Pop icon Kylie Minogue was part of an A R Rahman song Chiggy Wiggy (Blue, 2009) and even after 15 years, she has fond memories of that collaboration with Akshay Kumar. In the wake of the 17th album of her career, Tension II, the Grammy-winner (for Padam Padam) shared her views on the ever-evolving landscape of pop music, her exciting collaborations and adventures in Mumbai.

I think pop music will continue to surprise us and that’s what keeps it exciting, and it certainly keeps me excited. Pop does us all a service and it will consistently change. It’s cyclic and then something seemingly new happens. Yes, I’ve been doing this for a number of decades and of course, a lot has changed. I’ve changed. My fans have changed. We’re all growing up. I feel like now I’ve got some younger fans as well, so they’re on this voyage of discovery.

One day I will perform Chiggy Wiggy in India. I’ve been saying it for a little while, that’s my mission. I’ll see if I can make it happen. And who I would like to collaborate with today... I know I should have a clear answer for that, but I never do, because there’s so many artistes that I admire and look up to. Some are in my lane, which would make sense, and others are in another world of music. For those reasons, it would be great. I’m just going to leave the gates open, and we will see what happens.

All of it, really. Mumbai was a complete whirlwind! Just to be on a Bollywood set was kind of crazy, in the best way. It was such a warm welcome. I only wish I could have stayed longer, and I only wish that I had been back sooner. I’m working hard to rectify that. Maybe Akshay will invite me over for lunch again.

I think I just ride them out and see them through. I know they’re perfectly normal moments. When I hit a creative block, I just keep going and trying other things. I work on countless songs and only the select few make it to the album. I talk a lot about the successful songs, but I do want to fly a flag for the songs that didn’t make it because without them we wouldn’t have the big tracks. Sometimes it’s hard to say that a song didn’t work, or you have to say, park that song or say goodbye to it though you are attached to it for different reasons.

It was phenomenal. Firstly, Madonna is an icon, a legend and something of a mystery. She’s Madonna, full stop. To have the opportunity to sing with her on stage, also with it being a surprise, was just magical. What I saw, which people wouldn’t have seen, was how she works is quite different to how I work. That’s what I love about collaborating with people. You get a little window into how other people work, and everyone’s process is slightly different. My best memory was standing on stage with her during the song and looking over and seeing the light in her eyes and seeing how hard she was working. I recognized that. I was able to see myself in her just for a second. I really admire her hard work and determination. She did possibly more for me than she knows.

I don’t know if it’s the best piece of advice, but it’s certainly a piece of advice that I could have benefited from hearing a few times. There’s only one you, so don’t spend too much time trying to be something other than you. I think you should push yourself as far as you can. You should be exploratory, be brave and be okay when things don’t work out, which is easier said than done. Be yourself, be prepared to make mistakes and remember that you’re not alone in this creative pursuit. Anyone who’s putting themselves out there has probably or will go through something similar.

It took me a little while to really get on board with social media, particularly TikTok. But with Padam Padam, it all happened very fast, and it finally made sense to me how this works and what a great platform it is, particularly TikTok. For music, for how it works so organically. Yes, so that community and I now understand how they get into it and why they're into it and how much fun they can have with it, how much connection they can have with it. Digital streaming, we're all understanding that more and more. I'm not sure how long ago it was now when it first appeared, and everyone freaked out. It seems that the industry has found a way that it works for everyone and personally, I enjoy listening to music that way.

You're very good at putting two questions into one question. I'm going to separate these. Yes, I'm excited for Tension 2 to be out in the world, obviously. The main focus for me now is looking ahead to early next year when I prepare my tour and start my world tour in February in Australia. It's a hugely exciting time. I can believe it, but it's still astonishing and moving that my first real-life show would have been in 1989. That's a lot of time on stage, a lot of time with people, a lot of a lot. Here we go for a little bit more. I'm so excited to see everyone.

It was initially meant to be a repack for Tension so it wasn't intended to be another album, an accompanying album. But I had been invited to be part of three collaborations, which I did, which was for those artist albums, so those songs were living in the world, so we added them to this album.

But I think that the songs Padam Padam and Tension and the Tension album opened a lot of doors and there was just such opportunity to work with different writers, a new audience. That we ended up with a body of work that felt like it was enough to be another album. Not a new album, a sequel to Tension, very much in the Tension world. So I'm thrilled that there's all of this new music to share with people and to really have so much to play with on the Tension tour.

Kylie Minogue’s spirited greetings can enliven a seemingly demanding day. The Australian singer is best remembered to Bollywood aficionados as the artiste who grooved with Akshay Kumar to the track, Chiggy Wiggy, over a decade ago in the film, Blue. On international turf, the Grammy Award, Brit Award and ARIA Music Award-winner has been among the most powerful forces of the pop music industry since the ’90s.

