Best Kylie Collaborations

Kylie Minogue has had an illustrious career spanning five decades.  She is the first female artist to top the UK charts in each decade:  Kylie - 1988, Enjoy Yourself - 1989, Greatest Hits - 1992, Fever - 2001, Aphrodite - 2010, Golden - 2018, Step Back In Time: The Definitive Collection - 2019 and Disco - 2020.  Her willingness to take risks and evolve with each album while always delivering her brand of Kylie magic has made her one of the most popular and successful pop dance artists of all time.  She has received several awards, including a Grammy and three Brit Awards, and has performed in countless shows and visually spectacular tours around the world.

Throughout her record-breaking career she has also collaborated with a number of artists.  This is a list of my ten top Kylie collaborations:

10.  Lazy - with The Vaccines

This "collaboration you didn't know you needed" from the claymation film, Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon, which I watched recently and enjoyed more than I expected to.  The bouncy, feel-good duet came about after both Kylie and The Vaccines had performed at Glastonbury in 2019.

9.  Music's Too Sad Without You - with Jack Savoretti

Taken from Kylie's 14th studio album Golden.  The album was mostly recorded in Nashville which explains the country sound that runs through the album and indeed into this ballad with English artist Jack Savoretti.  Kylie and Jack's vocals melt together seamlessly to create a soothing, sentimental love song.

8.  In Denial - with Pet Shop Boys

As the title suggests, this collaboration with Pet Shop Boys explores different forms of denial and the tendency to exist in a fantasy world instead of facing reality.  The song was written for the duo's theatrical musical and appears on their album, Nightlife.  It is a dialogue between two characters in the musical, a middle-aged gay man and his daughter.  The latter's part of the dialogue is sung by Kylie.

7.  100 Degrees - with Dannii Minogue

100 Degrees was released as a single from Kylie's Christmas album.  The song is about the experience of a northern hemisphere Christmas after growing up in a country (i.e. Australia) where Christmas is celebrated in summer.  The camp anthem is the perfect addition to any Christmas party playlist and guaranteed to warm everyone up.  An alternate version of the song, 100 Degrees (Still Disco To Me), was released in 2016 and omits the references to Christmas.

6.  Beautiful - with Enrique Iglesias

This ballad with Enrique is...well...beautiful.  In fact, Kylie has said that she was moved to tears the first time she heard it.  Kylie's vocals are heavily autotuned in places but that does not detract from the stunning harmonies between the two.  The song appears on Enrique's album Sex and Love and Kylie's Kiss Me Once.

5.  Higher - with Taio Cruz

I didn't know that the song was originally written for Kylie's Aphrodite album (one of my favourites of hers) but for some reason it did not make it onto the final tracklist.  Instead, Kylie features on the European version of the single, released in 2010.  The catchy dance track lives up to its lyrics which reference a "beat that's got me hooked" and "moves you can't ignore".

4.  Especially For You - with Jason Donovan

As cheesy as it is, this 1988 duet has become a fan favourite and is now regarded as a classic.  It appeared on Jason's album Ten Good Reasons and was included on the American edition of Kylie's Enjoy Yourself.  Kylie has performed the song live, sans Jason, on many of her tours much to the delight of the audience.

3.  The Other Boys - with Nervo, Jake Shears and Nile Rodgers

I loved this song from twin sisters Nervo the first time I heard it.  It's a disco-fueled track that challenges you not to get up and dance when you hear it.  Mike Wass from Idolator wrote that Nervo's production "looks to the past for inspiration, but is definitely rooted in the here and now" and praised Kylie and Jake's "vocal blows on the soaring, gender-blind chorus".

2.  Kids - with Robbie Williams

This is a perfect duet by two artists at the top of their respective games.  It was released in 2000 and became an instant hit around the world.  It samples Give Me Your Love by Sister Love and oozes chemistry between the two singers.  At first I was confused by the opening line ("me no bubblicious") until I discovered bubblicious is a portmanteau of "bubbly" and "delicious".  I also love the music video, with its nods to Sandy and Danny from Grease.  

1.  Where The Wild Roses Grow - with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave has said that he wrote this song with Kylie in mind and his instincts were spot on.  Joe Taysom from Far Out Magazine said: "The two artists joining forces was one of the greatest weird but wonderful collaborations that has ever occurred".  The song, referred to as a "murder ballad", is dark yet hauntingly beautiful and Kylie's sweet vocals compliment Nick's baritone voice.