"Golden" is a song by Australian singer
Kylie Minogue, taken from her fourteenth
studio album of the same name (2018). It was released by Kylie's own company Darenote Limited and licensed to
BMG Rights Management, as an album track, on 6 April 2018 for digital consumption. It was confirmed on 28 May 2018 as the third single from the album.
The song impacted radio in Italy on 29 May 2018.
"Golden" was one of the three tracks that was written during Minogue's two week visit to Nashville, following the suggestion of a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
element for ''Golden'', along with "
Dancing
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
" and "
Sincerely Yours". The song was written by Minogue, Lindsay Rimes,
Liz Rose
Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...
and
Steve McEwan
Steve McEwan is a multi Grammy award winning British songwriter, artist, and musician. His songs have been recorded by country music artists including Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, and Keith Urban. Outside of country, he has also ...
, and was produced by Rimes. Musically, along with the previous singles, "Golden" is a
pop song with elements of country music. Lyrically, it talks about living life and showing determination.
The music video for "Golden" was directed by
Sophie Muller
Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 '' Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's so ...
, who also directed the videos for "Dancing" and "
Stop Me from Falling". It was recorded on a foot terrace
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. ,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, during the same time that the video for the Gente De Zona remix of "Stop Me from Falling" was filmed; Minogue uploaded a post to
Instagram, captioning the photo: "We had no lights, no crew... no makeup!! It took some convincing from my Director, Sophie Muller but we did it!"
Minogue performed the song as the opening to the
Kylie Presents Golden shows and on ''
The Voice Kids UK
''The Voice Kids'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on ITV during the summer television cycle on 10 June 2017. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...
''.
Background and composition
Following the suggestion from her
A&R manager to incorporate country music into the album,
Kylie Minogue spent two weeks in
Nashville,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, where she wrote three songs for ''Golden'': the lead single "Dancing", album track "Sincerely Yours" and "Golden"; Minogue felt that the location had had a "profound" effect on her, and what she'd learned about song writing had stayed with her once she'd returned to the UK, and lead her to be able to use a more story-telling aspect in her lyrics. Lyrically, "Golden" is a response to ageism Minogue feels she faces within the media and industry; regarding the lyrics of the song, she stated:
"Golden" is a self-empowerment anthem, which has been described as a take on soundtracks from
Spaghetti Western films, namely referencing
Ennio Morricone's theme song to ''
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...
'' with the yodeling that appears at the start of the track.
"Golden", like most of the songs from the album, uses a more organic production, and is backed by guitars, hand claps and a drum machine. "Golden" runs for three minutes and eight seconds.
Release
"Golden" was released as the third official single from ''Golden'' on 28 May 2018, on Minogue's 50th birthday; a low-key video, show in Havana, Cuba, was released and uploaded to her official
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel.
The release came following the singles "
Dancing
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
", which was released in January 2018, and "
Stop Me from Falling", which was also released as a remix featuring
Gente de Zona, with the video also being shot in Havana, Cuba. "Golden" also marks the first time that one of Minogue's title tracks has been released as a single.
Initially, no digital releases for "Golden" appeared, in the way that there were for "Dancing", "Stop Me from Falling", and the promotional single "Raining Glitter"; however, one week after the release of the fourth single from ''Golden'', "
A Lifetime to Repair
"A Lifetime to Repair" is a song by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue from her fourteenth studio album '' Golden'' (2018). Written by Minogue, Sky Adams, Danny Shah and Kiris Houston, and produced by Adams, the song was released as the fou ...
", was released, a two-track digital remix
EP for "Golden" was released, with two remixes from Weiss: a remix and an extended remix.
Music video
The accompanying music video for "Golden" was shot in
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , during filming the "Stop Me from Falling" remix with Cuban reggaeton duo
Gente de Zona. The video was directed by
Sophie Muller
Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 '' Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's so ...
and produced by Gloria Bowman, who both shot the second video to Minogue's previous single, "Stop Me from Falling" remix. The video opens with shots of Minogue lounging on a bed and dancing in waves at a beach. Bright close-up shots of Minogue then appear between scenes of her singing and dancing on the beach. As the chorus starts, the shots alternate between the close-ups and the beach scenes. The second chorus then shows Minogue running through the streets at night, wearing a ball gown-like dress. The video then ends with a shot of Kylie smiling and walking towards the camera, wearing a red dress.
Live performances
"Golden" was first performed live during the
Kylie Presents Golden concerts in March 2018. On 21 July, she performed the song on ''
The Voice Kids UK
''The Voice Kids'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on ITV during the summer television cycle on 10 June 2017. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...
''. "Golden" was also included as the opening song during various sets throughout 2018, including Minogue's performance at
White Party Palm Springs, and also her performance at
G-A-Y
G-A-Y is a long-running gay nightclub, based at Heaven in Charing Cross, London. It started in 1976, and for many years was based at the London Astoria.
History
G-A-Y started in 1976 in the Sundown club in the basement of the London Astoria (l ...
on 7 April.
"Golden" was performed as the opening song on the
Golden Tour
The Golden Tour was the fifteenth concert tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was launched in support of her fourteenth studio album, Golden (Kylie Minogue album), ''Golden'' (2018) and visited Europe and Australia. It began ...
, where Minogue rose out of the stage atop a set of suitcases.
Charts
Formats and track listing
*Digital download – Weiss Remix
#"Golden" (Weiss Remix) - 3:01
#"Golden" (Weiss Extended Remix) - 5:13
Release history
References
{{authority control
2018 singles
2018 songs
Kylie Minogue songs
Music videos directed by Sophie Muller
Songs written by Steve Mac
Songs written by Kylie Minogue
Songs written by Liz Rose
Songs written by Lindsay Rimes