Fever is the eighth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was released on 1 October 2001 internationally by Parlophone and later launched in the United States on 26 February 2002 by Capitol Records. Minogue worked with writers and producers such as Cathy Dennis, Rob Davis, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, TommyD, Tom Nichols, Pascal Gabriel and others to create a disco and Europop-influenced dance-pop and nu-disco album. Other musical influences of the album range from synth-pop to club music.
Upon its release, Fever received positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised its production and commercial appeal. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number one in Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Russia, and the UK. In the US, the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Minogue's highest selling album in the country; it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Fever was also certified seven-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and five-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It won the International Album accolade at the 2002 Brit Awards ceremony.
Four singles were released from the album. The lead single, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was released in September 2001 and peaked atop the charts of 40 countries, eventually selling more than six million copies worldwide. The song, which is often recognised as Minogue's signature song, is her highest-selling single. Follow-up singles "In Your Eyes" and "Love at First Sight" also performed well on charts internationally. The last single "Come into My World" won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2004. To promote the album, Minogue embarked on her seventh concert tour, the KylieFever2002 tour.
Background and production
In 1998, Minogue was dropped from her label Deconstruction following the poor commercial performance of her sixth studio album Impossible Princess. She instead signed on to Parlophone and released her seventh studio album Light Years. The disco and Europop-inspired album was a critical and commercial success, and was later certified four times-platinum in Minogue's native country Australia for shipment of 280,000 units, and platinum in the UK for shipment of 300,000 units. "Spinning Around" was released as the lead single off the album and was a commercial success, attaining a platinum certification in Australia for shipment of 70,000 units, and a silver certification in the United Kingdom for shipment of 200,000 units. She promoted the album by embarking on the On a Night Like This tour.
Soon after, Minogue began work on her eighth studio album Fever. On the album, she collaborated with producers and writers such as British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis, who co-wrote two songs out of the three she co-produced, Rob Davis, who co-produced and co-wrote three songs, and Richard Stannard and Julian Gallagher, who co-produced and co-wrote five songs ("Love at First Sight", "In Your Eyes", "Love Affair", "Boy" and "Rendezvous at Sunset"). In the vein of Light Years, Fever is a disco and dance-pop album that contains elements of adult contemporary and club music. The album was recorded at studios such as the Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Hutch Studios in Chicago, Olympic Studios in London and Stella Studios.
Music and lyrics
Fever is primarily a dance-pop album, with prominent elements of 1970s-influenced disco and Europop. Jacqueline Hodges from BBC Music wrote that the album is not "pure pop", and is rather characterized by a more adventurous dance-oriented sound. NME critic Alex Needham identified a "filter disco effect", described as "the one that sounds like you've gone under water and then ecstatically come up for air," working on various songs on the album. Needham saw Fever as an "update" from the "frothy disco" of Light Years. Songs like the opening track "More More More" and closing track "Burning Up" are examples of the disco-influenced production of the album. The former is an uptempo song with a "funky" bassline, while the latter was described as a "slow burn" disco song. Teen pop elements appear on songs like "Love at First Sight", which begins with an electric piano intro, and the "aggressive" "Give It to Me".