This affecting anti-hagiography traces the ascent of a bona fide superstar, featuring interviews with Nick Cave, Dannii, Jason Donovan \u2013 and the icon herself making a shocking cancer revelation<\/p>\n
Beyond the sequins, feathers and gold hotpants, the stories of the most enduring pop megastars tend to be ones of jaw-dropping grit and undimmable power. Especially when they\u2019re women. So it is with Kylie: pint-sized seller of over 80m records, singer of two of the greatest pop bangers of all time (Can\u2019t Get You Out of My Head and Padam Padam, obviously), and the reticent subject of this increasingly intimate and, finally, profoundly moving three-part Netflix documentary. What starts as a bog-standard run-through of Kylie\u2019s ascent to superstardom \u2013 an excess of Pete Waterman, Neighbours clips and virulent 1990s sexism \u2013 ends with a disclosure that moves me to tears.<\/p>\n
It comes in the final 10 minutes. It\u2019s 2023: a euphoric high point in Kylie\u2019s career. Padam Padam, the first single from Kylie\u2019s 16th album, Tension, has just been released. Then the words \u201cOne More Thing\u201d flash across a black screen. Cut to present-day Kylie arriving at the studio, singing songs from Tension with her longstanding team of British songwriters. \u201cThere\u2019s a song called Story \u2026 \u201d she says to director Michael Harte (also the editor of Netflix\u2019s Beckham), who shot the documentary over two years. Kylie, who is notoriously private, falters. Her songwriting partner of more than 25 years, Richard \u201cBiff\u201d Stannard, takes her hand. She starts to cry as she divulges what Story is really about: her second cancer diagnosis, in early 2021.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/a00c4c4128b876ca338f46f874416d4e3dbe8d16\/758_0_4219_3376\/master\/4219.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a3b55c74f1c0f71706b3632ccd9064c4\" "\\"Kylie")
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