Kylie (song)

Adrian Sînă founded Akcent in February 1999 originally as a duo, alongside Ramona Barta. In 2000, the duo released their debut album titled Senzatzia, with "Ultima vară" as the lead single.[1] Although the single received major radio airplay, the two parted ways in 2001.[2] Subsequently, in the same year, Sînă invited Sorin Brotnei, Mihai Gruia and Marius Nedelcu to repurpose Akcent as a four piece group.[3] The lead single off their second studio album, "Ți-am promis", peaked at number five on the Romanian Top 100.[4] Their second album, În culori, was released in January 2002, and received a platinum certification from the Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România later that year.[5] "Prima iubire" served as the second single, reaching number two on the native chart.[6] In 2003, the group released their third album, 100 bpm, with one of its singles, "Suflet pereche", peaking within the top 10 on the Romanian Top 100.[7][8]

"Dragoste de închiriat" was released on 28 January 2005.[9] In June of the same year, it was re-released in English as "Kylie" and was played for the first time under its new version on the Dutch radio station SLAM!.[10] "Kylie" was released for digital download on 13 June in various countries by Music Company Nordic.[11] On 28 January 2006 the track was added to American radio station's playlist at their discretion.[12]

The song was written by Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan, Marius Nedelcu, Adrian Sînă and Viorel Şipoş. Barac, Bolfea, Botezan and Şipoş produced and mixed the track, which was recorded at Win Production. The original version was released as the lead single from the group's fourth studio album S.O.S. (2005) while the English version was included on their fifth album French Kiss with Kylie (2006).[13][14] The dance track details the group's admiration towards Australian singer Kylie Minogue.[15][16] Jaap Bartelds of Winq noted that the track begins with a sound similar to Minogue's "Spinning Around" (2000) and further references Minogue's single "I Should Be So Lucky" (1987) in the lyrics.[17]

Bartelds included the song in Winq's "Quirky Corner" which includes "nicely wrong" songs; songs which have a good sound but convey a bizarre message. Bartelds claimed that the track "quickly turns into a Balkan entry for the Eurovision Song Contest", and was critical of the reference to Minogue, stating "will that poor woman be spared nothing?".[17] Jurnalul's Cătălina Iancu considered the group's association with Minogue to be a "cheap stunt".[18] Conversely, Florin Grozea argued that the association made the group "stand out from the crowd" in the book Hit Yourself. 100 Ideas for a Successful Career in Music.[16] Additionally, SLAM! called the track "[the] hit of the summer".[10] Commercially, the song peaked at number two under its Romanian version for five weeks on Romanian Top 100.[19][20] "Kylie" reached the top ten in Finland and the Netherlands,[21][22] while also selling 5,000 first-day copies in the latter.[23] It further reached number eighteen in both Denmark and Sweden,[24][25] and the top thirty in Flanders and France.[26][27]

The music video was directed by Iulian Moga and it premiered on MTV in April 2005.[10][28] The video begins with Sînă in a car with a woman next to him, being driven to a club. Upon their arrival, Akcent's other members are shown separately dancing among a group of women from the club. Sînă follows the woman with whom he arrived until she decides to go in a secluded room away from him, where she meets Gruia, then the two begin to undress each other. The woman is next seen with Nedelcu in another room arguing, before hopping on a pool table to take each other's clothes off. Thereafter, she is in a lift with Brotnei and as the lift crashes, they start making out. Interspersed shots of Sînă singing in the club are shown whenever the woman is engaging with a group member. The woman returns to Sînă in the car in which they arrived and the two start performing foreplay. Lastly, the video ends with Sînă leaving the car.[29]

The group performed both versions of the song on several occasions. Their first performance of the Romanian version of it was in a club in Pitești on the day of the song's release.[9] As part of Akcent's Finnish tour in June 2006, they performed "Kylie" in club Raatikellari.[30] "Kylie" was one of the three tracks that the group sang at Hity Na Czasie, an event hosted by Polish radio station Radio Eska in July 2007.[31] In December 2010, while performing in Pakistan, Akcent performed the song in Lahore.[32] The song was reworked and released as a single by Dutch DJ Mike Williams alongside Dastic in 2019, and was featured on the former's setlist at Belgian music festival Tomorrowland.[33][34] In July 2021, Sînă performed "Dragoste de închiriat" at Romanian radio station Kiss FM with Romanian singer Olivia Addams.[35] In the same year, the song was performed at Polsat's New Year's Eve event.[36]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of S.O.S. and French Kiss with Kylie.[13][14]

• Akcent – lead vocals
• Adrian Sînă – songwriter
• Marius Nedelcu – songwriter
• Marcel Botezan – producer, songwriter, mixing
• Radu Bolfea – producer, songwriter, mixing
• Sebastian Barac – producer, songwriter, mixing
• Viorel Şipoş – producer, songwriter, mixing