Kylie: a defence

A rant I prepared earlier, which now seems relevant after drunken Karaoke crooning ("come on and dance with me... slow.... reeeeaaad my.... body language"):

Another article celebrating a Kylie milestone that paints her as vapid, controlling and talentless, questioning why she hasn't yet revealed her "true self" to the world. The implication is that, because she's "deflecting personal questions and dodging controversy", she either has something to hide, or has nothing to hide, in that she's concealing some horrible and secret emptiness.

Unsurprisingly I disagree with this equation. I think that Kylie's reluctance to reveal anything of her personal life is actually out of some kind of deference to the persona she has created. I think that Kylie actually has an acute understanding of the mechanics of celebrity - albeit an understanding helped along by the sci-fi and increasingly man-meat obsessed William Baker.

Kylie understands that this "thing" she is created is something separate to herself, and as much a creation of others (fans included) as it is her own creation. This isn't to deny her talent - her talent is in tending this creation, and in performing. She reveals herself in her theatricality, not through personal revelation. This does not make her empty! So enough of these predictable Saturday magazine-type articles grudgingly acknowledging her longevity, but not her talent.