Kylie Minogue Joins Madonna Onstage for 'I Will Survive' in Honor of International Women's Day

The term icon gets used way more than it should. But not enough to stop Madonna from inviting her peer Kylie Minogue onstage to sing an acoustic take on Gloria Gaynor's women's anthem "I Will Survive" and an a capella rendition of Minogue's 2001 smash "Can't Get You Out of My Head" on March 7 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Listen to the snippets below.

Madge has been blazing across the world on her eras-style Celebration tour, so what better way to welcome in International Women's Day than bringing on Minogue for some mutual admiration acknowledgment in front of thousands of admirers? Unbelievably, this was the first time the two have performed live together, however briefly. Despite a decades-long media-crafted "rivalry," there was nothing of the sort on display as Minogue danced her way from the floor of the arena to the stage as Madonna sang her 1998 hit "Ray of Light."

Minogue, not coincidentally, had been in town for the Billboard Women In Music ceremony to receive their Icon Award, having come off another smashing triumph at the 2024 BRIT Awards accepting their Global Icon Honor. In a statement before the event, she said, "I am beyond thrilled to be honored with the Global Icon Award and to be joining a roll call of such incredible artists. The U.K. has always been a home from home, so the BRITs have a very special place in my heart. I have some amazing memories from the awards over the years and I can’t wait to be back on the BRITs stage. See you at the O2!"

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Quite frankly, Minogue is enjoying a remarkable new wave of popularity in the U.S. at the moment, after decades in which she often struggled to find a foothold in the country. Her Las Vegas residency, the More Than Just a Residency show has been extended through May, and her 2023 single "Padam Padam" won Best Pop Dance Recording at this year's Grammys.

Yet she was perceptive in her speech at the Women in Music ceremony, acknowledging a "shout-out to all the times that were not peak moments. They were no fun. But those challenges, the lows, the stuff we've gotta get through sometimes, I wanted to give a big shout-out to all the terrible times. Thank you for teaching us. They were horrendous in the moment, but they happen, and it's how we navigate them and what we do with them. I'm not looking forward to the next one, but it will come."

Madonna, as always, continues to drive headlines as she winds down the North American leg of her Celebration tour. Just this week, she took some time during an earlier L.A. show to reflect on the serious bacterial infection that landed her in the ICU last summer, postponing the start of her tour.

“It was pretty scary," Madonna told the crowd. "Obviously I didn’t know for four days because I was in an induced coma, but when I woke up, the first word I said was, ‘no.' I’m pretty sure God was saying to me, ‘You wanna come with us? You wanna come with me, you wanna go this way?’ And I said, ‘no. No!'”