Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Second Helpings - Kylie Minogue
Episode Date: September 20, 2023Padam! For the final instalment of our Second Helpings series, we’re taking it back to 2020 when the ultimate pop princess and style icon Kylie Minogue popped round to Clapham, followed by paparazzi... on a hump day. Kylie was the first concert I ever went to and we named our guinea pigs after her (and Jason) so who can blame me for the fangirl situation! Kylie tells us all about her upbringing in Australia and her journey to fame, where Charlene's famous overalls are now & how she’ll only have a questionable half sized cup of tea. Oh and since we recorded this, Kylie and I have gone on to record a duet called ‘Kiss Of Life’ and we performed it together at BBC Radio 2 live last weekend, fangirl!!!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello and welcome to Table Manners Second Helpings. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with
my mum and we are bringing you another fantastic episode of Table Manners from way back when.
This one is none other than Kylie Minogue. It's from season 10. It was in September 2020.
Oh, good old 2020. This was a sweet release from months of lockdown.
I think, if I remember rightly, we had to have...
We kept the door open.
Yeah.
I remember measuring my island to see that we could be over a metre apart.
Oh, my God, yeah.
Do you remember?
Yeah.
Because we didn't want anyone to get sick.
I think we were all quite nervous because we were such big fans.
Her disco album had just come out.
And, guys, this is where the confirmation,
if anyone needs to know how the collaboration
between Kaida Minogue and I came about, she says it.
We've got actual audible footage and record of her saying hey we should write together
so that's when I swooped in after we'd had a few bottles of the Kylie Minogue CDP
and I asked to go steady with her in the studio and that is how Kiss of Life our song was born
we had such a lovely evening together it was such an honour to have her.
I kind of can't believe now that I've done a song with her,
I've done a video, we are now friends,
and this was kind of the first beginnings of that.
And also congratulations to Kylie.
Padam, padam.
Padam, padam.
And also I just played with her at the weekend
for the Radio 2 Festival.
She has announced her Vegas residency.
It's all going fabulously for Miss Minogue, and so it should do.
She is one in a million.
This is Kylie Minogue on Table Manners' Second Helpings.
Sit down, sit down.
Kylie. Yes. You've just come in, landed in the old flower bed. Well, you didn't land in there.
You gracefully exited your car. Did a stunt role. Yeah. Avoided the paps and you're in. Yeah, I'm
in. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I've been really looking forward to this. So
excited. Honestly, this is, and I'm just going to this so excited honestly this is and i'm just
gonna get it out the way i'm gonna get it out the way you were my first ever concert no when i yeah
way yeah um we got a limo to your concert wait i don't know which bit's more outrageous you got a
limo we had we had a limo new um h&m outfits and you were tiny couldn't see you but I swear to god you waved at me in blue kiss
and I think it was when it was at the Docklands and it was yeah it was at Docklands what year
I mean it must have been around obviously before my growth spurt about 1992 93 I think it was
earlier 91 maybe 91 91 yeah my God, that's awesome.
I know.
And I'm just going to get also out of the way.
We had the best t-shirts from Blackpool,
which had you and a love heart on the,
I think you were at the top,
and Jason was at the bottom.
And it was especially for you.
Pirate merch.
Amazing.
It was amazing though.
And I've tried to find that shit on eBay
because it was so freaking good.
It's hard to find, yeah.
But yeah, you're here.
We're going to feed you and we're going to drink your wine.
We just got sent the whole champagne.
Truckloads of it.
Yeah.
Amazing.
When did you become a, is it a vintner?
Well, not really.
It's something that I had this fantasy, I've started drinking more rosé as a lot
of people did in the last few years and I was like I'd love to have a rose I am just this is a
journey to learn about wine and it's been really fascinating so far working with a great team
I said I'm just warning you I'm going to ask lots of really idiotic questions dumb questions
and you know the greatest response to that which they gave is
there's no such thing just ask anything so yeah the main thing was I really like this team small
team like three people historically all they've done is work in wine got out of the big corporation
started their own company that said if we can't have dinner with people we don't want to work
with them I was like I like that and just I went on about quality you can't just dinner with people we don't want to work with them i was like i like that and just
i went on about quality you can't just put my name on something and that's just not going to work so
yeah we worked really well together and i'm learning where is the vineyard uh in france
yeah but by the end of the year we'll have an australian chardonnay and early next year an australian pinot noir so
yeah start of french which is a little strange as an aussie but we've got aussie coming you're
laughing because i mean australia's got excellent i mean i remember i did a festival there and i
can't i'll never forget the adelaide wine that i drunk where are you from you're from melbourne
yeah yeah so the pinot Noir will be from
Yarra Valley which is in Victoria and the Chardonnay is from Western Australia which is
another wine that's represented by this team I'm working with Benchmark so how's things promoting
and I mean you've done it a few times but like not like this yeah it's just starting to feel more real now, like album promo.
First single, I literally was like, well, I know it's out there.
And you know when it becomes real, like one of your friends will say,
hey, I just heard your song on the radio.
My sister called me from Australia and the back of a car coming home
from work is like, it's on the radio right now.
And then it becomes real.
