Kylie Minogue - "Tension II"

Tension you could cut with a sick dance move

Kylie Minogue is back already with a sequel to last year’s highly-successful Tension. That link will take you to my review of Tension, which I thought was pretty damn incredible. For those who don’t care to read the old review, it scored a Blue on my board, then went on to rank 22nd in my year-end countdown.

I wasn’t the only one to rave about it — Tension was well-received critically and commercially, with many saying it was potentially her best work to-date. Initially, the plan was to repackage an extended version of the album in 2024 with an extended tracklist. The album’s success, though, encouraged a variety of songwriters to send songs to Minogue, resulting in an overabundance of material.

Thus, Tension II was born as a direct result of its predecessor’s success. And I’ve seen a few other critics praise it as better than the original.

But I think that’s the wrong attitude to take in dissecting this sequel; it’s an entirely subjective call which is going to come down to a preference of tone for individual listeners.

Tension II maintains its predecessor’s heavy Electro/Synth Pop, Dance, and Disco stylings. The entire album is upbeat and incredibly danceable with deep electronic instrumentation supplemented with traditional instruments at points. But where Tension was brightly flirtatious, Tension II is subtly darker, utilizing more accidentals. I’m not convinced any of the songs are actually in minor key, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. There’s that subtle sourness in the melody that comes with minor key and flats.

It isn’t every song — “Dance to the Music” feels properly bright, just as (in review) Tension’s “Green Light” feels like it might line up more with Tension II tonally.

I do feel, generally, that Tension II’s songs don’t quite match up to the strength of the hooks on Tension, especially in that album’s first half. But “Edge of Saturday Night”, “Kiss Bang Bang”, “Dance Alone”, and “Hello” manage to hold their own on that front.

Tension II generally leans back from the vocal lines, though, leaving (a little) more space for the compositions surrounding Minogue’s vocals, which drive the danceable vibes. That also fits the general sensation that maybe Tension II represents the part of the night when the talking is done, and other things become the focal point; several songs mention the clock ticking past midnight or already being well into the AM hours.

Track 2, “Taboo”, is one of the best songs on the album, and is the one where all of these various observations really come together the strongest — the darkly sour tone, the strength of the instrumentation, and the song ending with “Count me in, let’s go, let’s leave”.

I do have to note that Minogue had much less to do with the writing of this album than with Tension. She had primary writing credits on 7 of 11 songs on Tension, but only 6 of 13 on Tension II (not including the tertiary credit on “Lights, Camera, Action”).

There’s a lot of good stuff on Tension II, but it hasn’t sparked the same obsessive awe that its predecessor did after a few listens. And I really just don’t like “Diamonds” all that much (and it makes me wonder why somebody else singled out “My Oh My” as the “forgettable” weakness when “Diamonds” is mildly obnoxious).

Rating: Teal Green