Disco is the fifteenth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. BMG and Minogue's company Darenote released it on 6 November 2020 in both digital and physical formats. After finishing her campaign with her previous album Golden (2018), Minogue was inspired by a Studio 54-esque section on her Golden Tour to create a disco-themed album. Early sessions began in 2019–2020, but were temporarily halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread lockdowns. As a result, Minogue continued to work on the album remotely from London, using GarageBand and Logic Pro for the first time.
Disco includes a variety of aesthetics from the same-named genre, interpreting both traditional and modern concepts. Furthermore, escapism and a sense of hope were used as themes throughout the album, with lyrics discussing unity, love, having fun on the dancefloor, and celebration. The album also incorporates various genres from the 1970s to the 2000s, such as dance, funk, and pop music, which were compared to her previous records and other musical acts. Minogue is credited as a songwriter on all tracks and engineered her vocals on a majority of the record herself.
Music critics praised Disco for its production quality, catchiness, fun nature, and innovative approach to disco music. Since its release, the album has received numerous nominations and awards, as well as inclusion on various end-of-year critics lists. Commercially, the album was a success, reaching the top of the record charts in Australia, Scotland, and the United Kingdom and being certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in the latter region. It also reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. Since its release, the album has sold more than 700,000 units worldwide.
To promote the album, Disco spawned three singles: "Say Something", "Magic" and "Real Groove". In addition, two promotional singles from the album were released ("I Love It" and "Dance Floor Darling"), while album tracks "Miss a Thing" and "Supernova" achieved some commercial success during the release week of Disco. Minogue made several live appearances and performed songs from the album on television shows. She hosted Infinite Disco, a livestream show which was later published on a live release and DVD. Disco spawned two more releases: Disco: Guest List Edition, a reissue with 3 new songs including the 2 singles "A Second To Midnight"(with Olly Alexander) and "Kiss of Life" (with Jessie Ware), alongside "Cant Stop Writing Love Songs About You" a duet with Gloria Gaynor and also a remix of 3rd single "Real Groove" featuring Dua Lipa. Disco: Extended Mixes, a remix album with extended versions of the original 12 track album was also released.
Background In April 2018, Minogue released her fourteenth studio album, Golden. It was her first record after leaving Parlophone and signing with BMG Rights Management, as well as her first full-length album co-distributed by her company Darenote. Golden represented a departure from traditional dance-pop music, with a focus on country influences. Despite its commercial success, it received lukewarm reviews from music critics, owing in part to Minogue's experimentation with country music. Slant Magazine editor Sal Cinquemani predicted that "Golden further bolsters Minogue's reputation for taking risks—and artfully sets the stage for her inevitable disco comeback."
Minogue promoted the album through her Kylie Presents Golden tour in Europe and North America, followed by her Golden Tour, which included new dates throughout Europe and finished in Australia. Minogue began working on new music while touring with Golden, but she lacked a clear direction or theme. According to her, she was inspired by a Golden Tour segment loosely based on disco culture and Studio 54. As a result, she felt her creative direction was "heading straight back to the dance floor" with a disco-themed album. Following her appearance at the Glastonbury Festival that same year, and while promoting her greatest hits album Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection (2019), she announced plans to release a "pop-disco" album.
Production and development
Development began in London in the autumn of 2019 and continued into 2020; she initially worked with Ash Howes, Jon Green, and long-time collaborator Richard "Biff" Stannard early in the production process. Minogue stated that she was initially concerned about the album's overall concept, but her team reassured her about the sound and process, saying, "We think we've got this disco thing down. We know what lane we should be in." By February 2020, Minogue had worked on two tracks: "I Love It" and "Where Does the DJ Go?".Disco formats listed below (via Apple Music): That same month, Minogue received a demo of the song "Miss a Thing" and thought it fit the parent album's disco aesthetic: "There was enough disco in there, but it felt like a fresh interpretation."
Collaborations include sessions with German producer Mousse T, Italian DJ Alex Gaudino, and French producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï. Minogue took a break from recording to present the last show of the Summer 2019 in São Paulo in early March. Following that, she was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles to work on "Miss a Thing" with one of the songwriters, Teemu Brunila. However, around that time, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the majority of the world, prompting widespread lockdown measures. As a result, Minogue recorded and produced the song in her home in London. She described the effects as "eerie" in the early weeks as she tried to figure out how to continue working on her music. Given the impossibilities of the pandemic, she set up a private studio in her own home and started working alone on producing the album using the software GarageBand. Later, she began recording her vocals with Logic Pro, which "took some time getting used to". Throughout the production process, Minogue was unsure of the album's theme. She said, "I did wonder at a certain point if this was still right, [...] Is it viable or is this just unpalatable?" Minogue's A&R, Jamie Nelson, reassured her that it was the right direction. He stated, "Kylie's known to some extent for making disco records, but she's not made any real dance music in some years now. And, bearing in mind what's gone on in the world over the last six months, it feels absolutely on message in terms of what people need..."
