Never Too Late (Kylie Minogue song)

"Never Too Late" is a pop–dance song written and produced by British production team Stock, Aitken and Waterman for Kylie Minogue's second album Enjoy Yourself (1989). It was later rerecorded for Kylie's orchestral compilation album, The Abbey Road Sessions, in 2012.

"Never Too Late"
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Enjoy Yourself
B-side"Kylie’s smiley mix"
Released23 October 1989
RecordedLondon, England
Genre
Length3:24
LabelPWL
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Stock Aitken Waterman
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Wouldn't Change a Thing"
(1989)		 "Never Too Late"
(1989)		 "Tears on My Pillow"
(1990)
Music video
"Never Too Late" on YouTube

Background

Kylie Minogue allegedly wanted the album title track 'Enjoy Yourself' to be released as the third single from that album, but Pete Waterman overruled her request and "Never Too Late" was released instead in the fall of 1989 (see 1989 in music). Although debuting at number seventeen due to the delayed release of the 12" single, the song became an instant hit, peaking at number four. Its low debut broke Minogue's impressive run of seven consecutive top two hits, but became her eighth consecutive top five hit single and another BPI Silver Award for sales over 200k.

B-side

Called "Kylie's Smiley Mix", it was a continuous mix of her biggest hits from the Kylie album and the 12" version included these songs in sequence order: "I'll Still Be Loving You", "It's No Secret", "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi", "Turn It into Love", "I Should Be So Lucky", "Got to Be Certain" and the whistle from the beginning of the 1988 mix of "The Loco-Motion". The 7" mix contained the above tracks omitting "I'll Still Be Loving You" and "It's No Secret".

Music video

Directed by Pete Cornish. The video showed Minogue in various costumes with her dancers in front of various backdrops – some of the costumes are as a cowgirl, '70s disco, Chinese dress with fans and as a 1920s flapper. It was awarded the Logie for the "Most Popular Music Video" at the 32nd Annual TV week Logie Awards held in 1990 in Australia.

This single received fair promotion in the UK with a notable appearance on Des O'Connor Tonight, but also Saturday morning television.

It was stated in Minogue's 1999 official biography that this track was the favourite Kylie song of the late INXS lead singer, and Minogue's former boyfriend, Michael Hutchence.

The song is mentioned in episode seven of season two (The Idiot's Lantern) of the British drama, Doctor Who, where The Doctor, played by David Tennant, says, "It's never too late, as a wise person once said; Kylie, I think."

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Never Too Late".

CD single[1]
  1. "Never Too Late" – 3:21
  2. "Never Too Late" (Extended) – 6:11
  3. "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (Extended) – 6:17
7" single[1]
  1. "Never Too Late" – 3:21
  2. "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (7" version) – 3:59
12" single[1]
  1. "Never Too Late" (Extended) – 6:11
  2. "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (Extended) – 6:17
Australian 7" single[1]
  1. "Never Too Late" – 3:21
  2. "Made in Heaven" (Heaven Scent Mix) – 4:43
Australian 12" single/Cassette single[1]
  1. "Never Too Late" (Extended) – 6:11
  2. "Made in Heaven" (Heaven Scent Mix) – 4:43

Live performances
Minogue performing a medley of "Hand on Your Heart" and "Never Too Late", during her Kiss Me Once Tour (2014).

Since its release, "Never Too Late" has only been performed on four of Minogue's tours. Its first appearance was in the Enjoy Yourself Tour. It featured a small dance before hand and then the original. Its next performance was not for 11 years when Minogue performed it on her On a Night Like This Tour in 2001, which was launched to promote Light Years. It was performed as part of "Hits Medley" which featured 5 songs from her PWL days: "Step Back in Time", "Never Too Late", "Wouldn't Change a Thing", "Turn It into Love" and "Celebration" respectively. It was then set to be part of her KylieFever2002 set list as a space age version to feature as the opening to the act entitled "Cybertronica", but was removed at the last minute.[2] It made an appearance on Minogue's Kiss Me Once Tour in 2014. It featured in the "Dollshouse Medley" which featured four songs from her PWL days: "Hand on Your Heart", "Never Too Late", "Got to Be Certain" and "I Should Be So Lucky" respectively. In this segment of the show, Minogue began in a pink shawl and took a layer off at the beginning of each song, before ending in a corset and knickers to sing "I Should Be So Lucky" in a bath, alluding to a scene in the song's music video. More recently, it is performed on her Summer 2019 Tour.

The song was also performed on:

Charts
Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 14
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[4] 11
France (SNEP)[5] 26
Germany (Official German Charts)[6] 45
Ireland (IRMA)[7] 1
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] 29
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] 20
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[10] 27
Spain (AFYVE)[11] 11
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 23
UK Singles (OCC)[13] 4

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Silver 200,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. mix.kylie.co.uk
  2. "KylieFever2002 review". Archived from the original on 4 December 2014.
  3. "Australian-charts.com – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  4. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. 6 (47). 25 November 1989. pp. IV–V. OCLC 29800226.
  5. "Lescharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  6. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  7. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Never Too Late". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  8. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 50, 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  9. "Dutchcharts.nl – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  10. "Charts.nz – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  11. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  12. "Swisscharts.com – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  13. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  14. "British single certifications – Kylie Minogue – Never Too Late". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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