Jared Braden A healthy obsession with pop music!
Kylie Minogue’s iconic single “Slow” celebrated its 10th anniversary last week, so I wanted take the opportunity to look back at one of Kylie’s greatest moments. It’s very rare that the melody of a song’s verses is just as strong and memorable as its chorus, but that happens to be the case with Kylie Minogue’s 2003 single “Slow.” When the opening beats worked their way into your eardrum for the first time, you instantly knew this was going to be a defining moment for Kylie. Sure, Kylie had shown us her sexy side before, but nothing as sensual, seductive and minimal as this. This was Kylie at a whole nother level.
“It’s a simple song, and yet it stays with you,” Kylie told MTV in an interview at the time. “Lyrically, it’s about how time and space have a different meaning when you meet someone [you really like]. I loved the way the song had this push-pull effect; the musical and lyrical combination gives you a sense of that.”
Kylie’s vocal performance on “Slow” is subtle and almost hushed, but she fills every fissure of the arrangement with her sexy, understated vocal delivery, while the melody slinks around and permanently embeds itself in your head. It’s a masterful performance that, along other tracks from the underrated Body Language era, made Kylie the artist she is today.
The music video for “Slow” was filmed in Barcelona, Spain by Baillie Walsh, and features choreography by Michael Rooney. The concept of the clip fits the song perfectly, and both work extremely well together to fortify the sensual feel of the entire Body Language period. “Slow” is, without a doubt, one of the more noteworthy moments in Kylie’s triumphant pop career.
