CHQ's Corey Crockett caught up with Kylie for a convo on all things post Padam and the new record Tension II
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00:00We are Channel Q at Odyssey Live at the Hard Rock Hotel
00:03in New York. I feel like we're sitting on a throne right now
00:05because I'm joined by royalty.
00:06Colleen McGregor is here.
00:07Thank you for spending some time with us.
00:09Thank you. Good to see you again.
00:10You've had a really busy year.
00:12In fact, since the last time we spoke with you
00:15like a year and a half ago, you've had
00:17the Vegas residency, you've had the success of Padam,
00:20and you put out Tension, and then you won the Grammy,
00:22and the Brit Icon. Like, there's so much that has happened.
00:24And then for you to say,
00:26let's hit the gas in the next year,
00:28have this, which I hate.
00:29We're going to turbocharge, yes.
00:31You've got so much ahead of you, and I'm so excited for it.
00:33I think we should start with the album,
00:35which is out on Friday.
00:37Congratulations. So excited.
00:39Tension 2, what was it about Tension
00:43that made you want to go back and revisit that era?
00:46Um, well, it did well. It was received well.
00:49Padam, Padam.
00:50It's so funny. I'm kind of like, Padam.
00:52We all just call it Padam now.
00:54You're the first to say this.
00:55Yeah. It's full name.
00:57Padam, Padam.
00:58Just, it was like, kind of like lightning in a bottle for me.
01:03It just was, it just, it did so much for me.
01:06And, uh, yeah, I wanted to ride the wave.
01:09And so the album did well,
01:13followed up Padam, Padam with the song Tension,
01:16which we were all really relieved about
01:19because Padam went for a while.
01:21Like, what do we do next?
01:23This is a great problems ad, but where do we go from here?
01:26Yeah, with the Vegas residency,
01:28just getting to know some of those songs live
01:32and how they, how they translate, um, with an audience.
01:36So as we know, a lot of albums now,
01:39you do the little bump up,
01:40a little reboot of the album, repack.
01:44Uh, but I think because of the success of Tension,
01:50there were some great songs that came my way.
01:52I just felt the momentum and yeah,
01:56it turned, turned from a repack into a body of work.
02:01Um, the list was just, it was a list,
02:05not like two or three songs.
02:07I remember calling my A&R from, I was in Australia.
02:10I called him in London.
02:11I said, kind of look, I was looking at my, you know,
02:15you scribble down the songs.
02:16What can I get rid of?
02:19What am I attached to, but really isn't going to work?
02:21Blah, blah, blah, blah.
02:22And, uh, yeah, I said, should we just do another album?
02:27Like, obviously it's not the next album.
02:29That will be a different era, different time.
02:33But yeah, that's how Tension 2 came about.
02:36And now you're going to be taking the show on the road
02:38back in the U.S. on a proper tour for the first time
02:40in a very long time.
02:42I think the question that I don't want to ask,
02:44but I have to ask is what took so long?
02:46I don't know.
02:47It was really, um, I don't know.
02:51Uh, I guess, actually, I don't know.
02:55I've always wanted, I've wanted to, I mean,
02:57it's, I love performing here.
02:58So I guess that's why I'm doing as much as I can
03:03this time around.
03:04You've played at so many, um, iconic venues,
03:07really across the world in your career.
03:08You've played at Wembley.
03:09MSG is right down the street and MSG has two dates.
03:12Stop it, I can't even, I just, it's, it's too exciting.
03:16Does it still for you have that, that like iconic feeling
03:20and excitement?
03:21Yeah, there's certain venues that are, you know,
03:23the venue is an icon.
03:25So to be in that venue for sure.
03:27So, so exciting.
03:28Um, what is it I think about MSG
03:33and that like world's most famous venue
03:34that you walk in and you're like, oh my gosh,
03:36like I'm here because you, you've done so much already.
03:39Yeah, places like Royal Albert Hall in London,
03:41there's a vibe and you, once you've, I mean,
03:46I haven't, I haven't done a show,
03:49like a full show at Madison Square Gardens,
03:51but for somewhere like Royal Albert Hall,
03:55once you've done it, once you,
03:56there's something in the building,
03:58there's something, there's an energy there.
04:00And so you kind of know what you're walking into.
04:02MSG, I don't really know, but I've, um,
04:05I've already had some DMs with their account
04:07and like, I'm so excited that we, me, us too.
04:10So I feel like we're friends already.
04:12Awesome.
04:13Is there anything from the residency
04:15that you were like, okay, that worked so well,
04:17we have to take this and make it a part of the tour?
