As though to highlight how different the perspectives on dreams and love (and dreams of love) can be, Kylie Minogue and Alok (the Brazilian DJ giving other “blockbuster DJs” a run for their money) have emerged to provide listeners with a song title (and according sentiment) that’s in direct contrast to The Smiths’ 1987 track, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.” That’s right, on the heels of releasing Tension II, which was met with much less enthusiasm than Tension, Minogue is already at work in 2025 with a single called “Last Night I Dreamt I Fell in Love.” And with the help of Alok, it’s shaping up to be another big hit for Minogue. Especially with so many people out there who can still only dream of love rather than actually experience it in real life (whatever that is at this point).
Immediately commencing with a seductive (but up-tempo) beat, Minogue gets straight to the heart of the matter by excitedly-but-ruefully singing, “I woke up with a crush/We never got to touch/One night was not enough.” Which probably means, of course, that she’ll have to go to sleep again to conjure the man of her dreams. A man likely invented out of pure imagination—or perhaps some combination of her robust history of loves past (including Michael Hutchence and Olivier Martinez). As if it’s not already tempting enough to want to go to sleep all the time.
As for the video, Minogue teams up yet again with her main go-to director, Sophie Muller, to bring viewers a simple concept that centers on the use of a colorful strobe light and Minogue lying in a supine position as she details a night during which she “went tripping in a dream/You there in front of me/Like LOVE love/It felt so real/And I could feel/That emotion, that emotion/Taking over me/The night was ours/Was seeing stars.” Which sounds like code for the feminine version of a wet dream. One that she apparently wants to dress to impress for (assuming one enters their dream wearing the same thing that they’ve worn to bed). As a matter of fact, there’s a certain Madonna-in-her-“Like A Virgin”-era quality to the aesthetic Minogue has going on (not to mention all the writhing, of the sort that was Madonna’s modus operandi, particularly onstage at the 1984 VMAs…and then during the version of “Like A Virgin” she performed for the Blond Ambition Tour). Namely, a white netted number with a shimmery finish, displayed as she rests on, what else, satin sheets (because, to reference Madonna again, “Satin sheets are very romantic”).
And all of this cooing and conjuring in her “boudoir” (which really seems to be a no-frills bed made to look rather small as a result of the mostly tight overhead shots) is enough to make her constantly toss and turn while clinging to her sheets as though pained and pleasured at the same time. Interspersed among this scene is the silhouette of a man against those colorful strobe lights—the image in her dream…or rather, the presumed image of the “man of her dreams.”
At times, she’s able to join him in that light, this presumably being a reference to how she’s dreaming now, prompting her to wax poetic with the sleep-themed lines, “It’s heaven in your arms/Hit snooze on the alarm/And take me back to sleep/Just think of all the ways/That psychedelic haze/That’s where I wanna be.” And honestly, where pretty much anyone wants to be when they wake up in the morning and realize they’re not Kylie Minogue-level rich.
In any event, while the two silhouettes of Minogue and her “dream man,” er, come together via Kama Sutra-like dance moves, Alok’s ultra-catchy backbeat continues to lure listeners into Minogue’s dream state. A sultry lullaby, if you will, Minogue fittingly released the track on Valentine’s Day, commenting to fans, “Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love’—and I really did! I woke up one morning with the title and idea for this song [try telling that to Morrissey]. It’s amazing to be literally sharing my dreams with you all. I had such a fun day in the studio with my fellow writers and now Alok has worked his magic and I’m so happy to be releasing this track with him.”
As for this “unexpected” duo coming together to “work magic,” it’s not totally out of left field, for Alok did revamp “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” in 2021 as “My Head (Can’t Get You Out)” with Glimmer of Blooms. Perhaps it was dipping his toe in only slightly on that “Kylie collab” that gave him his full sea legs on this one, telling Rolling Stone, “In my opinion, ‘Last Night I Dreamt I Fell in Love’ captures Kylie’s signature dance vibe while also reflecting my exploration of sounds that blend different genres.”
Indeed, the song wouldn’t be half of what it is (literally) without Alok’s ear for such an exotic sound. Well, maybe only exotic to white ladies dreaming of the Latin lover trope. Enough to make them urge, “Come to me, fever dream/Higher than I’ve ever been/One more night, we can try/Let’s keep the dream alive/Close your eyes, meet me there/We’re dancing in the air/Never stop, seeing us/Last night I dreamt I fell in love.” Upon hearing this song in the late hours of some sweaty, sweltering club, certain listeners, too, might feel as though they’re only dreaming the encounter of writhing up against some “dreamboat” (or at least that’s how the person might look through the haze of alcohol and strobe lighting).
As for the outro, what would a Minogue song (especially a hit-worthy one) be without a little la-la-la thrown in? So it is that she concludes of her “fever dream,” “La-la-la-la-la/La-la-la-la-la/Oh/La-la-la-la-la.” It’s a far cry from Morrissey’s dream, which consists primarily of the less jubilant realization, “Last night I dreamt/That somebody loved me/No hope, no harm/Just another false alarm.” But, in a sense, the same is true for Minogue—she just happens to be much hornier about the “love” only existing in a dream. At least for now…
