"Skirt" is a 2013 song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. She co-wrote the song with Chris Elliot, Chris Lake, and The-Dream, while Elliot and Marco Lys produced it. "Skirt" samples "Shake & Bake", a composition by Elliot and DJ Bones. The track premiered on Elliot's SoundCloud account on 28 May 2013—Minogue's 45th birthday—before it was released as a stand-alone promotional single on 24 June. The distribution of the single, both physically and digitally as a remix EP, was handled by Rising Music, an independent record label established by Lake.
"Skirt" is an EDM, dubstep, and house-pop track. The lyrics portray Minogue seducing someone by dropping her skirt. Music critics commended its production and Minogue's return to mainstream dance music. The track was Minogue's tenth number-one single on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In order to promote the single, an accompanying lyric video was published in June 2013, featuring more than 1,000 stills of her inside a hotel room.
Background and production
In February 2012, DJ Bones and Chris Elliot (under the stage name Nom de Strip) released a two-track EP under the independent label DirtyNitrus. The EP features an instrumental composition titled "Shake & Bake" on the B-side. Elliot wrote "Shake & Bake" using Logic Pro while he was working in music shops. In 2013, Elliot caught the attention of British producer Chris Lake, who signed him to Rising Music, his Los Angeles-based independent label. That year, Australian singer Kylie Minogue announced she had signed a management deal with Roc Nation, an entertainment agency handled by American rapper and businessman Jay-Z. The announcement was made after she parted ways with her long-term manager Terry Blamey and the British label EMI.
During the summer of 2013, Minogue and her manager had a chance meeting with Lake, who played a set for them. Minogue selected "Shake & Bake" from that set, and recorded the instrumental track with Elliot and American songwriter The-Dream later that night. RocNation introduced the singer to The-Dream, with whom she spent a few days co-writing the track. Elliot and his label-mate Marco Lys co-produced the track. Lake was pleased with the working experience with Minogue. He found the bass-heavy production different from Minogue's previous work and challenging for her casual listeners.
Composition
"Skirt" is an EDM, dubstep, and house-pop song. It is written in the key of D major and has a moderately fast tempo of 128 beats per minute. The track has sparse production between the verses and is anchored by a bass-laden hook, which comes more than a minute into the track and appears only twice. It opens with muffled electronic beats, and features instrumentation of keyboards, synthesizers, and a drum machine. "Skirt" has no middle-eight section, and the beat drop builds up to Minogue singing the chorus. Minogue's vocals are breathy, distorted, and synthesized; she can be heard moaning and sighing towards the end of the track. At one point, Minogue chants "Down, down, down, down" over the heavy bass production. The-Dream also contributed background vocals, making breathy exclamations at the 2:03 mark.
Music critics described "Skirt" as more experimental than Minogue's other work. Alexis L. Loinaz of E! Online said that the track delivers "a harder, driving sound" compared to what Minogue's audience might have expected from her. The Tabs Harrison Brocklehurst noted that the track contains elements of dubstep, which Minogue had not previously incorporated into her music. Lyrically, Minogue sings about dropping her skirt before initiating a sexual encounter. Brocklehurst called it "a sexually charged anthem", and Logo TV's Simon Curtis compared the sexual theme to Minogue's "Slow" (2003).
Release and remixes
In February 2013, Minogue confirmed working on her twelfth studio album and a new single. Elliot first played "Skirt" during his set at the Pacha Ibiza nightclub before the track's premiere on his SoundCloud account on 28 May 2013, Minogue's 45th birthday. The release was made without any prior official announcement; Minogue revealed the track with a post on Twitter: "Birthday surprise!!". "Skirt" was released as a promotional single ahead of Minogue's twelfth studio album, Kiss Me Once. In July 2013, she confirmed the track was only a teaser. "I'd like to think of it as being the amuse-bouche of the meal. Your entire meal's not going to be like that; my album's not going to be like that," says Minogue. The track was ultimately not included on Kiss Me Once.