Padam Padam (song)

After wrapping up promotional activities for her fifteenth studio album, Disco (2020), Minogue appeared on BBC Radio 2 to talk about new music, saying, "Perhaps it's going a bit more electropop. Don't quote me that [...] but that's what's on the boil at the minute." Minogue confirmed this in a June 2022 interview with Vogue, citing her 2003 single "Slow" as inspiration for the album's sound. That same year, Norwegian singer Ina Wroldsen and English producer Peter "Lostboy" Rycroft met in London in February 2022 to work on new music, and in two days, they wrote "Padam Padam". Regarding the song's title, Wroldsen stated, "I'm married to an Englishman, and my mother-in-law from north London would always go, 'Oh my heart's going ped-ou, ped-ou". Furthermore, Wroldsen said, "It was in my mind when I went to the studio, but 'ped-ou' doesn't sound very nice. So we created 'padam'." Minogue's A&R Jamie Nelson sent Minogue the demo of "Padam Padam" while she was in Miami, and she fell in love with it. When asked about her reaction to the song, Minogue stated, "I loved the song, and the bonus is it felt like it was perfect for me." == Recording and production ==

(pictured in 2021) co-wrote and produced the track Minogue recorded the song's vocals by herself in a London hotel and is listed as the track's vocal engineer. Lostboy, described this remote recording process as "iconic". Once the vocal sessions were sent back to him, he went through the files and selected favorite takes, noting that the final version of the song was largely established after his first vocal edit. Rycroft emphasized that the vocal production acts as the cornerstone of the track, accounting for approximately 50% of the song's presence, which he believes contributes to its "sing-along" quality. ==Composition==

"Padam Padam" is a dance-pop and synth-pop song that includes electronic music and lasts two minutes and 46 seconds. Shore Fire Media stated: "From the euphoric vocals, to the ridiculously infectious chorus and the heart-thumping electronic drum beat - this is an instant Kylie classic." The song is written in time and is based on a phrygian dominant scale of C (a Mixolydian scale with lowered 9th (2nd) and lowered 13th (6th), which contributes to its tense quality. Lyrically, it explores sexual desire and attraction, with certain lyrics and the title serving as onomatopoeia for the heartbeat. Sam Franzini, a writer from The Line of Best Fit, honoured this example by comparing its themes to the "Padam Padam" and Tension tracks, which share similar themes throughout. George Griffiths of the Official Charts Company describes "Padam Padam" as "elastic, Eastern Europe-inspired electro-pop with a bite", and Quentin Harrison of Albumism also notices Eastern-European sounds. When it appeared on Tension, Vera Maksymiuk of Riff wrote that it "sets the tone; mimicking a heartbeat". Guy Oddy of The Arts Desk observed that it was slightly influenced by 1990s music, particularly house and electro music and that the song features a "sensual groove, fruity lyrics, and slightly autotuned vocals". "I heard the demo and loved it. 'This is amazing'. And then once I'd self-recorded my vocals and put them in, I though 'What's more, this is amazing for me.' I really felt like I was fused to this song, and we became greater than the sum of our parts," Minogue talked about hearing "Padam Padam" for the first time. ==Release==

(pictured in 2023) Minogue announced "Padam Padam" as the lead single for Tension on 12 May 2023, just as a low-quality rip of the track began circulating online. The single's cover artwork by Studio Moross features Minogue's thigh-high boots against a red-orange desert backdrop. The four-minute extended mix of the song was released digitally on 25 May. It was subsequently included across all physical releases: the CD single and cassette tape in June, and the 7" vinyl that followed in December. That same month, the extended mix appeared on Minogue's 2023 remix album, Extension: The Extended Mixes. Remixes by Jax Jones, HAAi, and Absolute were released individually on streaming platforms in July 2023. These official remixes were included in a cassette single, dubbed "The Mixtape", in August. Upon its release in May, "Padam Padam" experienced a surge in popularity on social media. Its unusual hook spawned viral memes on Twitter and Instagram, and inspiring thousands of lip-syncs, remixes, and dance videos on TikTok. Following its inclusion on BBC Radio 1's C-List playlist, they responded to criticism by saying, "Each track is considered for the playlist based on its musical merit and whether it is right for our target audience, with decisions made on a case-by-case basis." Lostboy, the track's producer, spoke out about the situation, saying that while its inclusion was a "small victory," it was ultimately "a bit of an insult...". Lucy Anna Gray of The Independent wrote a lengthy article about the song, expressing similar concerns about its lack of airplay. In contrast, Oddy from The Arts Desk wrote that "Padam Padam" "managed to persuade some national radio stations to rethink their policies on which tracks should be played on heavy rotation". ==Critical reception==