But not flying around like a maniac not doing traipsing around to do all the usual stuff
yeah it felt quite odd nice not traipsing around doing all this stuff kind of nice yeah kind of
nice i mean it would be nicer to be able to yeah go to australia and see my family you can't go at
the moment you can go it just requires
quarantine and everything's just so uncertain and my family have just they're in melbourne which has
had a six week stage four lockdown which is looking like they're slowly going to come out
of that growing up in melbourne who was doing the cooking in your house mom good mostly yeah yeah she's a great cook i think it was
pretty standard when you've got three kids to feed all day every day um and my dad worked quite long
hours so it'd be fairly basic fair but in the last i want to say 15 even 20 years she's pretty
like she's making you know sushi rolls or i don't know they might
they get obsessed with something currently my mom and dad are obsessed with pippies which is that's
what i said what's a pippi it's like a little like a little clam but it's from new zealand i had to
look it up so you do like a pippi vongole i guess they do i mean just kind of chucks it all in. Then, of course, you'll say, that was great.
What was in that?
Oh, just, you know, a list of basic ingredients.
And then it'll be kind of 15 minutes.
Oh, and I put, ah, yes, see?
Didn't mention that bit.
That's always an extra bit.
My brother's a good cook.
My sister's a good cook.
I have been the family joke pretty much always.
But I've changed.
In the last couple of years, I do cook do you cook pretty easy things i my go-to would be baked fish
throw the fish vegetables all in so easy tasty and my boyfriend's a good cook so that's that's
one of the things we like to do together so do you think you become a cook to please him?
Because it is the way to a man's heart, they say.
No, not to please him, but it was just something that we did together. Because he liked his food.
Yeah.
And he's a good cook, so I just joined in.
And also he was quite, maybe this is cunning actually,
he's like, no, you do it.
And then I said, I don't know what I'm doing.
He said, just don't think about it, just do do it so kind of building up my confidence with just doing
it throw it in what do you taste bud saying like they're saying this okay do it it's a lovely thing
to do together i send him out to do the big shop though so you've been locked down together
obviously uh not initially but then when we were able to, yeah.
I'm really gasping for this wine now.
Do you think, like, Kylie, would you ever put an ice cube in it?
Yes.
Okay, fine, so we can do that, because it's not fully chilled,
but this is, which one are we trying?
The Cote de Provence.
The Cote de Provence.
I'm sorry, for people that are really down with the Cote de Provence,
what do you call it?
Oh, CDP. Oh, CDP. It's like CDB. But my boyfriend and I were sorry, for people that are really down with the Cote de Provence, what do you call it? Oh, CDP.
Oh, CDP.
It's like CDB.
But my boyfriend and I will say,
shall we open a bottle of the KM?
Yeah, we'll open the KM.
What's the KM?
Just the KM and O.
Oh, my God.
What?
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
I love it.
Not that we're, you know, we don't drink other wine.
And actually, I'm not a big drinker.
I normally wait. This is a school night and we're, you know, we don't drink other wine. And actually, I'm not a big drinker. I normally wait.
This is a school night and we're having some wine.
But, you know, just like enough.
It's quite cold.
Okay, good.
So do we need the ice cube or not?
I don't think so.
Okay.
So Dani's a good cook.
Yeah.
My sister's the one who keeps saying, where's the WhatsApp group for the recipes?
She is in deep.
She could have her own
podcast, her own TV show about
what's... She's just that...
She just knows stuff.
Are they real birds? Yeah, they're birds.
That's amazing. Are they
parakeets? No. It's not a
magpie. That's a very pretty
sounding bird. Tell me this is a magpie.
No. No, wouldn't it be
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Maybe it's a blackbird
Okay well it's dark now
Maybe it's the blackbird
Cheers
Oh sorry I thought you'd poured
Cheers
Thank you for making this dream happen
Cheers darling
Was it quite nerve wracking bringing out the wine
oh my god or did it just feel fun as it got hold on a minute
it's really good let's put it back delicious oh it's really good yeah it's not going to need to
stay in the fridge for long um i just wanted to handle it sensitively because of the timing
and a lot of people going through tough times and it didn't seem like...
Last year we would have had a launch and a party and, you know,
frivolous kind of thing, but it was just this year.
It was on my birthday in May.
So we did a soft launch and just let it have its own like people just get to know it
so this one came out maybe a month ago so we've had kind of no i've seen it on instagram particularly
with my um my gay friends yeah they're really they are loving and they are big supporters
and it's so cute to see all the pictures of them you know either home alone having a meal or you
know with their bubble friend or in the park whatever it's really nice when did you realize
you had a huge lgbtq following was it from the beginning or is it kind of it was almost from the
it may have been from the beginning but i maybe 1990 something like that and I was in Sydney working because
I'm not from Sydney and we were passing by like the main kind of Oxford Street where the most
famous gay clubs are and someone said oh there's a Kylie night on tonight and I'd never even heard
of such a thing what like I'm 20 years old or 21 years old and uh yes I said that's
happening at the Albury and I was like let's go my manager said I don't think you should let's you
know no basically and that's the first time I kind of became aware of it being something did you go
became aware of it being something.
Did you go?
I didn't go.
I have been to Kylie's since and I'm the least Kylie of all the Kylies.
It's hilarious.
The best example of that was maybe kind of mid-90s and I'd been to see the Lemonheads in Melbourne.
