"Tension" fuses '90s house music and '00s club classics. Kylie Minogue's vocals are sultry and seductive, and the lyrics are a playful invitation to break the tension, let loose and have fun.
Call me Kylie-lie-lie
Don't imita-ta-tate
Back in 2015, American socialite and media maven Kylie Jenner took a shot at trademarking "Kylie" for her advertising and endorsement game plan, but Kylie Minogue wasn't having it. The pop icon threw down the gauntlet in 2016, battling Jenner's trademark application.
The bigwigs at the US Patent and Trademark Office weren't buying it either. In 2017, they dropped the hammer on Jenner's trademark dreams.
Here, Kylie Minogue is sending a crystal-clear message: she's the real Kylie, and there's no room for copycats.
Kylie Minogue co-wrote "Tension" with:
Her longtime collaborators Biff Stannard, Duck Blackwell and Jon Green ("
Love At First Sight," "
Say Something").
Little Mix's go-to songwriting partner Kamille, whose other credits include Clean Bandit's "
Solo," and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha's "
I'm Good (Blue)."
Former Head of A&R at Syco Music, Anya Jones. After creatively directing the musical careers of artists such as Ella Henderson, Leona Lewis, Little Mix, and Susan Boyle, Jones signed a songwriting deal with Spirit Music Group in 2020. She's secured cuts with artists including Tom Grennan, Bebe Rexha and Birdy.
"Tension" is the title track of Minogue's 16th album. Part of the album was written and recorded in a lavish Surrey pad, which the entire crew of co-writers and production wizards made their temporary home.
"Kylie didn't want to be in a studio environment as we both write better in a more relaxed space, so the record company booked an incredible Airbnb for us all," Biff Stannard told Classic Pop magazine. "It was the hottest week of the year. We were in an amazing place with a swimming pool and everything - it sounds rock n roll, but we never actually used any of it. We did 16 songs in five days."
"Tension" was written and recorded on one of these hot summer days. The UK heat left Kylie and her team sizzling, as the one thing the place lacked was air conditioning.
"Tension" came halfway through the album writing process. "I was with three of my favorites, Biff, Duck and Jon Green. And in came two other writers for the day, Kamille and Anya and they came in with this incredible energy," Kylie recalled to Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "The guys were kind of like, 'Oh, fine. We'll just be over here then.' Because it was just the three, the two girls and I. They were really pumped to be there and it was such a great opportunity for all of us."
"Tension" was one of those songs that just happened. "We were just vibing and all the whooping and stuff that we've kept on the record was literally us just screaming our heads off and going, 'Did you just say that? Did you just say that?' 'Yeah, I said it.' 'Okay,'" recalled Kylie. "We were jumping on sofas and I mean, you'd have to get their take on it as well, but I remember it as that. I mean, we were in this pool house, so it was like the wrong place to record anything, we weren't really thinking about recording, just writing and getting the vibe down, but a lot of it stayed on the record."
Shot by long-time collaborator Sophie Muller, the retro-future alternate-reality video finds Minogue in a futuristic control room. She orchestrates a colossal holographic version of herself, unleashing a dance spectacle perfectly synced to the track.
Tension debuted at #1 on the UK albums chart, outselling the rest of the Top 5 combined to reach the summit. It was Kylie's ninth chart-topping UK album, following:
1988 Kylie
1989 Enjoy Yourself
1992 Greatest Hits
2001 Fever
2010 Aphrodite
2018 Golden
2019 Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection
2020 Disco
