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Dannii Minogue Album: “Girl”
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Release Date:2005-02-22
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Electronic/Dance, Pop, Gay Club Mix
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Label:Warner Music UK
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:639842054867
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Review - :
After a brief burst of success in the early '90s, the career of {$Dannii Minogue} seemed to be over, the failure of her second album {^Get Into You} signposting her as another flash in the pan clinging to the coattails of a more famous sibling. Or so it seemed. After a three year absence the younger {$Minogue} returned with an updated sound and a striking new look. Where the cover of her debut album {^Love and Kisses} depicted {$Dannii} as a slightly plain girl next door, the {^Girl} artwork is sleek and sexy, with {$Minogue} sporting newly blonde hair and a tanned, toned body. The music too was no longer so concerned with aping American trends; it was clearly influenced by the British dance club sounds of the mid-'90s. In short, {$Dannii} was finally carving an identity for herself, and her decision to drop her famous surname from her records at this point was highly significant. Lead single {&"All I Wanna Do"} was a stunning and unexpected comeback. Written by {$Brian Higgins}, who would later write {&"Believe"} for {$Cher}, and the majority of {$Girls Aloud}'s hits, it arguably went further into club territory than any {$Kylie} single that had preceded it, and a number of enormously popular remixes saw it topping the club charts and sailing into the U.K. Top Five, the biggest hit of her career at that point. Elsewhere, {^Girl} is impressive in its consistency, not just in quality but in direction. Where {^Love and Kisses} was heavy on filler and {^Get Into You} was a bit too varied to work as a collection, {^Girl} remains true to the image and sounds established on that fantastic lead single. {&"So in Love with Yourself"} is a cold and contemptuous attack on a vain former lover with an impressively aloof vocal, and {&"Everything I Wanted"} is a sophisticated and understated {\trance} song which made a commercially disastrous but extremely interesting second single. Once again it was a bigger hit in the clubs than it was in the U.K. charts. The centerpiece of the album is third single {&"Disremembrance."} Clocking in at over eight minutes in its original form, it mixes {\trance} beats with sweeping {\orchestral} strings and soul searching lyrics you'd normally associate more with an artist like {$Björk} than a fairly lightweight dance diva. Released too long after the album had lost momentum, the track stalled outside the U.K. Top 20, but it was yet another club hit and remains by far one of {$Dannii}'s best loved songs. A few strange choices interrupt the flow of the album in places, such as an extended dub mix of the track {&"Movin' Up"} (titled {&"If It Moves...Dub It"}) placed halfway through the album, and the trippy, six-minute {\spoken word} {&"Everybody Changes Underwater,"} but all in all, {^Girl} is an exciting and forward thinking return from a singer who most critics had long since written off. Like {$Janet Jackson} before her, {$Dannii} had stepped out of her famous elder sibling's shadow and emerged as an artist worth watching. ~ John Lucas, All Music Guide
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