There's a few me's and that was the uh you know the the 1970s market grubby suede mini skirt that
i wore was that confided me era it was around uh no before that event before that curls a little
macrame top like i've been to see the lemon heads that were so cool and everything and we ended up
at this gay bar because it was Kylie night and there's pictures
of it it's like four Kylie's like big Kylie's and then me who just looks like I shouldn't be there
so because there was none of the stuff yeah oh wow yeah they're amazing what I love about is it was
I never marketed towards that that was just kind of normal to me
maybe growing up in TV or there's always members of that community around so it wasn't uh
it was a shock to hear that because it just I mean it was brilliant but yeah that's where it
started and it's been a kind of an organic uh love affair ever. But were you acting and singing?
Did you go to stage school?
No.
So how did you and Danny both become involved in singing and performing?
I wish I could tell the kind of streamlined story of that.
So when I was 11, so my, I've got to count back, was 11, 10, 9, 8,
my sister went to a talent, like a song and dance talent school.
I think I've got this the right order.
You trying to get the cat out?
He's driving me mad.
The cat is like, look off, Prince.
Yeah.
Aw, he knows it, doesn't he?
Yeah.
But he's become an attention seeker.
He's a bit of a star fucker, you know.
His name Prince after prince all hail okay
let me try and figure out this story so the beginning i'm a bit blurry on but you know i
wanted to be in abba at eight seven eight nine year old there was grease grease lightning my
brother and sister we'd all do grease lightning in the front room so was a bit of a pop addict and actually to disco that's when so I was 10 in
78 so playing Donna Summer record my dad's Donna Summer record and the Bee Gees and ABBA
Chic and all of that kind of stuff so I did love music I didn't really think about acting and I was
never in school plays or anything I wasn't I just wasn. I don't think I was that showy kid,
but the family photos might say otherwise.
I'm like being the clown in the front.
But my mum had an acquaintance.
I'm not even sure if she was a close friend,
but someone who worked in the casting department
of a production company
and they were looking for a young girl for this role,
a TV role,
and asked if mum would bring my sister and I in.
We'd had no experience.
So, yeah, mum took us in and I got that role.
Which was?
I was 11 in a show called The Sullivans.
The Sullivans.
Yeah, I think that might have aired here.
I had no idea what I was doing.
But actually the weirder part is before they
started filming that the same production company asked if i could do one day's work on another
series and jason donovan was my brother in that show so we're both 11
that's when i first met jason donovan then didn't meet him until Neighbours, which was years later. So I did these acting roles, just the two.
Didn't do anything else until I was 16 and just kind of mentioned to mum
and dad, I'd really like to do that again.
And we still didn't know what to do, even though in the interim,
my sister had become part of a show called Young Talent Time,
which is like mickey mouse club and so there's maybe 10 kids uh between the ages of probably 8 to 16
you kind of got the flick when you're 16 so there's a kid singing and dancing show so
mom and dad knew a little bit about that but not about acting and anyway try to make a long story
short i'm piping up about this as I'm 16 maybe partly
was seeing Dan doing her show and just feeling like oh I want to do something even though I was
crazy about music and I think one of my parents just called the same production company and asked
how do we go about this and it so happened that they were casting for another show then so i auditioned for
it dressed up as the character went for that role and got that so i was 16 when you got charlene
no this is before charlene so this was a show called the henderson kids and i've heard of that
yeah so it's about six months work so i had to do you know you have your tutor and do your schooling
so it was the end of my year 11 and then into the start of year 12 which you might know HSC
from Neighbours going to get my HSC and then they moved to Queensland exactly
and so anyway that's when the bug got me because there was a bunch of other kids on that show, notably Ben Mendelsohn, who's just such an epic, epic actor and all-round awesome guy.
You know him.
He was in Bloodline.
He was in Florence's music video.
Oh, yeah.
I'm saying the right guy.
He is like, you can't not watch him when he's on the screen.
He's incredible.
He is phenomenal.
So we go back.
We've just been friends all these years. It was like, we were 16. We go, we've done okay, all these years it was like we were 16 we go
we've done okay haven't we didn't we do okay and you know we we as much as whatever both of us
have achieved there's still we're still kind of 16 when we're together it's really sweet
then i finished school which was kind of difficult after working on this tv show and i was like oh i
don't want to I don't want to
finish and mom and dad were good they said you don't you don't have to but it would be good if
you could at least get your HSC so I passed by the skin of my teeth because I'd had to drop down to
four subjects and anyway got my HSC nothing from school sounded appealing to me I just wanted to
act and actually had some singing lessons
with the little bit of money I'd had,
so I'd go and have my singing lesson on the weekend.
Made a demo tape when I was 17.
Were they covers?
Yeah.
What covers did you do?
You won't believe it.
I need to know.
And I found maybe not the original tape but a copy of the tape.
I played it once on this little, like a vintage Walkman I've got.
I'm scared to play it again in case it just breaks.
I need to get it digitised.
I sound like a little mouse.
So it was Dim All the Lights by Donna Summer.
How on earth did I think I could sing these things?
Just Once by Quincy Jones and New Attitude by Patti LaBelle.
But they were mega kind of just not doable.
I mean, that's what I was into, I guess.
But that's amazing, isn't it?
Because you've completely fulfilled that.
I mean, your new record is just going.
Yeah, it's amazing.
That's a huge voice.
It's so foolish on my part.
