My childhood songbook re-opens popstar dreams

There’s nothing worse than a string of made up lyrics on repeat and with a Grade Eight in Musical Theatre I considered it a parental duty to knock this particularly annoying habit out of them early.

The soundtrack which includes “A Million Dreams’ has spoken to the hearts of little girls, mine included, stars in their eyes with ambitions to upgrade microphone appropriate props to the real thing.

The dreams are real, that little girl was once me. This week I was re-living it again, Kylie Minogue at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

At five I wanted to be her, now 33, I still want to be her.

“I should be so lucky” was the first LP I owned and many a weekend was spent watching Kylie – the videos on VHS from ‘Locomotion’ to ‘Wouldn’t Change a Thing’.

The excitement at both of these making the Golden Tour set-list.

Inspired by the Stockman, Aitken and Waterman era, the first band was born one bath time in the very early 90s, when my sister and I, assisted by two trusty bottles of Matey bubble bath, formed ‘Shampoo Girls’ – we got there first before the actual ‘Shampoo’ duo of 1993.

Sadly none of that bubble filled material made it to Top of the Pops, she cannot sing a note.

Realising it was safer to go it alone, the first ‘public’ performance was ‘Colours of the Wind’ from Disney’s Pocahontas, around the age of seven or eight at Brownies for some badge or another.

The ‘show’ effort was also the first and last attempt at choreographing with some rather odd Kim Wilde like arm throwing, which could probably have given ‘Dancing Queen’ Theresa May a run for her money.

Undeterred this ‘inner Kylie’ would grace numerous stages throughout my teenage years. Finally ‘making it’ was landing the dream role as ‘Sandy’ in Grease, the school production.

Music has always been a form of medicine, morning Spotify playlists are the thing in our house but with ‘Showman’ enough was enough.

Recently we’ve delved into the nostalgic songbook to help broaden the musical horizons beyond Little Mix, Justin Bieber and Walk the Moon’s ‘Shut up and Dance.’

Everything from Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Bruce Springsteen to Rick Astley, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon, to George Ezra. It’s random to say the least.

Abba’s “Mama Mia” is currently the number one, as I understand Year 1 were even given an intimate rendition at the request of mini-me to put on her own ‘show’ last week.

It can’t have been long, she only knows the chorus.

But it won’t be discouraged singing is most definitely good for the soul and certainly for mine.

Watching in awe of my favourite pint-sized pop star again in her fiftieth year performing a ‘lifetime’ of songs with a whole lot of glitter and sparkle, brought back all that childhood excitement for life on the 'big stage.'

There could still be a tune or two left in me yet.