An icon is back

After a seven-year break, Kim Wilde is releasing her 15th studio album: ‘Closer’ is the twin of her favorite album ‘Close’ from 1988.

There are a few icons of 1980s pop history who have managed to make the transition to the here and now in an unembarrassing way. Kim Wilde, who dropped her original and incredibly boring surname Smith early on, is one of them. Hardly any Generation X kid could have missed ‘You Came’ or especially ‘Kids In America’ in the often romanticized but of course absolutely legendary 80s. And of course all the boys and probably one or two girls had a huge crush on the blonde from West London at the time. Like perhaps only Kylie Minogue – at least on the female side, there were of course many male pop stars of the decade who were like her – the Brit embodied the sound and attitude to life of a time when everything seemed so much easier.

The past and the present are coming closer together

So now finally a new work – after the 2018 album ‘Here Come The Aliens’, it took seven years for the now 64-year-old to present her 15th studio album, ‘Closer’. She wrote the work, which contains ten new songs, together with her brother Ricky and her niece Scarlett. It is an album that manages to bring the past into the modern age. Because Kim Wilde has not only kept her voice – she simply doesn’t sound like a woman who is about to retire. The sound of the songs – such as the wonderful ‘Scorpio’ – also clearly exudes the 80s, and the punch, the guitars, which convey a little more crunch and dirt than was perhaps usual or possible in 1985, make them contemporary without being ingratiating. More than that – you can hear how much fun Kim Wilde had recording. It’s fitting that she says of her job: “I just absolutely love singing. But the best moments are when I can sing songs that we don’t play very often. That’s always a challenge.”

Pop presented in its purest form

Of course, ‘Closer’ is not a rock album, but pop in its purest form. But it also has a certain touch of drama. When Ultravox veteran Midge Ure is involved in the dark semi-ballad ‘Sorrow Replaced’, for example, it’s pop cinema at its finest. The fact that Kim Wilde is always aware of her past becomes clear when she says of the songs on ‘Closer’: “The new songs are really good bedfellows that also go well with the older songs and especially with the songs on ‘Close’.” She is talking about the 1988 album ‘Close’, the sixth studio album, which also includes the aforementioned ‘You Came’. Apart from that, ‘Sorrow Replaced’ is also an excellent example of the great songwriting that Kim and Ricky Wilde, a perfectly oiled hit machine since the earliest days of their career, are still capable of.

The next generation is already in the starting blocks

Kim Wilde has nothing left to prove. However, the Brit’s 15th studio album seems so self-contained that you believe her when she says of ‘Closer’ that “I think it perfectly reflects where I am today musically.” It is also obvious that she wants to give her self-proclaimed favorite album from 1988 a ‘twin’. With the duet with her niece Scarlett on ‘Hourglass Human’, you could believe that Kim is ready to pass the baton on to the next generation. And indeed – the two are quite similar vocally, and the attitude of the younger Wilde also matches the music of the older one. “It is still a big challenge to come up with a real three-minute banger,” says Kim Wilde about working on ‘Closer’ – and this attitude can actually be heard in the collaboration with her niece.

The great stylistic freedom of the 80s

What you might not hear so much in the new album, but what makes Kim Wilde as a personality extremely likeable, is the great stylistic freedom and diversity of the 80s. “I really appreciated that incredibly. You could do anything, everything was possible,” she says. And yet it is only today that she can finally be on stage exactly as she wanted. “I can really be myself today, that’s wonderful,” she says. And you wonder how many of her personalities you got to know before. But if you can even hear that on a studio album, then that is probably the acoustic manifestation of a self-confident and happy personality. What a desirable state!

Closer

Ten – regular – songs were also on ‘Close’ from 1988, and ten are now on its 2025 twin ‘Closer’. Kim Wilde has created another, this time late, monument to herself with her brother Ricky and her niece Scarlett. The pop queen of the 1980s, who had worldwide hits with ‘Kids in America’ and ‘You Cam’, presents herself on her 15th studio album as a self-assured singer who no longer has to prove anything to herself or the pop world. But is certainly capable of doing so, as the best songs on ‘Closer’ show – the driving ‘Scorpio’, the hymn ‘Sorrow Replaced’ with Midge Ure and the magnificent ‘Love Is Love’ are recommended listens on an overall very high-quality pop album.