Date: 1 February 2025
Published in: Thuner Tagblatt (Switzerland)
Written by: Alexandre Lanz
The 80s pop icon is back with “Closer” – and she’s rediscovering the drive of her early days. She’s playing three times in Switzerland in November.
Kim Wilde is back in 2025 with the new album “Closer” and a European tour. As early as 1983, hordes of young people with hairstyles just as wild as their idol flocked to Swiss concert venues to hear her sing “Kids in America” and “Cambodia” live.
The teenagers of that time are now in their fifties, but their enthusiasm for Kim Wilde is undiminished: the concert at Les Docks in Lausanne on November 29 is already sold out, the day before she’s playing at the KKL Lucerne, and on November 30 at the Z7 in Pratteln.
“Closer”, her 15th album, is a reference to “Close”, one of her most successful studio albums with hits such as “You Came” from 1988. The good news: Kim is not simply rehashing her recipe for success in her new album. Instead, she is building on the new wave sound from her early days between 1981 and 1983, before she got lost in more or less fruitful commercial attempts.
Her wide repertoire includes unknown gems, but also many songs that fizzled out too soon. Now that’s all water under the bridge, and it’s precisely this newfound freedom that makes “Closer” so enjoyable.
Kim Wilde no longer has to prove anything to herself or others, and she’s doing quite well. Without apologizing for anything, she’s just having fun. “Finally!”, you’re tempted to say.
Let’s start with the powerful “Midnight Train”. Like a kind of unidentified, spherical object, the piece is characterized by the lack of a chorus. A song that seems to turn back time and is reminiscent of the poster boys of the 80s like Duran Duran. A successful start.
The signature of her brother Ricky – the Ricky who tinkered with the melody of “Kids in America” in his room at his parents’ house in 1980 – who has worked with her as a producer and co-writer for years, is unmistakable.
Kim Wilde can still write hits and anthems
Next is “Scorpio” (her star sign). The “Uuhuu” choruses will give fans from the very beginning goosebumps. Today she can fully embrace her rock side. The next song, “Trail of Destruction”, which was released as a single a few months ago, is reminiscent of the synth hits of Rock FM, which Kim Wilde knows inside out.
This is followed by the symphonic “Sorrow Replaced”, which, despite the singer’s vocal bravura and the collaboration with Midge Ure from Ultravox, is not really convincing.
It continues with “Lighthouse”, an angelic lullaby for young and old that invites you to take a breather in turbulent times. “Love Is Love” is a catchy hit that has the potential to become an LGBTQ+ anthem. And the next song, “Rocket to the Moon”, also has the makings of a classic. It is reminiscent of Blondie, and Kim Wilde is in no way inferior to Debbie Harry, with whom she was often compared at the beginning of her career.
Ode to girl power
This is followed by “Hourglass Human”, a duet with her niece Scarlett Wilde, who may have contributed a lot to the breath of fresh air in the new album. Again, you have to think of Duran Duran, with the only difference being that this is an ode to girl power. 100 percent Kim Wilde and perhaps the highlight of the album.
The transition to “Stones and Bones” is also successful. A song that builds a bridge to the 1980s. But instead of the demons of this decade – in both the figurative and real sense, think of Dario Argento’s horror film or the HIV pandemic – you can hear a certain lightheartedness. The new album ends with the beguiling, almost hypnotic “Savasana”.
By standing up for herself and forgiving herself for the one or other twist in her changeable career, Kim Wilde finds her way back to the drive that characterized the beginning of her career. A concert in November is definitely worth it.
