Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
This summer, it’s been hard to escape Kylie Minogue and her latest single “Padam Padam”— she hasn’t been this ubiquitous in two decades. The song charted at No. 8 in the U.K., No. 18 in the Digital Song Sales Chart in the U.S., became Minogue’s first song on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs Chart since it was founded a decade ago, and has amassed over 44 million streams on Spotify so far. It’s become an anthem in Pride parades across the world, and a politician in the U.K. even quoted the song in parliament. Now 55-years-old, Minogue has had another career reinvention. How has she done it?
It’s undeniable that TikTok has played a considerable role. The social media app has become a powerful platform for making songs go viral—usually brand new tracks by by new artists (“ABCDEFU” by Gayle, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X), or older songs by established artists (“Primadonna” by Marina, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac) that suddenly blow up.
But “Padam Padam,” a new song by an established artist, fits neither of these categories. Rather, according to Chris Anderton, associate professor in cultural economy at Solent University in the U.K. “Kylie’s TikTok success is the latest example of the music industry’s current social media strategies—using the platform both to break new songs and to revive the careers of evergreen artists and back catalog tunes.”