An Intimate Portrait of Pop Royalty
This compelling anti-hagiographic documentary traces the rise of a genuine superstar, featuring interviews with Nick Cave, Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan, and Kylie Minogue herself, who makes a startling cancer revelation.
Beneath the sequins, feathers, and gold hotpants, the stories of the most enduring pop megastars often reveal remarkable resilience and unwavering strength, especially among women. This is true for Kylie Minogue: the petite artist who has sold over 80 million records, delivered two of the greatest pop hits ever ("Can’t Get You Out of My Head" and "Padam Padam"), and is the reserved subject of this increasingly intimate and ultimately deeply moving three-part Netflix documentary. What begins as a conventional recounting of Kylie’s rise to fame—featuring an abundance of Pete Waterman, Neighbours clips, and the overt sexism of the 1990s—culminates in a disclosure that brings the viewer to tears.
The revelation occurs in the final ten minutes. It is 2023, a euphoric peak in Kylie’s career. "Padam Padam," the lead single from Kylie’s 16th album, Tension, has just been released. Then the words “One More Thing” appear on a black screen. The scene cuts to present-day Kylie arriving at the studio, performing songs from Tension with her longtime team of British songwriters. "There’s a song called Story …" she tells director Michael Harte (also editor of Netflix’s Beckham), who filmed the documentary over two years. Kylie, known for her privacy, falters. Her songwriting partner of over 25 years, Richard “Biff” Stannard, takes her hand. She begins to cry as she reveals the true subject of "Story": her second cancer diagnosis, in early 2021.
“I was able to keep that to myself and go through that year,” she says, “not like the first time. I’ve been trying to find the right time to say it. I don’t feel obliged to tell the world, and I just couldn’t at the time because I was just a shell of a person … Thankfully, I got through it. Again.”
This is a genuinely raw, authentic moment, qualities rarely associated with pop’s elite or the typically sycophantic, tightly controlled documentaries about them.
Kylie’s First Cancer Battle and Family Impact
The documentary’s carefully guarded episode begins by recounting Kylie’s first cancer diagnosis in 2005, at age 36. This event triggered a surge in mammogram appointments, known as the “Kylie effect,” but also brought devastation to her family, relentless media intrusion, and her grief over being unable to have children. She discusses postponing chemotherapy to undergo IVF treatment. Dannii Minogue, a frequent commentator in the series, recalls the fear that her sister might never recover:
“Never be well again – is she going to live through this? I felt so helpless.”The strong bond within the Minogue family is evident, as is their hesitation to appear on camera. Kylie remarks during one of the film’s nighttime bonfire conversations,
“We’ve never done anything like this before. It’s not as scary as I thought it might be.”Her mother, speaking off-camera, adds,
“I think it’s because we’re in the dark.”
Early Career and Industry Perspectives
Episode one opens with Kylie traveling to London in 1987 to record her debut single. This segment is less captivating and more reflective of the era than of the emerging icon herself. Pete Waterman admits he was unaware of who the “small antipodean in reception expecting to make a record” was. According to Kylie, they recorded "I Should Be So Lucky" in 40 minutes; Waterman claims it took two hours. Only later did he realize she was a star of Neighbours, which had become a phenomenon—though he confessed he did not know what Neighbours was either.
Jason Donovan recalls that as Kylie’s fame grew, taxi drivers would ask him, “How’s Kylie?” to which he would reply,
“Fuck, I don’t know, go and fucking ask her!”Michael Hutchence, whom Kylie left Donovan for, is a significant figure in the documentary. She breaks down while recalling the importance of her relationship with this “hilarious, cultured and tender” man, confessing,
“I’ve probably been looking for something like that ever since … and I haven’t got it.”
Challenges and Misconceptions in the 1990s
Kylie then endured years of criticism, being labeled the “singing budgie” and dismissed as talentless and dull. The term “raunchy,” laden with 1990s misogyny, was frequently used to describe her. She discusses the profound impact of these “wilderness years.” Only her gay fanbase remained steadfast, a loyalty she has never forgotten and continues to honor.
Kylie’s Resilience and Artistic Evolution
What emerges, more through archival footage than the sometimes awkward interviews with Harte, is Kylie’s radiant personality, vitality, and her immense struggle to become what she always was at heart—a magnificent pop star. Nick Cave, whom she met in the mid-1990s when they collaborated on the sublime murder ballad "Where the Wild Roses Grow," aptly describes Kylie’s unique positive energy as a “joy machine.”
“The definition of joy is the capacity to rise out of suffering,”he reflects, referencing her powerhouse performance in Glastonbury’s 2019 teatime “legends” slot.
“Her connection with the audience is not phoney. It’s very real for her. It is a true form of love.”
Cave inspired Kylie to abandon her unsuccessful attempts at indie music in the late 1990s and embrace her pop roots. She recalls,
“You’ve got the coolest guy on the planet saying: ‘Where are the pop tunes?’ Right, let’s get the jetpacks on and get back to the dancefloor!”This led to one of the most celebrated comeback singles in pop history. This is perhaps the most compelling revelation in Kylie: that Cave, rock’s prince of darkness, inspired the princess of pop’s Spinning Around.
