Kylie Minogue: she's been called music's ultimate chameleon, playing with her look, her sound, and others' expectations. David furnish checks in with the pop star as she enters her latest chapter

Interview, April, 2008 by David Furnish

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If anyone knows about the art of transformation, it's Kylie Minogue: Over the course of her nearly two decades in the entertainment industry, the 39-year-old Australian recording artist has gone from soap-opera siren to pop princess to bona fide international music icon. In 2005, the singer underwent yet another public metamorphosis when her struggle with breast cancer exposed a previously little-seen vulnerability to the world. Here, Minogue talks to her old friend, director and producer David Furnish, about X--her first album since that very public struggle--and why sometimes the best medicine can be found in singing about the dance floor.

DAVID FURNISH: Hello, Kylie!

KYLIE MINOGUE: Don't tell me you're just down the road in London and we needed this incredible network of phone operations to connect us. [Furnish laughs] Where are you?

DF: I'm in Atlanta.

KM: Well, I'm snuggled in the back of a car on my way to band auditions. Our tour starts in less than three months, but I won't throw myself into a panic. I just had a good meeting with my music producer, and the new mixes and interpretations are so exciting. I'll be doing songs from the new album I've never performed before live.

DF: Why another tour so soon?

KM: [laughs] Because I haven't learned my lesson yet! I have a love-hate relationship with touring, but it is the time where everything else is made sense of--the work behind it, the promo, the getting people to know your songs. And frankly, having two hours onstage when no one is requesting that you make decisions is like a holiday! And it's addictive.

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DF: Is that because of the response you get from the audience?

KM: Yeah. Also, the Showgirl tour was for the Greatest Hits album, which was postponed because of my illness. So afterward we came back to do the Homecoming tour, which was still a greatest-hits tour, so it's great to have the opportunity to tour with fresh material from X. I didn't want to let that opportunity pass.

DF: I went to see Showgirl before you took time off to deal with your cancer, and seeing the show again after you came back was literally like night and day. The love and support from the audience during your Homecoming tour was palpable. I think people look at what you've been through, and at the honest way you dealt with it and then triumphed over it, and just admire and respect that so much.

KM: Your life really does become part of your art. it reflects where you are and what you've been through--there's no two ways about it.

DF: Was it hard being public about your illness, or was it something you felt you couldn't avoid?

KM: Two nights after I was diagnosed, I was meant to start production rehearsal [for the Australian portion of the tour], so I wouldn't have felt comfortable canceling all those shows at such late notice without a valid reason. I also think being straight up about my diagnosis made it more present to me, and I couldn't have dealt with trying to keep up some facade while dealing with everything else.

DF: So tell me about X. It's your 10th album, which is hard to believe. What were you hoping to achieve with it?

KM: Well, firstly, I wanted to know that I could still go into a studio and sing and perform, and thankfully all of that was like riding a bike, but actually easier, because with everything I'd been through, I felt quite liberated. And it was important for me to put some personal tracks in there, which I've done. Ironically, one angle a few critics took with the album was that there wasn't enough personal music on it, and I was a little perturbed by that. I stand by the album though--it has more personal tracks than the last few albums had, but after being ill and dealing with so much heaviness, singing about the disco and the dance floor was as important as laying myself bare.

DF: Do you have a track on the album that is the most personal for you?

KM: There are three: "No More Rain," "Cosmic," and "Stars." "Stars" is about the fact that [throughout the illness] I really felt like I could see the light in the darkness, that in the glummest of moments and places, I was able to laugh with people and find our common humanity. I know that's very cliched, but in moments like that all the cliches come to life. "No More Rain" was about trying to imagine what it would be like to be back onstage, because that was my main goal.

DF: Because you'd literally stopped midtour.

KM: Yeah, and I still had all that adrenaline going. Touring again was the most obvious way for me to feel like I was able to pick up where I left off.

DF: The last couple of days, I've been thinking about what you represent to people, and for me, Kylie equals happy. Your music is what people listen to when they want to feel good and to celebrate the great things in life.

KM: I consider that an honor. I don't quite know how I arrived at what I do, but I think I was born to do it. [laughs] Frankly, I'm unqualified to do any thing else, and some days I feel like I'm only just getting good at this. [Furnish laughs] It brings to mind a quote I came across that went: "There's no shortcut to learning your craft." We're no spring chickens anymore, but if you've got an inquisitive, passionate mind, you're always learning.