“Padam Padam” garnered critical acclaim from music critics. Padam Padam" was described by Stereogum as "a sleek, thumping, catchy-as-hell dance-pop jam" upon its release, adding that "Kylie knows exactly how to deliver a song like that". NME editor Hollie Geraghty praised the song's "thumping earworm refrain", while Jon Stickler of Stereoboard described it as "the catchy pop banger" with a "infectious chorus." Mary Varvaris of The Music wrote that the song "sounds completely 2023 while remaining unmistakably Kylie". According to David Smyth of The Evening Standard, "Padam Padam" is a "slinky, Eurovision-style firecracker catchy enough to cause sleepless nights". Its inclusion in Tension drew widespread praise. Noting it as Minogue's "catchiest chorus in decades", Yeung of AllMusic it as one of the album's top picks and career highlights, saying "listeners won't soon be able to get "Padam Padam" out of their heads." He also compared it to Minogue's single "Can't Get You Out of My Head," stating that "Padam Padam" is "just the kind of ear-worm pop hit that "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was", noting its catchiness. NME writer Nick Levine called the track "brilliant" and thought it was an "outlier" to Tension. Guy Oddy of The Arts Desk described it as an "absolute banger and has been touted as one of her best tunes in years - with good reason." Helen Brown of The Independent called the track an "Advance slam-dunker", while Devon Chodzin of Paste saw it as the album's "glimmering thesis statement—a bouncy cut under three minutes that recounts a sultry dance floor encounter and the possibilities it presents." Despite its lack of personal depth, Harry Tafoya of Pitchfork praised its "charm" and called it one of the album's "camp highs", while Loud and Quiet writer Orla Foster thought the song was about "jumpstarting the pulse of your nightclub conquest." According to Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine, "Padam Padam" is "an invasive earworm that feels like it could be a cover of a Reagan-era pop hit". ==Accolades==

Since its release, "Padam Padam" has received numerous awards and nominations. It was named Record of the Year at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards. At the 2023 ARIA Music Awards, Minogue and "Padam Padam" won Best Pop Release and were nominated for three other awards: Best Solo Artist, Best Independent Release, and Song of the Year, with the latter decided by public vote. Minogue has received the most nominations since the 16th Annual Awards in 2002 in 2002, where she was nominated seven times. At the IHeartRadio Music Awards, she and "Padam Padam" were nominated for Dance Artist and Dance Song of the Year. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, the song received the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Pop Dance Recording. It was her first Grammy nomination since "I Believe in You" for Best Dance Recording in 2006, her first since 2009, and her first win since "Come Into My World" in 2004. It also received Anthem of the Year at the 2024 Queerties Awards. "Padam Padam" has also been nominated for Dance Song of the Year at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards and Best Song at the 2024 Global Awards. ==Commercial performance==

In the UK, "Padam Padam" became a sleeper hit, finding its success through growing traction on social media platforms. It was the week's most downloaded song, topping on both the Single Sales and Singles Download Chart. This achievement tied her with Cher, Lulu, and Diana Ross as one of only four female solo artists to score UK top 10 singles across five consecutive decades. Despite a December release, "Padam Padam" became the year's 18th best-selling vinyl single in the UK. The single brought Minogue back to the US Adult Pop Airplay (33) and Pop Airplay (32) charts for the first time since the 2000s. In August, it topped the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart for two weeks, becoming the singer's second number-one single after "Red Blooded Woman" (2004). By October, the song was Minogue's third-biggest streaming song in the US, earning 34.19 million on-demand audio and video streams. Chile (3), Colombia (7), El Salvador (10), Guatemala (8), and Venezuela (9) on their English-language charts. Elsewhere, "Padam Padam" achieved moderate commercial success. The single peaked at number 190 on the Billboard Global 200, which ranks the top songs globally. and was certified platinum. Across European countries, "Padam Padam" peaked in the top 20 on the national single charts in Hungary (4), Ireland (7), Netherlands (18), Hungary (4), Poland (11), Lithuania (13), Denmark (15), and Sweden (17). In Israel, the song topped the International Media Forest chart. ==Music video==

outfit. The music video for "Padam Padam" was directed by British filmmaker and long-time collaborator Sophie Muller. It was shot in April 2023 at the Pink Motel, a former working motel in Sun Valley, Los Angeles that is now used for film and TV productions. The visual was inspired by the films of American director David Lynch and Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Muller described the music video as conveying "a sense of otherworldliness, a strangeness" that mirrored the track, adding, "There's something unusual about [the song], darkness and unease." Minogue stated that she would rather film the video on location in the United States than in the studio. It then shows Minogue in a junkyard wearing a custom Mugler catsuit with a cape, alongside a group of backup dancers dressed in red. Another shot shows Minogue in a roadside diner while the dancers perform the song in another red outfit. Minogue then dances with the backup dancers outside the Pink Motel. The music video premiered on Minogue's YouTube channel on 18 May 2023. It received positive feedback from publications; Phoebe Luckhurst of The Australian described Minogue's "vampiric femme fatale" look and the set as a "candy-coloured Americana dreamland". == Live performances ==

