Kylie Minogue showed fans she’s still got it at 55 with a dazzling performance at Sunday’s (Feb. 18) People’s Choice Awards.
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Awash in red lights, the Australian dance-pop sensation performed her surprise summer 2023 hit “Padam Padam,” much to the delight of viewers.
Fans were thrilled to see “WandaVision” actress Kathryn introduce the artist. “kathryn hahn introducing kylie minogue is iconic,” one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kylie Minogue Wins Second-Ever GRAMMY
Minogue took the stage at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California still riding the high from her second-ever GRAMMY award.
The artist took home the Best Pop Dance Recording Recording for “Padam Padam” at the Feb. 4 ceremony. The lead single from her 16th studio album, Tension, has transcended generational lines and reached TikTok virality.
Tension made Minogue the only female artist to score a No. 1 album in five different decades in the United Kingdom. With 80 million record sales worldwide, Minogue is Australia’s all-time highest-selling female artist. The “princess of pop” handed Taylor Swift the blueprint for reinvention, both in artistry and in style.
[RELATED: The 20 Best Kylie Minogue Quotes]
Kylie Minogue Credits Staying Power to LGBTQ+ Fanbase
“Padam Padam” has become a staple at LGBTQ+ pride parades all over the globe. So it makes sense that Minogue attributes her nearly five decades of success to her queer fans.
“I would say thank you for being with me for such a long time now, through thick and thin,” Minogue told E!’s Live from the Red Carpet host Laverne Cox at the Grammys. “We ride the highs, the lows and the in-betweens, and to know that we’ve got each other’s backs and this feels like the start of the next era.”
Indeed, Minogue is your gay icon’s gay icon. Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, called her “the gay shorthand for joy” in a 2006 interview with The Guardian.
“Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out,” Wainwright said. “She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it.”
Featured image by Monica Schipper/Getty Images