And I cried in the studio.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I was so scared.
I was spending my
money to you know get these three get a tape of these three songs and um the practical side of me
was thinking this this will help for acting so any actor's gonna tell you you know when they ask if
you can water ski can you jump out of yeah can you sing oh here's my cassette so I was thinking it was like business
but I did harbor that kind of bedroom dream of being a pop singer I just didn't know that how
to get into that path but you must you're a pop singer that is a pop singer forever I mean you've
not please tell me how that happens and how can I be able to do this forever like you do keep going literally no but
it's more than that Kylie the style the creative the the songs the dancing the kind of generosity
to your fans you've created this community that are so devoted to you yeah and like your shows
are pretty phenomenal yeah what's the Venusus oh aphrodite yeah sorry
that was crazy are you sometimes like shit i've bitten off more than i can chew here
when you're like high up in the sky or being picked up by oh i there's not this is going to
come out wrong it's about to say there's not much i haven't ridden but i have i have ridden many
things the the angel the horse the horse, you name it.
I've kind of done that in stupid heels and trying to sing at the same time.
It's the things that no one would imagine that are hard.
Yes, people generally know touring's gruelling and you can't have any other fun
because you can't even go and I'm presuming you'd be the same.
I can see you at the bar like, no, I can't't talk i just can't talk over yeah don't mind me um and trying to travel from a to b in
heels doing your quick changes it's all that you can do to try and get a sip of water in so it's
just that stuff that i often think wow you really should have just given yourself a bit of a break.
But it's exhilarating and it's addictive, right?
And I have missed it this year and I've just realised that because I toured a lot 2018 and 2019,
but in general I'm used to having this kind of low level of fairly consistent adrenaline that you're doing this
or you're doing that or like peaking and maxing out
that you're touring and you're trying to sustain that that energy and you know reach those heights
every night and to not have had that this year is something strange don't want it to turn into
the blues you know because because adrenaline is like that yeah and it's the classic thing like
post-tour depression and you're kind of like well i did it i should thrill. And it's the classic thing, like post-tour depression. And you're kind of like, well, I did it.
I should feel great.
And literally, now I know, it takes two weeks.
Your adrenal glands are like, look at this.
We're doing it every night.
We are pumped.
And then you stop and they're just going, where does that energy go?
I wanted to know, I mean, this is more for me.
Any things on your rider that I should definitely have on mine?
I'm so boring.
Me too.
Like, you know, a kettle, a coffee machine.
I like a good coffee.
Okay, fine.
Like, don't give me some crap.
You're Australian.
I'm from Melbourne.
I'm sorry.
What is it about this coffee machine?
We are the worst.
We really are. Is that why they invented baristas? I think from Melbourne. I'm sorry. What is it about this coffee? We are the worst. We really are.
Is that why they invented baristas?
I think they did.
I'm not sure.
I don't know if they invented them, but it's a cultural job, isn't it?
Yes, very much.
Okay, right.
Tell me how you take your coffee.
I like what they call, in Australia, they now call it a piccolo latte.
Italians are like, what are you talking about? Hold on, there was a piccolo and now call it a piccolo latte italians are like what are you talking about and there was that is nothing now there's a piccolo latte yeah or maybe the short
for it is piccolo then it's a tiny latte so you don't have to deal with all that milk you get
isn't that a flat white which i thought was australian no i think it's a bit different
it's very similar now the baristas are going to come after me going what are you talking about
i thought flat white was invented in Australia.
Yes, yes.
And thank you, Australia, for that.
I love flat white.
We love flat white.
We don't know cappuccino just.
Yeah.
So this is my understanding.
The flat white and then a piccolo latte is just smaller.
The froth is not like a wet froth.
It's more of a creamy froth. But I think flat white's a wet froth it's more of a creamy froth but i think flat
whites are creamy for yeah that's that's basically imagine like kylie size coffee yeah it's just
what a piccolo latte is oh and the other like that is the perfect size for me because it's just not
too much but also you just that's connecting with thinking about touring and riders and the amount of times I now ask for can I have half a cup of tea
when you're at work I genuinely want half a cup of tea because the full tea I don't have time
this sounds stupid there's no time for it to cool down so by the time everything else okay do that
don't spill any I agree you get one sip sip of the tea but half a cup of tea
solves the problems because it cools down faster i mean that's about as demanding as you are kylie
i mean that's i think you've been doing all right you've had such a huge long career with probably
so many memorable moments but is there one particular memorable meal that you've just
been like what is going i mean i've had like I'm, you know, a newbie to all this.
I am a foodie.
Oh, yeah.
You know, I get really excited about quite like simple things, but just good things.
Yeah.
I've been to Portofino a few times and there's a restaurant there that's, it's so picturesque.
It's like, oh, I recognize that picture.
That's Portofino with all the coloured buildings.
And so it's very compact and there's one little side, little alley.
I think you can't drive a car.
It's a walking alley and it's a langoustine restaurant.
It's called Daobati, I think, from memory.
Oh, my God.
Just stop.
It's, you know, they put the bib on you and you're, you just, I can't even.
I've probably been there four times, but I, you know, I dream of going back there.
And of course it's the secret recipe, but whatever they do, it's phenomenal.
So is it langoustine that you're having?
And it's just, they're just simply done with something.
