“Padam Padam” by Kylie Minogue, Friday, October 13, 2023

Producer Reanna Cruz of the Switched On Pop podcast pointed out a song that was huge this summer in America, but only for a certain demographic. The song was a massive comeback by the fifty-five-year-old Australian singer Kylie Minogue who had hits in America in the late ‘80s and the early ‘00s. Last month, I covered the second single, “Hold on to Now,” from her sixteenth studio album Tension, but today it’s time to get a little campy and just focus on the beating of the heart and the effect music has on that heartbeat when dancing in the club as Kylie invites us in the lead single “Padam Padam.”

I HEAR IT AND I KNOW. After a disco era, Kylie Minogue tapped into current sounds with producer LOSTBOY to craft a perfect comeback record that harkens back to her biggest hit, “Can’t Get You Outta My Head.” “Padam Padam” is lyrically simple and straightforward. It’s a club anthem about trying to get lucky. It’s a song by a cis-gender, presumably straight woman with a hell of a lot of confidence, thus making it the perfect 2023 Pride Anthem. According to Switched On Pop’s analysis, gay anthems since the 1920 German Cabaret song “Das Ilia Lied” or “The Lavender Song” have been simple, yet flamboyant songs that may or may not focus on the gay experience. Kylie Minogue takes her place in the pantheon of divas starting with Judy Garland too Carly Rae Jepsen yet again with the song that is onomatopoeia for the sound of a heartbeat.

WANNA SEE WHAT’S UNDERNEATH THAT T-SHIRT. So far, I’ve laid out other people’s reasons to justify the infectious beat of “Padam, Padam.” It’s not a song that I immediately connected with consuming music on Spotify as I graded papers and planned classes. In fact, I connected more with the lyrics of “Hold on to Now” than "Padam, Padam," and it was in my research of that song last month that I found a new respect for Kylie Minogue. After listening to the BBC series Eras: Kylie Minogue, I felt more connected with Kylie as an artist and as a person, and that made me take another look at some of her more recent records. This year, I’ve listened to more dance music than I ever have. And now as a music blogger, I’ve attempted to write about the saccharine melodies and overly simplistic lyrics. Many of those posts have very little to add to a discussion because let’s face it, dance music isn’t meant to be dissected even if you know every synth on the track—which I don’t. “Padam, Padam,” though, seems different, and that’s because Kylie Minogue brings a story to the dance floor. It’s a story of a fifty-five-year-old woman who will not be stopped by age. It’s a music video with a dance that makes you move along with the rhythm of the song. The song’s Phrigyian mode gives Disney villain vibes that remind me that the “evil song” from every Disney movie was really the best song of the film, and it was the musical number I fantasized about performing when playing in the woods out of sight from everyone. But in 2023, “Padam, Padam” is also the song of feeling a little more loose and a little more hedonistic. It’s the song I want to hear when I get back to the gay bar. It’s the hope that even though I’m getting older, it’s not too late to feel the emotions of letting go.

Read the lyrics on Genius.

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