Kylie Minogue Kiss Me Once

Song titles on Kylie Minogue’s new album Kiss Me Once include “Sexy Love,” “Sexercize” and “Les Sex,” so it’s not like the Australian pop star has become a cerebral folkie in the four years since her last studio album. Switching management to Jay Z’s Roc Nation hasn’t really changed Minogue’s approach, either; other than the vaguely dubsteppy “Sexercize,” the dance-pop on Kiss Me Once is bright and straightforward, not much different from 2010’s Aphrodite.

Minogue’s soft, breathy voice has never been a powerhouse, but if there’s going to be a song whose refrain is “You’re sexy, and what you need’s a sexy love,” then she’s the perfect person to sing it. The funky, ’80s-style “I Was Gonna Cancel,” written and produced by Pharrell, the shimmering lead single “Into the Blue” and the lovely, soaring title track ballad are album highlights, while only the dreary, Auto-Tune-heavy Enrique Iglesias duet “Beautiful” falls flat completely. Clearly, reinvention is for suckers.