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I can understand it, of course. For years Kylie's name was a byword for mass-produced, artistically bankrupt tat (according to certain sources, anyway; if you ask me, 'I Should Be So Lucky' is a masterpiece and people should be looking to it for inspiration, not sneering at it), and when she first tried to be serious and arty nobody bought her records (although again, I think she produced some of her best material during her obscure indie phase - 'Put Yourself in My Place' and 'Did It Again' are brilliant), so having experienced a career resurgence at the turn of the millennium and finally being given the respect that an artist of longevity such as hers deserves, it must be gratifying for her to be taken seriously.

But the thing is, the other day I dug Light Years out of my CD collection and had another listen, and I found myself wondering what had happened. Although there are songs on that album that I don't especially care for, listening to the album itself is always a pleasurable experience because fun and enjoyment just ooze out of it. Its tongue is planted firmly in its cheek (how can it not be when it contains 'Your Disco Needs You', the only song in the known universe camper than 'YMCA'?) and it isn't trying to be art - it's just trying to be fun.

And that's something I thought was missing from her last two albums, because singles aside, Fever and Body Language just kind of blended into one amorphous blur for me. Too self-consciously hip for my liking, too lacking in the knowing sense of self-parody that made her comeback such a hit for this reviewer. And yet oddly, when you go to see a Kylie show, it's a spectacle: she dresses up as a Vegas burlesque girl and wears feathers twice as big as she is, or gets flown above the audience on a giant crescent moon. So why isn't this sense of archness present in her music any more?

To address the matter in hand, 'Two Hearts' is not lacking in drama or pizzazz. It's a very classy piece of pop, very cleverly structured to be able to push the envelope slightly while not being sufficiently extravagant to alienate those who sit firmly in the mainstream. And it has an anthemic chorus which sounds a bit like Alison Goldfrapp ate the Klaxons. But that's kind of my problem here: it does sound a bit like Kylie trying to 'do' Goldfrapp, and considering Goldfrapp's last album was Goldfrapp trying to 'do' Goldfrapp and not doing an especially good job of it, I'm concerned. I don't like the idea of Kylie trying to emulate another act; I consider it beneath her, and I rather think she should too.

The more I listen to this song, the more I like it and the more my initial misgivings start to fade away, which is generally how a good pop song operates. It's taken me less time to come around to this song than it did for me to like 'Slow'. And yet, I still find this curiously unsatisfying as a comeback: it doesn't have the impact that the first new song from Kylie in over two years should have. Maybe nothing could've lived up to my anticipation, but I almost feel like this wasn't even trying. It's a confident move on Kylie's part, to come back with a single that acts like she was never away, but I would've loved to hear something more celebratory and less po-faced.

It may look odd for me to have complained so much about this song and still give it four stars, so allow me to explain. This is a good song. I'm not questioning that. I just don't think it's a great song, and it should've been. A first single off a Kylie album ought to be a slam-dunk five stars, no questions asked. Four stars indicates my slight disapproval on an emotional level, even if my gut response to the song has me running onto the dancefloor. So there you have it.

Download: Out now
CD Released: October 29th

(Steve Perkins)