Kylie Minogue’s ‘Padam Padam’ Has a Pulse on Social Media’s Viral Game

Pop star Kylie Minogue released her new song “Padam Padam” last week and the Australian gay icon’s latest move proves that even legacy artists have to play the viral game on social media. 

On May 18, Kylie released the electronic pop confection “Padam Padam”, the first single from her upcoming 16th album Tension. The song’s title references the sound her love interest’s heart makes. Clocking in at 2 mins and 46 seconds, the song is one of her shortest ever and perfect for TikTok samples. Interestingly enough, “Padam Padam”, which has been her highest hit in the UK since 2014’s “Into the Blue“, has set social media ablaze. 

From thinking the song references a location in The Hunger Games to dragging it for being subpar when it’s a certified bop, “Padam Padam” is the talk of the town. The song has already made its way into becoming several memes across the internet. With social media’s support, “Padam Padam” has quickly become, what tabloids and fans, are calling a comeback single and a pop cultural reset. 

Kylie is the latest legacy artist and gay icon to, inadvertently or purposefully, lean on social media to increase their music’s popularity. In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion released her Grammy Award-winning song “Savage”. The song, and its remix with fellow H-Town artist Beyoncé, achieved immense popularity due to its sampling on TikTok. While it was being dragged on social media, the same can be said of Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy”, which also topped the charts and received a historic Grammy win for trans and nonbinary representation in pop music. 

However, not all recording artists are convinced of this tactic. Singers like Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, Halsey, and Charli XCX have shared online about their gripes with their label’s desire for their artists to leverage social media to promote new music. Halsey took to social media, in a now deleted TikTok claiming that, “I have a song that I love that I wanna release ASAP…But my record label won’t let me.” The “Without Me” singer further explained that their record company wouldn’t release their music, unless they could stage a viral moment on TikTok with the song. 

Still, that doesn’t seem to bother Kylie and her enduring fans. Their online chatter is only adding to the “Padam Padam” fever proving, once again, the unique power of social media. 

Related:

TikTok Reportedly Tracked Users Who Watched LGBTQ+ Content

Social media has increasingly become an unsafe place for LGBTQ+ users, regardless of the platform.