Initial impression
My biggest problem, and it's even worse than Aphrodite,
is the vocal production, by far.
Her voice is thin, but if layered well can work fine with big synths.
Here, it's almost like her producers don't know what to do with it so they turn everything up to decibel 11.
Her one overall problem has always been her nasality, but if produced
properly it can work, like from 2000-2004 where her vocal was mastered incredibly and actually was a slightly distinguishing strength and asset.
Now, with this production, it's her worst feature and biggest weapon of her detractors, the nasality turning to shrieking and most of the sampler rendered unbearable. The effect is almost like...drowning in or being force-fed cotton candy.
It distracts from virtually all of the production and you're left to focus on the lyrical cliches and the production's shortcomings and for that, easily 4 points are taken from my album score from the sampler alone.
The bearable songs are the ones (not surprisingly) that don't push a wall of sound at you and let Kylie's vocal and each production element
breathe a little - like Feels So Good and Les Sex.
Incredibly disappointed….I had huge hopes for this era.
My initial impression score: 5 out of 10 