04:20So many things.
04:21I, there was so many takeaways from the residency
04:24and, uh, it, they weren't specific,
04:30they weren't especially things that I didn't know
04:32because I've kind of, I know, I know about performance now,
04:38not to say there's not new things to learn,
04:40but, you know, I've kind of, I get it,
04:42um, I know what I'm doing.
04:43But I think that the venue was really intimate,
04:47but had proportion and scale,
04:50but I was really like in amongst the crowd
04:53and I kind of loved that.
04:56So we've tried to incorporate,
04:58I will try and incorporate a lot of that into the,
05:01obviously there's limitations with a bigger show,
05:04but just some of that feeling
05:05and try and remove some of that,
05:11um, the borderline that here's a stage and there's audience,
05:14trying to blur that a bit and just,
05:16even if you can't do that physically,
05:19just with the energy.
05:21Yeah. I want to commend you too,
05:22because you were really open in a recent documentary
05:24about how life on the road can be stressful,
05:27even in the moment, like when you're in the show,
05:29that there's a lot of moving parts
05:31and there's a lot going on.
05:32Was it kind of cathartic to like get that off your chest
05:34and kind of represent artists that are like,
05:37we're putting on a show here?
05:39Well, it's, it is in conversation now, which is good.
05:44And it, I guess with my shows
05:49and my understanding of performances,
05:51you don't, it's like the Muppets basically,
05:53there's on stage and there's backstage,
05:56two completely different worlds.
05:58And, but they kind of feed each other.
06:01Um, and so, or, you know, like, like the,
06:06the swan on top of the, above water,
06:09they're just kind of graceful.
06:10It's all happening, the engines below.
06:13And it's just, you know, the machines going.
06:15So I guess I take that for granted
06:17because that's, I know it to be that way.
06:20The audience doesn't need to think about that.
06:22They don't need to think about the dramas that are happening.
06:24You know, there's stuff in my ear like,
06:26oh, wait, bass is gone.
06:28We've lost power to that.
06:29This is, you know, so-and-so is not like this.
06:33There's a lot of kind of fires to put out,
06:36but it's part of the fun if you can kind of manage it.
06:42Um, and I, I used to think before I was,
06:48uh, like when I was a lot more nervous about shows
06:51and I, you know, I had to learn,
06:53I had to learn how to come on the stage
06:56and how to be on stage
06:58and deal with all the other stuff as well.
07:00But I used to think, oh, that two hours on stage,
07:03it's like, that's my focus.
07:05That's like the hardest part of the day.
07:06And then I realized a few years ago, I thought,
07:09wait a second, maybe they're the, in a sense,
07:12they're the easiest part of the day
07:14because they, you don't have the if, buts and maybes
07:18and what if, and I shoulda, I coulda.
07:20Like you're in the moment, what you are,
07:22you live and breathe every millisecond,
07:24split second on stage.
07:26So you're doing, you can't, I don't know.
07:30I just felt like the rest of the,
07:31the other 22 hours of the day,
07:34I have anxiety about what's coming.
07:36I have like remorse of what I didn't do,
07:38what should I, I didn't do that.
07:39I've got to remember this, blah, blah, blah, blah.
07:42So kind of, I flipped it.
07:45And you're going on tour after a summer
07:47where we saw like the pop diva come to life again.
07:51You had Charlie, you had Sabrina, you had Chapel.
07:54What was it like to watch that moment this summer,
07:56especially after, you know, the success
07:58of Put On last summer and to see this summer?
07:59It's been so cool.
08:00And I have just given them so many spins, honestly.
08:04That's my go-to.
08:06Yeah, I love what they're doing.
08:08I love the songwriting, the storytelling, the honesty.
08:14I just think they're brilliant, really, really do.
08:16Before I let you go, we're from channel Q.
08:19And one of the things that we say is that pride is 365.
08:21So if you had to choose a pride anthem,
08:24what would you pick for yourself?
08:25Well, maybe I'd choose one of mine.
08:27I mean, I don't know.
08:30It's not limited to being a pride anthem,
08:33but I know it has been taken aside from Put On, Put On.
08:37That's an aside.
08:38All the Lovers.
08:39Oh, yes, absolutely.
08:40I love that.
08:41But Put On, Put On was, I mean, hit.
08:45It really was everywhere.
08:46Thank you so much.
08:48Well, it's been lovely spending time with you.
08:50Thank you for stopping by.
08:51We're excited.
08:52The album dropping on Friday and tickets
08:53on sale for attention.
08:55Tour now.
08:55See you at MSG.