Kylie Minogue has spoken about ageism in the music industry after Madonna commented on the criticism she faced after this year’s Grammys.
In February, the Queen of Pop introduced Sam Smith and Kim Petras‘ performance of their Grammy Award-winning duet ‘Unholy’ at the Grammy ceremony, praising the duo for rising “above the noise, the doubt [and] the critics”. After her appearance, Madonna’s looks were described as “unrecognisable”, with viewers slating her plastic surgery.
The ‘Frozen’ singer hit back in an Instagram post, writing that she is “once again caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny [that] permeates the world we live in.
In response to this, Kylie Minogue reflected on how ageism affected her career as both a young and older performer. “There was some of that [ageism] with ‘Padam’, where it surprised people and went on ‘youth-orientated’ radio,” she told Radio Times. “But I think we’re in a time where it’s not cool to be ageist. People are over it.”
She praised “younger people” for embracing her music, citing that their attitude to music as “really interesting” and “amazing and a breath of fresh air”. “You can like what you like, be what you want to be,” she added, calling that attitude “helpful for [her] right now”.
“They don’t really see my age, which is kind of funny because I started so young, and if there was any detrimental aspect to that, it was, ‘You’re so young, what do you know, how can you be credible?’”
She added: “At different points in my career, whatever age I’ve been, there’s been something to navigate… I spoke about it on my album ‘Golden’, saying, ‘We’re not young, we’re not old, we’re golden, you can only be who you are at that point in time.’”
‘Padam Padam’ songwriter Lostboy previously called British radio “ageist” and said that the hit should be even bigger. “We were trying to get it played on the radio,” he told The Independent. “[The song] was everywhere, everyone was talking about it and it was at least top two in the charts – but Radio 1 and Capital were refusing to play it, essentially because she’s [Kylie] an older woman.”
Lostboy also called out the apparent sexism in the response to Minogue’s single, saying: “There are other 55-year-old artists, David Guetta for example, and he’s all over the radio obviously, because he’s a bloke and he’s got some amazing tunes. ‘Padam’ should have been on there from the beginning, and it’s just a reflection on Radio 1.”
Minogue is set to embark on her first-ever Las Vegas residency at the Venetian hotel’s new 1000-capacity, cabaret-style nightclub, Voltaire, starting November 4. The residency will last for three months and will see the pop icon perform tracks from ‘Tension’, alongside greatest hits, including ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’, ‘Spinning Around’ and ‘Better the Devil You Know’.
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