Connecting with mid-day over a video conferencing app, Minogue discusses her recent project, Disco: Guest List Edition, in which she imbues renewed vitality into revered tracks of the 2020 original album. Backed by a power-packed ‘Guest List’, Minogue says the varied collaborators were seamlessly integrated into the tracks.

“I have worked with Dua Lipa in the past, so this association was only [par for the course]. I had loved Jessie Ware’s album, What’s Your Pleasure. It was inspired by disco. When I participated in her podcast, we spoke of working together. Olly Alexander and I had sung [at a] Christmas show before, and he joined me on this list. Gloria Gaynor is a beacon of disco. I ended up with four incredible artiste, all of whom belonged to different areas.”

Despite a three-decade-long career in the music industry, Minogue isn’t particularly set in her ways. She allows herself to be influenced by producers, writers, and new-age artistes who are establishing trends and redefining sounds. It is possibly owing to this tendency that she continues to “stay current”. “I have enjoyed trying to stay current, and be aware of the goings-on in the industry. I allow it to rub off on me. Many of these producers and writers share the room with other artistes. I love the new sounds that are [being made] today.”

It is somewhere during these in-person meetings that new ideas are brought to life. And while the lockdown afforded her time to hone new skills, and enjoy the luxury of producing music in her voice, she admits that the excitement of interacting and collaborating with artistes face-to-face was certainly missed. With a sense of normalcy seemingly being restored, she wants to “focus on the T word”. “I want to get back to touring, and perhaps do a show in India. The thought of it gets me so excited, I might cry.”

While the tendency of Indian music-makers to appoint International artistes — Akon (Chammak Challo), Pitbull (Slowly Slowly) — isn’t new, Minogue was inarguably among the first few pop singers to feature in a desi offering. What sparked her interest, we ask. “There are a lot of things that I do on the pretext of having never done them before. Sometimes, I’m too curious for my own good. It was incredible to work with A R Rahman and the team. It was also crazy; like organized chaos. After so long, if I could do another [similar project], I’d love to do so.”

One could say that Grammy-winner Kylie Minogue is no stranger to Bollywood films and music.

Fans still remember the pop star shaking a leg and singing AR Rahman’s composition Chiggy Wiggy in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Blue (2009). With songs like Love at First Sight, In Your Eyes, Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Better The Devil You Know, the Australian singer-actress continues to wow her fans across the globe. Kylie, who released her 15th studio album recently, in an exclusive interview with Bombay Times, talks about her work, passion for disco and love for India. Excerpts...

It has, in short, provided me with a lifetime of experience. I’ve travelled the world, met people from all walks of life and been able to connect with so many people in so many wonderful ways. I always loved music and performance, but I don’t think I could ever have imagined the challenges and opportunities that would come with this career.

I started work on the album before any kind of lockdown was implemented and then had to finish writing and recording it all remotely. Now, we are all quite used to doing things remotely, but at the time, it was a first for my team and me. I had to set up a studio in my home and learn to record my own vocals. There are people that I worked with on this album who I only know from the waist up and in two-dimensional form. I can’t wait to finally meet them in person! I was so grateful to have music to keep me occupied and set new challenges for me. I was very aware of how fortunate I was to be able to work and be creative, albeit in a very different way.

I’ve always been a fan of disco. I was around 10 when it became part of my life, and it has basically been there ever since. Pop, by its very nature, changes and fashions come and go, but I believe disco will always shine through.

It was such a fun experience, and I would do it all again! It was a different style of singing for me. I think we managed to find a balance in the song where it worked as a Bollywood song and also a Kylie song. I basically put all my trust and faith in A R Rahman. I am always so excited when people sing Chiggy Wiggy to me. If they know it, they seem to love it.

Working with A R Rahman in London was amazing, and then to go to Mumbai, my first ever trip to India, was just so exciting. It was a very warm welcome, a crazy ride and an experience I’ll never forget. I wish I’d been able to stay longer, but we did quite a lot in a few days. Being on the set of the film Blue was, on the one hand, was very familiar. I’m used to the machinations of filmmaking, but Bollywood is so unique. Ever since, I have wanted to visit India again. The tourist in me would love to spend time there, but I would also love to perform a concert in India, and maybe, another Bollywood film?

My experience in Mumbai was at a pretty hectic pace. Just the car ride to the film studio was a lot for the senses. Then there was the market, the hotel, dance rehearsals with Farah Khan (choreographer-filmmaker), lunch at Akshay Kumar’s house… those were crazy and amazing few days.

As an artiste, it was so strange. On the one hand, it seems that music connected even more than usual as it was able to reach people. People could cry, dream, dance, be nostalgic, and be taken away from the bad news for a few minutes. On the other hand, it was an example of what we couldn’t do — join together in big crowds for a communal experience. Personally, I went through many emotions. I was so grateful to have the album to work on, distract me and put my emotions into it. However, I felt so far from my family and so uncertain about so many things. It has been an experience unlike any other. Like many others, I had no choice but to slow down, and in many ways, this made way for time to reflect on what is truly important.