Enjoy Yourself is the second studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, released on 9 October 1989 in the United Kingdom by Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE), and in Australia on 6 November by Mushroom Records. In the United States, it was released in January 1990 by Geffen Records. Following the success of her self-titled debut album, Minogue reunited with the producers Stock Aitken Waterman, who produced and wrote nine of the album's ten tracks, in London in February 1989. The recording sessions took place there from February until July, coinciding with Minogue filming her first feature film The Delinquents.
Enjoy Yourself is a bubblegum pop, dance-pop, and disco album that mainly discusses romantic relationships. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who criticised its similarity with her debut release. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number one with pre-sales of over 600,000 copies and became the sixth best-selling album of 1989. The album was certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 1990. It also peaked at number one in Ireland and within the top ten in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. It failed to find an audience in the United States, and Minogue was dropped as an act by Geffen Records.
Four singles were released from the album, including UK chart-toppers "Hand on Your Heart" and "Tears on My Pillow". Two other singles, "Wouldn't Change a Thing" and "Never Too Late" peaked in the top five. All four peaked in the top twenty in Australia and Ireland. The album was promoted further through Minogue's first and second concert tours, Disco in Dream (1989) and the Enjoy Yourself Tour (1990), which traveled to Australia, Britain and Asia. The album was re-issued in the United Kingdom for the first time in 2015, when it returned to the UK Albums Chart.
Background and recording
Kylie Minogue first came to public attention in 1986, when she was cast in the popular soap opera Neighbours as Charlene Robinson, a schoolgirl turned garage mechanic. She signed with Mushroom Records in early 1987 and released her self-titled debut studio album in July 1988. Fuelled by hit singles like "I Should Be So Lucky", "The Loco-Motion" and "Got to Be Certain", Kylie peaked at number one and was the best-selling album of 1988 in the United Kingdom. In her native Australia, it peaked at number two and was certified four times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It has sold over five million copies worldwide. The album helped Minogue launch her career as a pop artist at a time when not many established actors in television chose to make a record.
Minogue relocated to London after filming her final scenes for Neighbours in June and July 1988. In November, she lent her voice to "Especially for You", a duet with her then-boyfriend Jason Donovan, who also played her love interest in Neighbours. Written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), it became the fourth highest-selling single of 1988 and the first number-one single of 1989 in the United Kingdom. In February 1989, she reunited with the producers at PWL Studios 1 & 4 in London. The trio, who had served as producers and writers on Kylie, had Minogue record "Hand on Your Heart" and "Wouldn't Change a Thing", while working on her second album. Pete Waterman, one of the producers, felt that they had a remarkable work ethic during the making of Enjoy Yourself, saying "We aren't nervous about following up the first album at all, we were on a treadmill and loving it". The album was licensed by PWL co-owner David Howell. Principal photography began in Maryborough, Queensland, in May and lasted about two months. She resumed work on her album in London for three weeks until July. The three-week recording sessions were intense since she was still promoting her debut album. For The Delinquents soundtrack, Waterman suggested Minogue cover The Teenagers' "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" (1957) or Little Anthony and the Imperials' "Tears on My Pillow" (1958). Minogue picked the latter work, as she was already familiar with the song, and recorded it the next day. She recorded "Never Too Late" during the final sessions in July.