. Minogue performed "Padam Padam" for the first time at American Idol in May 2023, alongside "Can't Get You Out of My Head" with Nutsa Buzaladze, one of the show's contestants. The next month, she surprised everyone by performing the same songs at Capital's Summertime Ball. She performed "Padam Padam" as part of her nine-track set at the iHeartMedia KTUphoria 2023 live show. She also performed parts of the song during an interview on Andy Cohen's Sirius XM radio show as part of the single's American promotion, singing and impersonating Siri. She performed "Padam Padam" twice at the Horse Meat Disco in June 2023 due to technical issues with the first performance. A week before the album's release, Minogue and Tears for Fears co-headlined Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester's Victoria Park. She headlined the festival's second and final night with performances of "Padam Padam", "Tension" and "Hold On to Now." Kylie attended the 2023 London Fashion Week launch at Lio London, where she performed several album tracks, including "Padam Padam" and "Tension". On 27 September 2023, Minogue gave a free, limited-time concert at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, performing "Padam Padam" and other songs from her set. Minogue performed "Padam Padam" at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix on 15 November 2023. The next night, she performed several songs with Mark Ronson on the T-Mobile Arena stage in front of the Sphere. The song was featured on her set list for the British live television series An Audience with.... Minogue performed the song at the BST Hyde Park show on 13 July 2024, and received critical acclaim for it. On August 13, "Padam Padam" was included in her performance at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary. The song was included on the set list of Minogue's 2025, Tension Tour. "Padam Padam" was featured as a lip-sync song on the sixteenth season of the American reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. The track was used in the final episode as a lip-sync battle between contestants Nymphia Wind and Sapphira Cristál, with the former winning both the lip-sync and overall competition. ==Impact and cultural significance==

Since its release, "Padam Padam" has been regarded as a cultural revelation in Minogue's career and current popular culture. Griffiths of the Official Charts Company coined the term "Padam-ic," which was later used by Laura Snapes of The Guardian to encapsulate the cultural impact of "Padam Padam", describing it as the "cultural moment in which frivolity and lightness seem to be breezing back after the COVID-19 pandemic and after an era in which culture has been taken very seriously". According to Yeung of AllMusic, the song was a "surprise smash" and part of "this mainstream resurgence that once again connected her to a new generation of fans[...]". When the song became an internet meme, Minogue was interviewed by Attitude, and she responded positively to the phenomenon. "Padam Padam" has been described as Minogue's biggest hit since music streaming became popular, in the same way that singers Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, and Dusty Springfield had commercial breakthroughs after unsuccessful career periods. Other critics have pointed out that it is unusual for a middle-aged artist to achieve media success in recent decades. According to Variety, chart analyst and historian James Masterton believes the single's success is significant because Minogue has "bridged a generation gap with a hit record that is reaching out both to her loyal (and ageing) acolytes but also a new generation of music fans," the latter attracted thanks to the TikTok platform, which "contributed to the explosion of Kylie's single; [...] bypassing all traditional media avenues." "Padam Padam" has also become a gay anthem. David Levesley of GQ wrote an article on how the track became an "unlikely gay anthem" and how the track's title "Padam" influenced the gay community's "catch-all gay communiqué". Furthermore, Karen Tongson, popular culture and gender studies specialist at the University of Southern California, noted its positive significance in comparison to the violence against LGBTQ people in the United States through 2023, saying, "There's something about the release of "Padam Padam" that coincided with this sort of moment of despair and conflict, and that reminded us of the kind of intensity, lightness, and kind of queer joy, the celebratory nature of queerness." "Padam Padam" has also been featured at several pride parades, including the New York Pride March, Pride in London, EuroPride 2023 in Malta, and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Similarly, American pop singer Ariana Grande marked her support of the 2023 London Pride celebrations with a social media video of herself lip syncing to the song. Kamala Harris, then Vice President of the United States, posted a video on Instagram of herself dancing to the song at a Pride event at the Stonewall Inn in July 2023. ==Credits and personnel==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Tension. Locations • Recorded at Neverland, and Infinite Disco Studio in London. Personnel • Kylie Minogue – lead vocals, engineering • Peter Rycroft – writing, production • Ina Wroldsen – writing • Guy Massey – mixing • Dick Beetham – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==