“I am overwhelmed every time I reflect on where this celebration started,” Dannii Minogue tells Apple Music. “As a protest. With beatings by police. It is unfathomable.” The pop star and her sister Kylie are two of the Australian LGBTQ+ community’s most vocal musical allies, having performed at many Mardi Gras celebrations over the years. For Dannii Minogue, the most important aspect of Mardi Gras is “seeing the LGBTQ+ community come together and celebrate. Be seen. Be heard. Be accepted. I love how welcoming the parade is to anyone, from anywhere.” Minogue first performed during Mardi Gras in the 1990s, at a time when the spotlight on the queer community in Australia was brighter and more global than ever. Between legislative changes—including the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the remaining states where it was still a criminal offence—and global media attention, largely thanks to the runaway success of 1994’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the period was, for many, a time for celebration and growth. The feeling was “absolutely electric,” she says. “The night is spine-tingling, the room is packed, the music is loud, the audience is even louder. It’s hard to know where all my adrenaline is going to go! I’m on a high for hours after I walk offstage.” She holds many dear memories from over the years, but her favourite came a little later, in 2014. “I was standing beside Jean Paul Gaultier in 2014 to watch the parade. He said he’d never seen drag queens in the street before—this doesn’t happen in Paris at all. Having lived in Sydney, I just thought seeing drag queens parade in all their glory in the streets was normal everywhere. I am so proud that Australia is a country that embraces this.” As one of the most beloved longtime Mardi Gras performers and attendees, Minogue is something of an expert when it comes to the music of the time. Here, she’s compiled a playlist of highlights from this crucial era of growth and increasing acceptance for Australia’s LGBTQ+ community. Below, read on for more personal stories and memories about her favourite songs on the playlist. Dannii Minogue, “All I Wanna Do (Toys of Desperation Remix)” “I will never forget performing this remix of ‘All I Wanna Do’ at a Mardi Gras afterparty. I arrived onstage from the ceiling—it felt like the longest wait ever from where I was waiting high up in the stage rigging. The performance felt groundbreaking for the LGBTQI+ community—the first ever all-female show. Myself and a stage full of lesbians from the community performed a choreographed routine in outfits that looked like they were all naked, apart from strategically placed fig leaves. It was Dannii’s Garden of Eden in the heart of this throbbing party. The remix was produced by one of my best friends in London, Ian Masterson. We were blown away to be celebrating the performance together, as he had flown into Sydney especially for the show.” Cher, “Believe” “If there is a song that sums up dance pop in the ’90s, this song and artist has to be it. This song took the world by storm, reignited Cher as a global star and sent the music industry into a meltdown over the use of Auto-Tune. I was lucky enough to work with the producers, Xenomania, and I have to say, Mark Taylor, who produced the track, is one of the nicest guys in the music biz.” RuPaul, “Supermodel (You Better Work)” “This is the mood-lifting track I play backstage when I’m getting ready to film a TV show. As soon as I'm in my show outfit, a quick catwalk to this song always gets the blood flowing and charges my energy. RuPaul is such a queen and totally slays—so I harness that energy from these incredible beats and fierce lyrics.” John Paul Young, “Love Is in the Air” “This song is like musical confetti—I just adore the swell of happiness captured in this music, with incredible vocals by John Paul Young. It will always be included on my favourite music playlists.” Dannii Minogue, “This Is It” “This track always seems to make people smile. People of all different ages, all over the world, share this with me. They say this ‘sunshine in a song’ track never fails to lift them up. I performed this in a medley at a Mardi Gras afterparty—it’s always charged with the energy of the audience, and all their memories connected to this song. I never tire of hitting those top notes in the ad-libs at the end of the song.” Spice Girls, “Wannabe” “I was in London when the Spice Girls formed. I remember the buzz about this new girl band, at a time when girl bands didn’t have the backing or exposure that male artists or boy bands had. In a recent interview I did with Kate Thornton, she shared with me that when she was editor of Smash Hits magazine, she had to really fight to get the girls on the cover—the focus had always been on male artists in boy bands. I love the Girl Power energy she exerted to make this cover happen. Women uplifting women and helping make Spice Girls songs the legendary hits they are.” Dannii Minogue, “Everlasting Night” “This song was written especially for Mardi Gras, with my great friend Ian Masterson. We filmed a super fun video clip in Sydney, featuring me with a gorgeous lesbian, sharing a kiss, and all combinations of people kissing, plus a line-up of Sydney’s star drag queens. This was years after the famous drag shows from the Albury hotel, but years before RuPaul’s Drag Race. I’ve been a lifetime ally and have taken every possible opportunity to help break barriers for all the beautiful people wishing to fly their colours. The rainbow flag has always been a big part of my life.” Kylie Minogue, “Spinning Around” “One of my favourite of Kylie’s global pop hits. The video features Kylie in her famous gold hot pants—now housed in the Arts Centre of our hometown, Melbourne. The song was written by Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi. I met Paula in London and then years later finally got to introduce her to Kylie at the Logie Awards—although she had written one of Kylie’s biggest hits, they had never met.” Janet Jackson, “Together Again” “Janet is an icon and was a huge influence on me growing up. I loved her beats and her strength in the lyrics she sang, and the choreography moves she performed. I tried to emulate her moves and would play her video clips over and over. I was lucky enough to meet my idol back in the ’90s. I had an internal dialogue as I approached her, saying, ‘Be cool, be cool,’ but as soon as I came face to face with this goddess, all I could say was, ‘I love you,’ to which there is not much she can say, except ‘thank you’! It was hilarious and embarrassing all at once. I am sure she gets it all the time.” Christina Aguilera, “Beautiful” “I love the lyrics in this song—it jumped out of the radio the first time I heard this in London. I remember it vividly, as I’d released my song ‘I Begin to Wonder’ the same week. We fought for the top chart position all week, and I just got pipped to the No. 1 spot by Christina Aguilera on the last day of sales. So, it’s bittersweet—a song that I absolutely adore, but it took my first chance at a No. 1 record. I am super glad that if I had to lose, it was to such a brilliant song.”