Despite previous work on the record before the lockdown, approximately 90% of the tracks on Disco were recorded and produced in her private studio. The first recording sessions were held in various studios throughout England, as well as in Finland (Rabbit Villa Studios) and Los Angeles (Pulse Music Studios).Disco formats listed below: Minogue co-wrote all of the songs on the album, and she received additional vocal engineering credits on almost every track except "Magic", which was done by Alex Robinson. Minogue also used synthesizers on the song "Supernova".
Themes and composition
Disco is a reference to the genre of the same name, and encompasses both traditional and modern interpretations of the genre. In an Apple Music review, Minogue reflected on disco music's prominence in the 1970s and during the 2020 lockdown measures, saying, "At its inception, disco was a way of allowing people to dance through their struggle and pain". She also reflected on the genre's power and sentiments during difficult times like the lockdown, saying, "some of the best disco songs are mission statements of strength. Even though I started recording before the dramas of 2020, there is a correlation."
Escapism is a recurring theme throughout the album, providing a source of hope during the lockdown. According to Helen Brown of The Independent, felt its disco sound was influenced by "the original American disco scene, born in the underground clubs of New York City in the years after her own birth in 1968", and disco was a form of escapism for oppressed underground people. Lyrically, the album delves into themes such as love and intimacy, fun, unity, and celebration. Regarding its songwriting, The Guardian editor Michael Cragg wrote, "Kylie is listed as a co-writer on every track here, and while that album touched on some of her personal upheavals, Discos lyrics mainly revolve around the push and pull of love and its myriad forms."
Disco also incorporates sounds and genres that are not typical of the disco genre. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic called it a "welcome return to the club-friendly dance-pop that defined Australian diva Kylie Minogue's early 21st century rebirth", comparing it to the works of Gloria Gaynor, Chic, and Donna Summer. Robbin Murray of Clash agreed, describing it as "the sound of Kylie Minogue re-connecting with her roots". Lisa Wright, writing for DIY, stated that while Disco is influenced by disco music from the 1970s and 1980s, she believes Minogue "still manages to savvily read the room of the current popscape". The Arts Desk editor Lisa-Marie Ferla described the album as "12 tracks of giddy, gleaming, disco-pop escapism".
Songs and content
Disco begins with "Magic", a disco track influenced by 1970s pop music and featuring instrumentation of horns, "funky" strings, "celebratory" handclaps, and staccato keys. Minogue described it as the "hors d'oeuvre" to the record, describing it as "classic, grown-up, and polished". "Miss a Thing" is a disco-dance hybrid with lush string arrangements that Minogue felt complemented the album's sonic flow. The "retro-futuristic" sound has been compared to Minogue's albums Light Years (2000) and Fever (2001), as well as the work of French music duo Daft Punk. "Real Groove" is a 1980s disco track with house and R&B influences, as well as additional keyboard instrumentation and Auto-Tune effects. It has been compared to British singer Dua Lipa's work on Future Nostalgia (2020).
"Monday Blues" shifts away from the album's disco sound and energy, focusing on a fast-paced "summery pop" sound with partying ambient background noises and heavy guitar strumming. Minogue admitted that she nearly gave up on the track because the verses and chorus were constantly changing. "Supernova" is an "energetic" disco song influenced by "celestial imagery" and intergalactic themes; it was compared to the work of German band Boney M, American drag queen RuPaul, and Daft Punk. "Say Something" is a slower disco-inspired number with elements of dance-pop, electro-pop, and synth-pop, featuring "thick" synths, drum crashes, a funk guitar, and a choir section provided by the House Gospel Choir. Its themes of love and unity are exemplified in the lyrics, "Love is love / It never ends / Can we all be as one again?".
According to Minogue, "Last Chance" was inspired by Swedish group ABBA and British-Australian group the Bee Gees. It is a pop-infused track that also pays musical homage to Donna Summer's song "Last Dance" and ABBA's track "Voulez-Vous". "I Love It" is a pop song with string arrangements that had a different structure before its completion. The line "So come on, let the music play / we're gonna take it all the way" was inspired by the work of American singer Lionel Richie. "Where Does the DJ Go?" is a "frantic" and "quick"-paced track that pays homage to Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive" and has been compared to Daft Punk.