The woman behind Kylie’s Aphrodite

On an album that’s being praised as the most cohesive, filler-free record of her career, the title track of Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite is garnering a buzz all of its own.

With clattering stop-start verses married to a sky-high chorus, the pop-anthem-in-waiting is one of two offerings (the other, the relentlessly cheerful Better Than Today, was first aired during her US tour last year) on the album written by English singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot and her husband/collaborator Andy Chatterley.

Pallot, a frequent visitor to our shores thanks to parents who migrated to Brisbane in 1997, told Sydney Star Observer that her new job as a Kylie songwriter-for-hire came about quite by accident.

“It was completely out of the blue. I was making [current album] The Graduate and I planned on having Better Than Today as the first single. Then my publisher happened to play the track to Kylie’s people, who wanted it for her. There are very few artists in the world where it’s like a scrum to get a song on their album, but Kylie’s one of them, so I didn’t want to give it up because I assumed it probably wouldn’t even get used.

“But it was all sealed with a phone call from Kylie — who for the first two minutes, I thought was my sister. I said, ‘Yeah, right, this is Kylie — stop it Helene, you’re shitting me,’ ” she laughed.

As for the buzz the title track is creating, Pallot’s happy her gamble is paying off.

“The song is unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and in many ways, it’s unlike anything Kylie has done too. A lot of people are picking up on that Rhythm Nation vibe it has, which is great because I’m a massive Janet Jackson fan.

“But Kylie’s one of my heroines — I even recorded Confide In Me as a B-side to one of my earlier singles.

“I think a lot of people would see an opportunity like this as a cash cow, but I genuinely have always had a very deep emotional connection to Kylie as an artist. She’s been very present in my life since I was a kid.”

With Pallot’s own The Graduate being her most upbeat collection to date, will her music veer in even more of a Kylie-esque pop direction for album number four?

“I have no idea, I really don’t. I just feel like throwing paint at the wall at this point and seeing what sticks. I just want to see where the songs take me.”

info: Aphrodite (Warner) out now. Nerina Pallot’s music is available to buy from www.nerinapallot.com