TL;DR version: it’s great, could be longer, but watch it anyway you won’t regret it!

Almost a week ago, “Kylie”–a three-part documentary series detailing the life of pop superstar Kylie Minogue–debuted on Netflix. I didn’t catch it on debut night, or even the day after it debuted because busy. I finally had time to watch the first two parts last Friday, and I just finished the final part yesterday, and what a finale it was.

Spoilers after the cut…

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First off–and this is embarrassing to admit–but a few minutes into the docuseries made me realize one big thing: I have been pronouncing her last name incorrectly the entire time. Ack!🤦🏻‍♀️ I’ve been saying it “min-nawhg” as opposed to its correct pronunciation: “min-NOgh”. I can be a stickler with name pronunciation, as my real first name has occasionally suffered from mispronunciations since I was a kid. Yeah, she’s Kylie–no last name needed, but, hey, now I know.

Second, prior to watching the docuseries, I had heard that the one criticism of it is that it’s “short.” It’s a three-parter that’s an hour each, and, for an entertainer who has been in the spotlight for as long as Kylie has, yes, it could’ve been a little longer. It could have easily been a Ken Burns-esque five-part epic, which each part lasting 90 minutes. Only 2019 is the only year in the 2010s that gets attention. Not even a peep of how things were like for her when she turned 50 in 2018, or the one time she worked with Prince in the early 90s, or the “rivalry” between her and Madonna, or all the pop stars she influenced all these years and what they have to say about her. However! I speak as a big fan of hers. Of course I wanted to see more. Those who have been following her for years and decades wanted to see more. I feel like the docuseries is not just for her long-time fans, but for the curious who only know her from either “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” or “Padam Padam”. It serves everyone who wants to know (or know more) about Kylie. And I also see its length as, well…maybe what got featured is what she wanted to share to the public. She doesn’t owe us her life’s entirety.

Speaking of which, that reveal in the last minutes of the final part…if it doesn’t get you in the feels, something is wrong with you. I knew she had breast cancer back in the 2000s, but for her to have it again just five years ago?! I’ll let this Bluesky skeet say it for me:

Kylie Minogue overcoming breast cancer TWICE my god take that woman’s pain multiply it by 30 and give it to Trump

— Hillary Rodham Clinton shady news and facts (@williamferr.bsky.social) 2026-05-20T01:00:22.624Z

That she chose not to make that news public earlier, even when she was doing interview after interview during the “Padam” hoopla in 2023, is understandable when you see how the press was like during her first round with breast cancer. And that she still went out there to make another album and did a world tour for it a few years later shows not just how strong she is, but how devoted she is to her craft.

Other new things I learned from the docuseries:

–oh, so that’s what a budgie is. (The press called her a “singing budgie” in the late 80s. I liked how she turned it around to them and formed a group called “The Singing Budgies” in the early 90s.)

–she had another pixie cut in the mid 90s (with the first time being in the late 80s).

–I actually did not know she dated Olivier Martinez. From Michael Hutchence and Lenny Kravitz to Olivier, Mother has some fine taste.

–she took part in an event called the Poetry Olympics in the late 90s. (Hey, is that still going on? Asking for myself.)

–after her first cancer treatment, she still wanted to have children by going the IVF route. Sadly, it didn’t work out.

–the press and paparazzi had been on her since the late 80s, but they were really ON her while she was going through her first cancer treatment. Given that it happened during the mid-2000s when tabloid culture blew the fuck up, I kinda wasn’t surprised, but it was still cringe to see them swarm the family cars and battle for one pic of Kylie when she was sick. Vultures! Kylie was Australia’s (and the UK’s) Britney in some ways.

–her 1991 performance in Belfast deserves to be in The Louvre.

Also, to that guy wearing that “Christina sucks” shirt in the third part: STRAIGHT TO JAIL.

Kylie fans should be grateful for this docuseries. This is the fourth year in a row where we got something new from our idol. “Padam” and “Tension” in 2023. A Grammy win, the Met Gala, music festivals, and the Vegas residency in 2024. A world tour in 2025. And now this docuseries for 2026. It’s not a 10 out of 10, but it’s not bad or meh, either. I’m always happy to see new Kylie stuff, especially when it reaches the States. I’d give it an 8 out of 10.