Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Kylie Minogue: It’s not cool to be ageist

Kylie Minogue (Doug Peters/PA)
Kylie Minogue (Doug Peters/PA)

Kylie Minogue has said it is “not cool to be ageist” anymore.

The Australian pop superstar, 55, has had a 35-year career and said there has always “been something to navigate” but has not had to deal with prejudice about her age as much as others have.

Earlier this year Madonna said she has been “caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny” following criticism over her appearance at the Grammy Awards.

Minogue, who has lately found viral success on TikTok with her single Padam Padam, said she has been pleased to see people abandoning labels.

She told Radio Times: “There was some of that with Padam, where it surprised people and went on ‘youth-orientated’ radio.

“But I think we’re in a time where it’s not cool to be ageist. People are over it.

“What’s really interesting is that it’s the younger people saying, ‘We love the song.’ The current thinking, which is amazing and a breath of fresh air, is that labels are dropping.

“You can like what you like, be what you want to be. That’s helpful for me right now.

“Another thing is, I’ve had people say to me, throughout the years, ‘You’ll always just be you.’

“They don’t really see my age, which is kind of funny, because I started so young, and if there was any detrimental aspect to that it was, ‘You’re so young, what do you know, how can you be credible?’

Graham Norton Show – London
Kylie Minogue (Matt Crossick/PA)

“At different points in my career, whatever age I’ve been, there’s been something to navigate.

“I spoke about it on my album Golden, saying, ‘We’re not young, we’re not old, we’re golden, you can only be who you are at that point in time.’

“I have friends for whom, on their phone, I’m just called Sparkle. I don’t quite know how I’ve managed it, but I don’t think I’ve had to deal with it as much as some other people.”

She has been pleasantly surprised by the success of Padam Padam in the US, which comes ahead of her Las Vegas residency later this year, saying: “It feels like a concerted effort.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time, much more than in recent years, being in the States and Padam just keeps Padaming, really.

“I’m trying to keep up. It’s very exciting. I would say, ‘Who would have thought?’ but I don’t think that’s the best attitude. It’s more, ‘Here we are and why not?’ Give it a go.”

Minogue will appear at the BBC’s Radio 2 in the Park this weekend and her new album Tension is released on September 22.

(Radio Times)

Radio Times is out now.