This slice of dance-pop is a confection that is hard to pass up. Kylie says that she is a red-blooded woman on her latest CD, Body Language, and her mix of sex appeal and catchy retro dance beats is enough to make even jaded critics believers.
Body Language follows her global hit, Fever. On Fever, Minogue burned through a set of euro-disco and electro dance cuts that kept the pace fast. Body Language has some great dance cuts, but slows things down a bit, too.
The first single from Body Language, “Slow”, does just that. It celebrates slooowwww dancing. Not as catchy as “Can’t Get You Out of My Mind”, “Slow” will stick in your ear just the same, after a few listens. The track is minimal electro pop, and Minogue gets things off to a promising start. Slow as in steamy!
Minogue keeps things sexy with a mixture of some slower songs and a few uptempo numbers. Other strong songs on Body Language are “Still Standing”, which is jumpy and danceable, and “Secret (Take You Home)”.
“Red-Blooded Woman” strays a little from Kylie’s usual electro disco sound, and has more of an American modern R&B vibe. It combines weird rhythmic blurps, a syncopated beat, and what sounds like sampled horns, giving the track more of an urban feel.
“Chocolate” is another standout cut. It also has more of an R&B feel than most of her tracks. Kylie makes it work, though, with the sexy, catchy lyrics and heated groove:
“If love were liquid it would drown me
In a placeless place would find me
In a heart shape come around me and then
Melt me slowly down
If love were a human it would know me
In a lost space come and show me
Hold me and control me and then
Melt me slowly down
Like chocolate”
Gimme some of your chocolate! Whatch U waitin’ for? Yow!
When Minogue sings “Chocolate”, you understand her love is more than love, it’s part human bondage, it’s part obsession, and it’s all passion. “Melt me slowly down, like chocolate” echoes some of the lyrical ideas of “Slow”. It’s part sexy come-on, and part unfulfilled need.
It’s would be easy to criticize some of Minogue’s weaknesses. For one, Minogue doesn’t have a strong voice. Kylie’s strengths, though, are her unrelenting confidence, her craftsmanship in putting together great dance records, and her way of turning european dance pop into a treat.
Body Language shows Minogue, in every sense, at her peak. The songs are fun and catchy, though you might consider them a guilty pleasure. The production is slick, and many of the tracks update retro electronic dance sounds in interesting ways. And she’s got the come-hither ooomph to convice anybody to “Slow down and dance with me…Yeah, slow.”
Kylie’s Body Language may be a vice, but, like chocolate, who can deny its pleasures?
