Minogue, 55, looks high-glam in a vivid red wig for the shoot, which comes as she prepares to release her 16th studio album Tension later this month.

She’s just released the title track to the album as a single, where it this week charted at number 19 in the UK – the first time she’s scored back-to-back top 20 hits from an album in that country since 2010.

Her earlier single Padam Padam was a hit both here and in the UK, where it reached a peak of number 8.

The video for Tension also sees the Aussie singer don a variety of different looks, including red and blonde wigs.

The Rolling Stone cover is not the first time Minogue’s experimented with different styles as she promotes her upcoming album: She was the cover girl for last month’s edition of Perfect magazine, flashing her very famous bum on one of several alternative covers for the mag. Another shot sees the star looking virtually unrecognisable, in a long black wig, her hair tied up to a bunch of balloons in one arty photo.

Once Tension is released on September 22, Minogue will focus her attentions on the US, where she will start her first-ever Las Vegas residency with a string of sold-out dates between November and next May.

It’s a new push into the US market for Minogue, who has always been a bit of a cult proposition in that country, despite a handful of sizeable hits there over the years.

Her 2001 album Fever sold over a million copies in the country and landing her a top 10 hit in Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, while other albums have flown under the radar.

Her last album, 2020s Disco, charted at a respectable 26 in the US, and she recently visited New York on a publicity blitz to promote her new music.

Originally published as Kylie Minogue near-unrecognisable on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine