If imitation is the best form of flattery, Kylie Minogue must be feeling mighty flattered following the release of Boy George's new single 'Religion'.
The former Culture Club frontman this week shared the standalone single “Religion,” one of two songs included on his 2023 memoir Karma: My Autobiography audiobook (the other, “Suddenly I'm Wiser,” isn't widely available available on streaming platforms ).
When “Religion” dropped on DSPs, X (formerly known as Twitter) had words. Eagle-eyed social media users spotted the cover's close resemblance to Minogue's Intensity album, which topped the UK and Australian album charts upon its release in 2023.
George fired off critics left and right.
“I recycle everything. It's all the rage. Even fashion is catching on?” he wrote in one of his posts. Responding to one particularly agitated comment, he assured that the replica image was “absolute genius”. He returned by serving up a poster who described the artwork as “pathetic” and quipped that it “broke air”, a response to a Daily Mail headline that reads, 'Boy George breaks silence after 'copying' Kylie's album cover.
Both artists began their careers in the 1980s. George (real name George O'Dowd), the flamboyant lead singer of Culture Club, was, for a time in the early to mid-80s, one of most recognizable artists on the planet.
Culture Club scored six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including a No. 1 with 1983's “Karma Chameleon.” Its parent album Color by numbers peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
When the band broke up in 1986, George embarked on a solo career, which was briefly derailed by substance abuse, controversy and legal trouble, before the singer reinvented himself as a club DJ, returned to the stage and studio, and get a regular reality TV job. In 2015, he won the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, one of the UK industry's highest honours.
Kylie is in one purple patch. The Australian “pop princess” recently signed with UTA for live representation in the US and Canada, as well as “acting endeavors” worldwide. Her Vegas residency has been extended, she recently won her second Grammy, for Best Pop Dance Recording with 'Padam Padam', a UK top 10 hit Intensity; is nominated for International Artist of the Year at the Brit Awards 2024, where she will receive the Global Icon Award. and next month, she will win Billboard's Women in Music Icon Award.
Intensity is Kylie's ninth No.1 album in the UK, where she is the first female artist – and the second artist overall – to achieve a No.1 album in five consecutive decades.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/boy-george-responds-recycling-kylie-minogue-tension-artwork-1235611240/