It's a mystery. Very juicy. You know, you get involved. It's all you're just simply done with something it's a mystery very juicy you know
you get involved it's all you're eating with your hands and and there's some other small dishes but
there's zero need for them to ever change that secret recipe um we ask every guest this dream
meal you're about to go to a desert island where know, your food is going to be minimal.
Before you leave, you have your last supper.
It's a starter, a main and a pud and a drink of choice.
Jesus.
You can think about it for a bit.
I might have to think about that.
I think a nice, simple starter, simple, is great asparagus, just grilled, lemon, salt and pepper, oil.
That really, it's like, it's not too much.
It just gets you going and you can do it at home.
Okay, fine.
No anchovy butter, nothing like that.
No.
Simple.
Although I do love anchovies.
Me too.
Okay, fine. So Maine, would you have those langoustines?
Would they be your last supper?
I mean, yes. yes yeah i tend just to
eat way too many they're like to be real slovenly about it yes it's um forget the bib
and dessert i really like dark chocolate so maybe like something flourless dark chocolate
i don't really like sweet sweet i fucked up
i told mum to do a chocolate mousse and she said should i do a flowerless chocolate cake and i
said no don't fucking you're kidding me don't so you've got a dark chocolate mousse that's good
but perfect i have all the things it was going to be a flowerless fucking i could have bloody
been your best friend after maybe maybe you could make one and I'll collect it another day.
Because I'm sure you make a mean flourless chocolate torte.
And then what's your drink?
I mean, would it be the old KM CDP?
Would it?
Or would it, you know...
Yes.
Yeah, obviously.
Yes, it would.
Yes, I'm hungry.
And I'm about to kind of drool over you too much
if I drink too much more of the CD.
You have to go slowly, don't you?
I know so many people.
I did tell a few of my friends that you were coming round.
Mostly my gay friends.
Everyone loves you.
You're like the Dolly Parton in that sense sense of you you do no wrong oh i do but
nobody sees it you either like you're doing it very behind closed but like do you have some
regrets within your career or not yes yeah of course i do um to name them you don't have to
no it's just it's quite difficult it's more like a little bit here and a little bit there or kind of wish i hadn't done i wish i'd done that a lot of i wish i'd done that
differently i could have done that better why didn't i see what was happening but it's so funny
because from the outside it's like you are one of the most flawless pop stars that i think we
see so as an artist myself that's really um encouraging and reassuring to hear because
I see you you're having had this trajectory of like it's just been fucking winner winner winner
winner that everything well I do um you're a perfectionist mostly yeah there's some areas
where I can if I'm really on the fence about something I it can go either way. I'm not sure how correct I am in thinking that in recent years,
or the last, I don't know, five, ten years or whatever,
where I am more, you know, I just don't let things slide.
But actually, if I look back to some things from the past,
I think I've always had the the idea but i haven't always
spoken up you know i'd love to know if you've been in similar situations where there's just so
much noise and especially when i was younger like well you're the grown-up so i guess you know i
don't know i'm new to all of this even though it's really successful and uh but it was learning on the job basically a lot of it i wonder sure thank you
it was a different time you were you are a woman in music and i don't know you know i felt it where
you almost have to feel apologetic if you disagree in a way and i don't know um and that's in this time yeah
you know even it's i think it gets easier because i feel like maybe i am more confident now but yeah
and you would just do this a while ago more knowledge and more certainty and and i think it
is you know thankfully it does feel like it's changing and i try to i mean i'm sure you get
younger people on this show it'd be great to hear what they have to
say about how they feel not that they know what to compare it to as experience but what they've
read about of what what they've heard about but it does seem like the younger girls now
have stronger voices and that's amazing i agree okay so then i have to ask because i feel like
a strong voice that we all kind of know of
is Pete Waterman.
Yeah.
And I really want to know what it was like working with him.
I think one of the reasons it worked well for me,
I didn't know any different.
They were unashamedly and rightly so called the hit factory.
And I came from being in a soap opera where you get your lines
you say your lines then you do the next scene and you do the next thing so probably sounds so weird
now to hear but I would have to be written out of neighbors so to get two weeks to travel from
Australia to here they'd have to write Charlene she'd go to Brisbane or something. So was it happening simultaneously?
There was a period where I was doing them both.
And then when that became too difficult,
then I left Neighbours and pursued music.
But yeah, I think I didn't,
I literally didn't know anything about songwriting.
I barely knew anything about singing or performing.
It was like playing a character
and just doing what was asked
of me i was gonna say doing what i was told but i think it's more what was what i think was
required yeah and in the kind of five years with them and me going from a 19 year old to
early 20s um and just becoming curious and wanting to be more involved and be in the room and not be
in the waiting room until they were ready if you weren't even allowed it was not in the beginning
no i don't i think that's just the way it was so i think i learned just from being around music and
performing the songs but yeah it was kind of it almost seems so crazy now that I would,
I'd go in the studio any day.
I love it.
I love it, I love it, love it.
You go in and start the day with nothing and then you've got something.
You've made something.
It doesn't really feel like a job, does it?
It doesn't feel a job, especially when you're just.
When it's working.
Well, or when you're just throwing things at the wall and see what sticks
and you're genuinely with people you want to be with and it's just,
I don't know, it's like kind of flying or something.
You just, stuff's happening.
Then when you get to the kind of pointier end,
it starts to feel like work.
