In this franchise, we highlight album tracks or B-Sides that should have been released as singles.
I could write a thesis about the staggering number of Kylie Minogue B-Sides (remember them?) that are better than the actual single, but one that particularly sticks in my craw is “Made Of Glass.” Initially recorded during the Ultimate Kylie sessions in 2004, the Xenomania-produced bop was overlooked in favor of “I Believe In You,” which is fair enough, and “Giving You Up,” which makes no sense. “Giving You Up” is perfectly enjoyable dance-pop fodder, but “Made Of Glass” is the kind of elegantly-constructed pop oddity that Kylie does better than anyone.
“Love makes the world go round, I hold it in my hands but it slips away and I watch it fade,” the enduring hitmaker sings on the wistful hook. “Love is a mystery, I hear it talk to me — but the words are strange, like it knows my name.” That takes us to one of Xenomania’s catchiest choruses. “Bohemian boys and Brazilian girls, a familiar noise in unfamiliar worlds,” Kylie purrs over crystalline synths. “It’s like a million beats in a Parisian heart, we’re made of glass.” It still beggars belief that execs couldn’t see the song’s potential.
“Giving You Up” was released as the second single from Ultimate Kylie in early 2005 and “Made Of Glass” was tacked on as the B-Side. Interestingly, fans immediately latched on to the latter and it was serviced to radio in Australia instead of “Giving You Up.” When you consider that “B.P.M.” also originates from this era, I can’t help but wonder what other staggeringly gorgeous pop gems are eating up memory on Kylie’s laptop. Revisit “Made Of Glass,” a song that truly deserved to be a single, below.
