Date: 1 September 1993
Originally published in: NCRV gids (Netherlands)
Written by:
“It’s an important year for me. My whole thirteen year career is on one cd. That’s very special”. Talking here is Kim Wilde, and she speaks about her new album, a singles collection that goes back until the start of her impressive musical career.
“Cambodia”, “View from a bridge”, “Kids in America”… they are songs that delivered a good place in the pop encyclopedia to Kim Wilde, and which can also be found on her new album, that is called “The singles collection 1981-1993”. New is “If I can’t have you”, a danceable song that is new on the record. “You should put a new hit on such a singles collection”, says Kim. “This song was an idea of my brother Ricky’s wife. She used to be crazy about it. We tried it in the studio and we thought yes, this is it. Ricky and I are working with hits for long enough to know whether something will be successful.”
It’s still her brother who writes the songs for Kim. Despite the successes it brought in the past, Kim hasn’t scored any big hits recently. The album “Love moves” was not a success and last year’s “Love is” was also a tad disappointing. “I would have loved to see differently”, says Kim. “Love moves” was and still is my own favourite. I worked really hard on it, I poured my heart and soul into it. It’s very disappointing when it fails. I’m still proud of it, though. Ricky and I are convinced that we delivered good work at the time.”
Kim also writes songs, just not for herself. “They don’t fit my style. Songs I write are more soul-oriented. Iwrite songs for a group that my brother is producing”.
She isn’t going to change her own style. On top of that she just wants to score hits, even if that hasn’t happened lately. “For me the charts are a challenge. I am crazy about pop music and I still like working in that world. It’s exciting, fun and challenging. You may choose a different lifestyle every time, to be a popstar, model and filmstar… that’s what I like about it!”
Kim says it with a lot of confidence and she looks the part. It was different a couple of years ago. She was a bit depressed, as a result of the pressure on her to be famous at a young age. By moving to the countryside she climbed back up. Kim: “the years I’ve lived there so far are the happiest of my life. I have started to realise that I’m really just a simple person, and that I enormously enjoy the simple things in life.”