Like, okay, is this really any good?
Are we all crazy?
Thank you so much.
There's more salsa verde if you want.
Thank you, Marie.
Oh, it's nice, Mum.
I think the butter beans with the salsa verde is a winner.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's good, right?
I just made contact with the butter beans and the salsa verde.
Really good.
I do feel like we have to shout out Mira Soda,
who's a Guardian columnist, a brilliant cook,
who does the vegan column and does amazing things.
And actually, it was my brother.
This isn't her recipe, but it was her suggestion that my brother's been doing, doing butter
beans with a salsa verde.
And I think it's a winner.
It's an absolute winner.
And a little bit of a reheat the next day with some other bits and bobs.
Yes.
Yes Can I just slightly
throw it back and congratulate you
on your album
Oh my god
You can
So so good
Thank you
Thanks
I did jump for joy when Kylie Minogue put me on her playlist on Spotify.
We should write together one day.
Yeah, we should.
I would love that.
When I made What's Your Pleasure, there was the song, the album, the title track of the
album is called What's Your Pleasure.
Yeah.
And when we made it, I was like, Kylie, this, I kind of feel like I'm pretending to be Kylie
Minogue on this.
Because like, in my head, I was trying to be Kylie Minogue on this because like in my head
I was trying to be Debbie Harry and Kylie Minogue oh my god and then I was like Kylie Minogue you
should take the second verse she said why didn't you call me I don't know maybe I should have I
don't know because you're fucking Kylie I only live over the river oh my god this is great
and I was stuck at home. We're going to do Piccolo, Piccolino, Lattes.
This is great.
And I have my own studio.
Do you?
When I say studio, I mean like the five bits of kit that you need.
So I did most of my album, my vocals at home.
No, you record yourself.
Oh, get an engineer in and then.
So yeah, producer and engineer.
Well, normally the producer who is engineering would remote access my designated laptop
so there's no emails about to pop up or, you know,
reminders or anything.
But in watching that, I started to learn how to, you know,
the basics of logic and now I can say, yeah,
I'll get them to you later.
I even had to move the studio once the album was done.
I thought this is a bit in the way here, so let's get it to another zone.
Is it in your house?
Yeah.
It was locked down.
I was home.
So what, did you finish your record in lockdown?
Completely, yeah.
So I started the album, started writing last year.
So Say Something and Magic were both,
so the first two singles were done last year.
Yeah.
Say Something was finished in lockdown, finished remotely with, you know,
fine-tuning and getting kind of forensic about it.
And I think every other song that's on the album and the deluxe maybe bar one or like one and a
half were yeah we're done at home so it's kind of a lockdown album in the sense that it was a lot
of it yeah um I think there's only one other full song that was fully aside from mixing was done
not in lockdown and as the sessions went on so we'd start just zooms for just writing
and then would go to remote controlling for recording and i kind of joked i said i'm
getting an engineer credit for this and once we got to the end i realized i am giving myself
an additional yeah i set all of this up. I just realized I did do it.
Yeah, done right.
So, yeah, I've given myself a credit and I'm quite happy with that actually.
I'd be terrible for anyone else.
Like, hey, also people are now like, so you're a pro, you're a wizard.
Can I just stop you there?
I'm like, you know, grade two.
My prep school was garage
band and I'm maybe grade two so I've got all of primary school and high school to go before I'm
anything near a pro speaking about grades okay so I also had just to add to my fanatic Kylie face
we had the uh VHS of you that was Kylie was it was it like Kylie on the go or something it was
Kylie and you were playing the piano.
I did learn the piano when I was younger.
Yeah, and you had the most amazing,
like Mozart-esque sleeved,
do you remember?
It was a blouse, it was white,
and it was very,
and you were there at the piano,
you were like, oh hey, you didn't catch,
oh sorry, I'm just playing something.
And we'd watch it in this room,
and the TV used to be here, and we'd watch it, and you and the tv used to be here and we'd watch it
and you'd be playing the piano and it was like with a lot of sleeve and i've always dreamed about
this blouse that was probably like my my prince fantasy yes that would make sense it was like
very yes i think i remember i might have had oh this is really challenging me now, maybe a little waistcoat, like a vest with it.
Oh, yep, yep, yep.
With some embroidery.
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
From there and there and probably massive earrings.
And you had curly hair and things.
Yes.
And Hannah got like an embroidered waistcoat.
Yeah.
Jessie thinks that the Neighbours theme tune was her white noise
because when they were born, I'd listen to it, I'd watch it when I was
pregnant and then when they were
born we always had neighbours
on so that was like
was that like with Des and Daphne
I had the Daphne hair
the half up
half down and then the ponytail
she had a lot of
double ponytail
what did she die of? We can't remember.
Or in birth.
It was the saddest episode.
We absolutely sobbed.
Did she die in childbirth?
But Des was left...
Did you just have nothing else on that you were...
Des was desolate.
Des was desolate.
Well, it was on twice a day.
Yeah, it was on...
So you could then just cry all over again.
Yeah.
It was like the Archers, they did a repeat later.
Des was desolate.
Des was desolate.
And Daphne's hair, and I remember I used to say to you,
how would you like your hair?
And you'd say, like Daphne.
She managed to get a lot of looks out of very short hair.
Oh, God.
