“My career kind of happened back to front”, says Kim Wilde, reflecting on her four-decade journey across the shifting sands of pop. “Sometimes I look at other artists who came out fully formed, like Lady Gaga or Madonna, and I think: how did they know how to do that so young? I’m only discovering myself now. It’s a really strange thing. But we all have our own paths to make, and mine is a curious and unique one, I think.”
Few, surely, would argue with that. Key to this voyage of self-discovery, meanwhile, has been the 58-year-old’s slow, cautious passage to becoming a fully-fledged live performer, which last year culminated in her hitting the road for her first headline tour in more than 30 years.
“It was very clear, as soon as the tour started, that something really special was going on”, she recalls of those 2018 shows in support of her turbo-charged Here Come The Aliens album.