THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

STEP FORWARD: George Michael is finally getting back to his pre-crazy level of quality with a serious PBS Special-sounding live collections called Symphonica ( currently UK only ). After years between albums and horribly misguided tries at electronica as one-off singles, he's finally woken up to find that no one wants to hear a fifty-year-old man imitate Cher, at least not out of drag. Symphonica is a lush orchestral interpretation of some of his mellower output and a good amount of classic covers like "Wild Is the Wind" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me." My prediction is that he takes this to cable or public TV fund drives; he could have a Josh Groban-sized hit on his hands for the first time in twenty years.

STEP FORWARD: MIA ( missing in action, not the singer moniker ) singer Mya is back with her first effort in four years after her ignored venture into J-Pop with With Love. The "Chicago" actress/dancer/ singer seems to have taken a cue from Solange and gotten a bit more earthy and sultry with this small collection of sexy nuggets that highlights her voice over dance production.

STEP FORWARD: Nicki Minaj put out her first post—Idol single, "Lookin Ass N——-s" a few weeks ago, and after the initial shock of every other word literally being an expletive, one realizes it's a pretty genius track and that it's getting fully back to her roots. Fans of "Starships" and "Turn Me On" will probably not take to this minimal tirade, but if you think she peaked with her mix tapes and Monster, welcome back. She says her new album, The Pink Print, will focus more on hip-hop, less on trying to be Rihanna.

MISSTEP: Kylie Minogue's Kiss Me Once hurts my heart. I've been a die-hard supporter of hers ever since she came back triumphantly with Light Years. Over the years she's proven a leader in making dance music into a respectable art form again, leading the way for acts like Robyn and Sia to sell millions too. Over the past few records though, she's been more concerned with sounding American and young than pushing dance boundaries. Even at that, her last CD, Aphrodite, was one of her best. Kiss Me Once is overly produced, under written, and lazy. You can breeze through three or four listens and not remember a thing. On the bright side, there are only two truly terrible tracks, the "booty jam" "Sexercize" and the comatose "Beautiful" with Enrique Iglesias; and on the other end there are a few tracks like the single "Into the Blue," the Fever throwback "Sexy Love" and Pharrell's "I Was Gonna Cancel" that will take fans back to vintage Kylie they've come to rely on. But overall, no one will remember this temporary misstep a year from now.

Catch DJ Moose judging Windy City Gay Idol this seaso again, starting with the kickoff at The Sofo Tap ( home of his DILF and Otter ) Sun., April 6.