Kylie Minogue’s album
Golden is released on April 6.PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY IMAGES.7878 marieclaire.com.au
W
hen Kylie Minogue,
the grand dame
of Australian pop
music, released her
long-awaited new
single “Dancing” earlier this year,
no-one expected to hear a country
banger. We certainly didn’t expect to
see cowboy boots, line dancing and
tassels in the music video, either. Yet
the Nashville-inspired, rhinestone-
studded single became an overnight hit.
Why? Because we’re not laughing at
country music anymore – we’re
loving it. Country is cool.
The evidence, your honour?
Kesha’s comeback album RainbowR#1I25*1I<?B)G9ð
shouldn’t have been
so quick to ditch
country music”COUNTRY
COMEBACK
From Kylie Minogue to Kesha, country
music is suddenly cool again – yee-hawfeatured both yodelling and a duet with
Dolly Parton. Miley Cyrus’ Younger
Now showed off her pure country pipes.
And Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons”
gave us a million reasons to fall in love
with Western melodies. Once dismissed
as music’s most-hated genre, country
has converted some of the world’s
biggest pop stars, and a new generation
of artists are feeling the love (maybe
Taylor Swift shouldn’t have been
quite so quick to ditch it).
Tickets to the recent CMC Rocks
Queensland festival sold out in under
an hour. The stellar line-up included
American Grammy-nominee Kelsea
Ballerini, who became the first female
country artist to bank three consecutive
number one songs from her debut
album The First Time. Then there’s
Australian hitmaker Melanie Dyer,
who topped the Aussie charts with her
single “Fresh”, and Missy Lancaster,
whose latest track “Forget” is so catchy
it’ll be stuck in your head for weeks.
With a slew of artists racing up the
charts, closeted country music fans are
throwing their cowboy hats in the air.
Knowing all the words to every Kasey
Chambers song is no longer considered
a dirty secret. It’s time to brush up on
your line dancing, y’all.G E N R E
BENDER
These stars are abandoning
their pop roots and embracing
new soundscapesSAMANTHA JADE
out April 20
Australia’s sweetheart
Samantha Jade is bringing
disco back, baby. Her new
album includes classic disco
covers of Donna Summer
and Cher songs.JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
out now
The fifth album from the
undisputed Prince of Pop is
genre defying – mixing blues,
folk and electric funk.DAMI IM
out now
Dami Im gets her jazz hands
out on this nostalgic tribute
album with covers of Aretha
Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald.MANOFTHEWOODS(^) I
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