She was a good woman, Daphne. Was she a hairdresser? A lot of looks out of very short hair. Oh, God.
She was a good woman, Gaffney.
Was she a hairdresser?
I don't know.
She was an ex-stripper.
That was the scandal, the scandal.
She worked in the cafe, no, the diner.
She started the cafe.
It was so scandalous.
That was this cafe.
From her stripper money?
I don't know.
Presumably, if that was part of her past. Guy Pearce was your best friend?
He was one of the gang, yeah.
And I worked with him three years ago.
We played husband and wife in this Australian comedy film
that's set in the 70s.
So, I mean, he looks really good with the tash and the lamb chops
and all of that.
Yeah, he looks good.
But that was hilarious.
We didn't get to kiss.
Oh, shame.
But do you see Jason?
Sometimes.
The last epic time I saw him was at Hyde Park.
I had a show there.
Did you sing together?
Yeah.
But even better than that, we had a special for you in the set
and my BBs would sing his parts.
And because this was BBC Radio 2 to hide park concert going out live
everywhere we had um a choir as well and um i texted jason maybe the day before or two days
before and said oh hey i've got this gig in high park just let me know if you want to come along
um and so he let me know on the day he said yeah i'll be there i'm just gonna roll up on my bike i said great and so then when i got to hyde park and said to my team like in my musical producer
and and creative director said um so yeah jason's gonna be here tonight and i said well uh are you
going to ask him i said well i'm not going to call him now because I happen to know he's cycling in.
I don't want him to just like get nervous and, you know,
fall off or anything.
But he arrived and then I asked him.
I said, you could, you know, the easy answer is no.
That's totally fine.
It's totally up to you.
You can sing a bit.
You can sing nothing.
We can do a stupid dance.
And you can see the cogs turning over he's
like is that a guitar like what what key is that in again and he was just he started going and
it was great because i completely completely caught caught him off guard and he's he's such
a good sport he said oh it's good job i didn't turn off my lycra like my cycling lycra that would have been another
another entrance but literally I had friends who were in the business they're not really
phased by much but calling me crying just it was such a moment so I'm really grateful
to him for you know giving us that moment so I guess there will be plans to tour this because you are
like a machine when you talk i as and when we can and it's a viable thing and it's safe for everyone
sign me up my dream for this tour would be to perform in the round which i've never really done
have the world's biggest disco ball above and make it like just a big love fest it's got to get
you got to get close though that's the thing like that's the thing yeah you want people getting
sweaty and hugging and loving each other i know so we'll see it's obviously it's a bit of a pipe
dream now and i kind of almost don't want to think about it too much it seems so sad what are you
going to do when you're not touring what are you going to do next now the album's out right with me get in the studio yeah i don't know garden
oh kind of not very good you've grown any vegetables i did try oh what did you try um
i got some tomatoes which of course is like you know i don't think you can fail oh i did
i fucked up on the
old autos so yeah you can actually so there were courgettes were happening runner beans and um
you know it was just that the the little things like um a friend gave me tiny seedlings that
they'd started and said oh see those bits of eggshell in there that's because the you put it
you break the egg and and keep the shell and put your seed in there
and the dirt in there and then like all this stuff that because we didn't,
no one knew what to do with ourselves, every day it was like,
oh, the miracle.
Like there's this, you know, five millimetres of growth.
And so I got quite into it and then I think the squirrel
attacked everything and that was that.
I was going to ask, is England your home forever?
Long pause there.
Is your boyfriend an Englishman?
He's a Welshman.
Welsh.
Good choice.
Nice people.
Yeah.
But he's been in London for almost 20 years, I guess.
There's just not going to be an Australian home.
Are you a British citizen?
I have a British passport and an Australian passport.
So you don't need to marry the Welshman to get...
I think Kylie's okay, we'll keep her.
I think some people forget I'm Australian, actually.
I think we think you belong to us.
Yeah, you adopted me.
That's a fact.
A lot of people feel like they
you know I was part of the family
grew up in neighbors
I was in your lounge room
or your kitchen twice a day
a teenager
and then beyond that
just kind of growing up
in front of your eyes
and I like people
I like kindness
I like you know
I don't suffer fools gladly,
but I think if, you know, if you kind of, kindness comes back to you and.
Well, you were very kind on the voice.
I thought you were exceptionally kind and nice.
That's nice.
Yeah.
Have you done a show like that?
No.
It's quite hard.
Like the battles, the blinds just went forever
what was hard about it that you kind of the choosing people and critiquing or yeah some of
that because you you know you don't want to be people's dreams and some people just don't have
a voice i totally rate the show but and i said in my initial part of time on that show,
I said I just have to say that as soon as that person turns around,
it isn't just about the voice.
It just isn't.
You see the shock on people.
It's a 12-year-old girl.
It's a 65-year-old man.
It becomes about them and everything else.
So, yes, the voice is what has to make you turn.
But, yeah, they're just long.
That's just TV.
TV is long.
And by the time it's edited, it looks like you were there for kind of 35 minutes.
I think I subsisted on, you know, ready-to-eat protein snacks.
Yeah, because they wouldn't ruin your makeup.
There's just like no time.
Yeah, exactly.
Right.
No time.
What happened to those gold shorts?
Oh.
