work around the fact he couldn't really walk. 23.A fake, cardboard credit card was used for the "suck and blow" scene because some of the actors couldn't "suck" on a real credit card long enough to film their shots. filming Clueless, Paul Rudd's real life echoed the movie in a scary way — like Cher, he was robbed at gunpoint after he'd been out with a friend one night. 'This is an Alaïa' dress wasn't originally part of the script — the dress was chosen first, and then written in. Silverstone had a massive 63 costume changes over the course of the movie. Rudd wore a lot of his own clothes to play Josh — including the Amnesty International t-shirt. Faison didn't actually have braces in real life — he wore them as Murray to hide an extra tooth he had (a baby tooth that had never fallen out). hairclip Cher wears in the concert scene was later used on Amanda Bynes' character in She's the Man. Paramount Pictures, Miramax costume designer Mona May later worked on Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, which she described as a "grown-up" version of Clueless, aesthetically. the iconic opening looks Cher and Dionne wear, the plaid suits were meant to be reminiscent of schoolgirl uniforms, while the over-the-knee socks were inspired by Cabaret. Silverstone kept a lot of Cher's outfits, but ended up giving them all away. extras were randomly paired to makeout for a party scene — they later went on to get engaged in real life. Rudd gave everyone one of those necklaces with their name written on a grain of rice as a farewell gift when shooting wrapped. Clueless on Hulu.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Kylie Jenner's Visit to Greek Restaurant Sparks Comment War on Instagram
Kylie Jenner visited a restaurant in Greece and social media users are sharing their opinions under the comments -- both positive and negative. A Greek restaurant's Instagram comments are blowing up after Kylie Jenner visited for a quick bite. The owners of Tassia Restaurant posted a photo with the 27-year-old mother of two, thanking her for the visit to their restaurant in Greece. "We had the honor of welcoming Kylie Jenner to our restaurant. An iconic entrepreneur and global trendsetter, she experienced a taste of our Greek hospitality and cuisine," they wrote. "It was a true pleasure to host such a remarkable guest. We hope to welcome her again soon!" signed by the Dendrinos Family. Despite having only 3,885 followers, the post has since generated more than 23.4k likes, with 724 comments with Instagram users sharing their reactions -- with the initial wave leaning toward the negative. "Honor? Really?" read one comment, with another echoing, "Honour ... ? Why different from any other guest ... ?" "I hope you made her wash some dishes or wait on a couple tables," another commented. "Thanks! Now I know where NOT to go," wrote someone else. Following the first wave of negativity, however, a flood of positive comments started coming through -- defending the restaurant and their decision to post a photo with Jenner. "People who are getting mad at this need to touch grass," the top comment wrote. "So weird that people are getting upset over this post. I promise you if a celebrity as famous as Kylie Jenner supported a business that they owned they would want to post about it too!! I think that's amazing for this restaurant!" another Instagram user came in defense for the restaurant. "I will be visiting Greece only to eat at this restaurant, all thanks to Kylie," another added. Other positive comments included, "Whether you like her or not it's an experience to have someone famous sit and dine at your restaurant," "People are just so jealous. This comment section is so negative. If I had Kylie come visit my restaurant I would post about it too," and "Haters don't realize they're pushing this post out into the algorithm which means more viewers and potentially more clients for this restaurant. Keep doing what yall do best Karens 👌 ❤️😂"
