Pop's party girl will get you dancing again! ADRIAN THRILLS reviews KYLIE: Tension II

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She moved one step ahead of the game six years ago when she foreshadowed this year's country craze with 2018's Golden, an album she described as ' Dolly Parton on the dance floor'. Since then, however, Kylie Minogue has gone back to what she does best — high-octane disco music.

At 56, she's showing no sign of slowing down. This year, she has closed the show at the BRITs (where she won the Global Icon award), rounded off a Las Vegas residency, headlined British Summer Time in London's Hyde Park and recorded duets with Sia, Orville Peck, The Blessed Madonna and Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo.

Next spring, she's back on the road with her biggest arena tour in more than a decade; and today sees the release of a new album, Tension II. A companion piece to last year's Tension, it takes her even deeper into the sounds of clubland. As she sings on Lights Camera Action: 'This place is the space where I let it go.'

Her renewed appetite for dance music can be traced back to 2020's Disco, an album recorded in lockdown (with Kylie producing her own vocals) and inspired by the nostalgic attitude of Dua Lipa and Sophie Ellis-Bextor . She updated her outlook on the first volume of Tension, and refines the concept further on Tension II.

The template is last year's Padam Padam, which gave her a first UK Top Ten in 12 years and featured on last year's LP. Co-writer Ina Wroldsen is here again, adding euphoric hooks and an electronic sheen to Lights Camera Action, Taboo and Hello.

There are throwbacks to the Kylie of old. 'Calling all the lovers', she sings on Dance To The Music, a nod to 2010's All The Lovers. The syncopated Diamonds harks back to 2001's Can't Get You Out Of My Head.

Fleeting bouts of introspection surface. On Someone For Me, she congratulates a friend who has found love, but also asks — 'selfishly' — if they could find a Mr Right for her, too.

Putting the home recording skills that she mastered in lockdown to good use, she also oversees the technical side of things on several tracks (she's credited as 'vocal recording engineer'), adding a touch of auto-tune to her breathy voice but always placing her own performance front and centre.

The nine new songs are augmented by the duets released earlier this year, sequenced together at the end of the album like the greatest hits in a big live show.

Dance ALONE, sung with fellow Australian Sia, is a track about finding salvation in dance music , and Edge Of Saturday Night — all classic house piano and synths — is a banger that sees Kylie teaming up with London-based American DJ The Blessed Madonna.

The twangy Midnight Ride, sung with Orville Peck, takes her back to 2018's country LP, while My Oh My, featuring Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo, was brought to life this summer when Minogue was joined by both in Hyde Park.

She doesn't try to compete with younger dance divas. Where Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter are candid, confessional songwriters, Kylie is escapist. Other singers have greater range, but few can match the natural enthusiasm of pop's ultimate party girl.

Having previously trodden a fine line between mainstream pop and the dance underground, Charli XCX became more of a household name with her sixth album, Brat, in June.

An electronic tour de force, it sparked its own fashion craze — 'Brat summer' — and its lime green artwork became a viral sensation, with even U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris customising the imagery for her 2024 election campaign. Now Cambridge-born Charli has come up with a wryly titled remix project adding to the 'Brat girl' concept.

On the original release, she described herself as 'famous, but not quite'. She's now a bigger star, but is also discovering that real fame isn't what she'd expected. 'It's a knife when somebody says they like the old me, and not the new me,' she sings on Sympathy Is A Knife, her tongue firmly in cheek as she contemplates her sudden success.

Her remixes are enhanced by some big-name guests, including Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish, although the stellar roll-call also overshadows the original album's rebellious, party-loving spirit.

The highlights are impressive, though. I Think About It All The Time, now featuring Bon Iver, interpolates Bonnie Raitt's classic Nick Of Time as Charli wonders if she'll ever become a mum.

Girl, So Confusing — a song about her contentious relationship with Lorde — now features an additional verse from the New Zealander. 'Let's work it out on the remix,' sings Lorde, upgrading the original in style.