So, well, you know they were bought for 50p i know so that's the
history i don't really know what the history was before i got to know them but they are with pretty
much all of my costumes and performing things and memorabilia that i donated them to the performing
arts museum in melbourne so if i hit tough times, I have nothing to sell.
No hot pants.
Charlene's overalls are in there.
All the showgirls stuff.
Charlene's overalls.
That's basically the only thing I took from Neighbours
was Charlene's overalls, which I would love to wear
because when you did, you'd film the OB scenes,
so the outside broadcast scenes, one week,
and then you'd match the studio scenes the next week.
So one episode was spread over two weeks.
And Melbourne could be freezing, freezing cold,
and you're starting work at 6 a.m.
So I've got in my Datsun, driven to work,
loading my lines on the way.
And so if I was wearing my overalls or Charlene's overalls,
I could sneak some track pants something underneath and then
the next week in the studio you could be cool so I loved my overalls and I and I yeah and I
love that Charlene was feisty and was kind of going against the grain did you have to perm your
hair no that was my hair you're joking that is the most you've got straight hair i've got curly hair
that's a brazilian that's a brazilian this is all sorts this is this is my hair to get
some body yeah i wanted to know what you're missing i mean you're not able to go to australia
at the moment obviously you're missing your family but what kind of food are you missing
because the food there is my mom My mum's food. Really?
Or, you know, when we're all together and I never do as many dishes. I mean, because it's my brother and sister do most of the cooking.
Or mum or whoever's there.
And who's on dish patrol?
So it's like, all I do is do dishes.
But someone's got to set the table.
Someone's got to, you know, do all of that.
So I'm kind of mood, ambience setting uh and washing but you know barbecues at home i hate to sound completely
obvious but summer barbecue what is special about your family's barbecue is there something nothing
it's just that it's a family barbecue fair enough kylie um dinner party five guests who are you
inviting people who can actually attend
this is dreamland
who would be at your perfect dinner party
Paul Newman
oh my god yes
can it just be Paul Newman
sure why Paul Newman
because he's gorgeous
because he's gorgeous Jessica
oh my god he's the one
okay yes so literally Kylie is not inviting anybody I'm just having her and Paul Oh my god, he's the one. Okay.
Yes.
So Kylie is not inviting anybody up, just having her and Paul.
I love that.
Look, I think everyone wants Marilyn at their dinner party.
No one's done that one actually yet.
No.
Were you a packed lunch girl when you were at school?
Yes.
I mean, once in a while we could have some money for the tuck shop, that was just once in a while so what was in your little box usually a straz sandwich like straz borgs like ham a type
of well like mixed i don't know how to describe it like maybe it's a bunch of meats together
that look like a circle and then slight like pre--sliced meat. I need to know.
Well, I'm not sure if it was just ham.
Spam.
It wasn't spam.
Corned beef.
No.
Stras.
This is very interesting.
That's what I think it was called, strass.
Oh, thank you.
So, or a cheese sandwich, but you know, white, just white bread, butter.
Simples.
Wheat bix in the morning.
Wheat bix, we call it wheat bix. It's wheatabix here. Wheat bples. Wheat bix in the morning. Wheat bix is, we call it wheat bix.
It's wheatabix here.
Wheat bix?
Wheat bix.
Yeah.
Every morning. I'll be strange Australian.
As soon as I got home from school.
Very peculiar.
Marmite or Vegemite?
Well, we know.
Vegemite.
Oh, Kylie, you're not even.
Of course it's Vegemite.
Take a passport away, Jessie.
Of course it's Vegemite.
Do you still eat it?
Do you like Vegemite?
Once in a while. Yeah. It's a feel good thing. But it's. Have you still eat it do you like vegemite once in a while yeah it's a feel
good thing but it's if you ever tried it on i don't know if it would work as well as marmite but
with um spaghetti and butter i haven't but that would work is that excellent
so if you're having vegemite on toast you have to have an australian make it for you because it's
everything has to be right. Why? The ratios?
Yeah, your ratios and enough butter and then the vegemite's just got to skip over it.
That's how I like it anyway.
This is delicious.
Is it?
Yes.
Kylie Minogue, we have kept you for far too long.
Or not long enough.
You are the best.
It depends because I've had such a great time.
Oh, thank you.
Will this seal the deal when I tell you,
I forgot to tell you that we have a guinea pig called Kylie
and a guinea pig called Jason as well.
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
Kylie and Jason.
I've had to step away.
I don't want to make it up.
Yeah, and now we're going to...
I thought I heard it all.
I've now heard it all.
We're going to now break your kneecaps
and you're going to lie upstairs
and you're going to teach us these spinning around dance.
You're never going anywhere.
We are...
Kathy Bates.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for doing this.
I love you so much.
Thank you.
We love you.
It's been so special.
Good luck with the record.
And Lillian, thanks for the dinner.
It's been such a pleasure.
Remember, always chill it.
Always chill it.
Oh, okay.
That's never come out of my mouth before.
I like it though.
Maybe you should just have that as the tagline.
Always chill it.
Thank you to Kylie Minogue good luck at the residency in Vegas we gotta go mum and also I think we need to do dark chocolate mousse again on the um on the podcast the next season
let's do it yeah and that halibut was delicious as well it was thank you so much for listening
to these table manners second helpings we will
be back with a brand new season very very soon with plenty more fabulous guests take care