Kylie Minogue sticks to winning formula with 'Tension II'

Twenty years after winning her her first Grammy award, pop star Kylie Minogue was delighted to receive her second this year for "Padam Padam", the lead single from the hit album "Tension". The enormous success felt like a comeback, Kylie Minogue said last year.

"Wow, this is a great moment," she told dpa in London, "and I'm already going: I want to get back in the studio."

No sooner said than done. Almost a year and a half later, the pop icon is releasing her next studio album, "Tension II".

The 56-year-old singer has reinvented herself time and again during her long career and has often changed her musical style. Not this time. "The 'Tension' era has been so special to me," Kylie explained when announcing the album and her Tension world tour next year. "I can’t possibly let it be over just yet."

"Tension II" - which her record company calls a "partner album" - continues with the successful formula with disco anthems, club music stompers, electro-pop and a touch of the 80s. It contains nine brand new studio tracks and a few already well-known singles, including "My Oh My" with younger colleagues Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo.

Other guests include The Blessed Madonna ("Edge Of Saturday Night") and Sia ("Dance Alone"). "Midnight Ride", a dancefloor number with a strong country influence, is somewhat out of the ordinary. The collaboration with South African-born, Canada-based country singer Orville Peck and DJ Wesley Pentz, aka Diplo, was also featured on Peck's recently released album "Stampede".

"Tension II" is a solid piece of work, but it falls slightly short of the standards set by its partner album. The songs are not as catchy, the mix is not as homogeneous, and there is a lack of memorable earworms.

In the increasingly confusing pop landscape, where the fear of artificial intelligence is spreading, Kylie Minogue continues to hold her own in the top league. And the "Princess of Pop" will once again fill the big venues on her Tension world tour, with 58 concerts planned across four continents next year.