X is the tenth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. EMI Music Japan released it first in Japan on 21 November 2007, before its release in Australia by Warner Music Australia two days later. The album was released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 26 November 2007, and in the United States by Capitol and Astralwerks on 1 April 2008. Work on the album began in July 2006, following Minogue's gradual recovery from breast cancer. After finishing Showgirl: Homecoming Tour in early 2007, she returned to the studio to complete the album, with the help from many producers including Bloodshy & Avant, Calvin Harris, Greg Kurstin, and Freemasons.
X is a dance-pop and electronica album that explore themes of sex and celebration. Music critics praised the production but were ambivalent towards its consistency and lyrical content. Minogue garnered several nominations for X, including Brit Award for Best International Album and Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Commercially, X debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart. The album reached the top 20 in other countries, including Austria, Germany, Ireland, France, Scotland, and Switzerland.
Five singles were released from X. The lead single, "2 Hearts", peaked inside the top 10 in several countries, including Australia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. "Wow" was released in Australia and the UK, while "In My Arms" was issued in Europe. "All I See" and "The One" were released as digital singles: the former to promote the album in the United States and the latter in Europe. Minogue promoted X by performing in the US during March and May 2008, and with the KylieX2008 concert tour, which saw her perform around Europe, Oceania, South America, and Asia. The album has sold over 1.4 million copies worldwide.
Background and development In 2004, Kylie Minogue released her second major greatest hits album, Ultimate Kylie.; The album peaked within the top 10 and reached multi-platinum status in the UK,; Ireland,; and Australia.; In May 2005, while promoting Ultimate Kylie with the Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer. She canceled the remaining concert dates and underwent immediate treatment: she had a partial mastectomy to remove a lump from her left breast and spent the next six months receiving chemotherapy.; Her hospitalization and treatment in Melbourne garnered intense media coverage.; Following her recovery, Minogue worried about not having sung in some time and whether she could return to performing so soon after her treatment. The resumption of the tour was first announced in June 2006. The rescheduled tour, renamed Showgirl: Homecoming Tour, began in November and travelled to Australia and England.
In July of the same year, Australian concert promoter Michael Gudinski revealed Minogue was in the studio recording new material. She recalled feeling happy to be back in the studio and not under pressure to record an album. At the start of the tour in November, Minogue said she was recording new tracks, and felt more inspired than she had for a long period of time. Once the tour ended in January 2007, she returned to the studio to complete the album, feeling that finalizing it was a personal goal she had set. "I had to go back to the studio just to test myself and to get something off my chest, which I did", Minogue recalled. X was the first album Minogue had consciously prepared for the recording process—she had been engaged in a cycle of record, release, and tour for much of her career. The production took a year and a half to finish, with more than 40 songs recorded. Finishing with X was a great relief to Minogue, who felt she was ready for more.
Writing and recording Towards the end of her cancer treatment in mid-2006, Minogue began writing in Melbourne, including the lyrics that would later form the basis of "Cosmic" and "No More Rain".; She wrote lyrics about her experience during her recovery from breast cancer to a disco beat.; Jake Shears and Babydaddy of Scissor Sisters, co-writers of "I Believe in You", joined Minogue at recording sessions in New York. They did several demos together, resulting in "White Diamond".; ; The track did not appear in the final tracklist, but Minogue later chose it to perform in the Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour and included the song in the documentary of the same name.; London group Kish Mauve re-produced two of their own songs for Minogue, "Lose Control" and "2 Hearts". Minogue loved "2 Hearts" the first time she heard it and did several takes on the verses to make it sound more effortless and lazier. Danish producers Cutfather and Jonas Jeberg forwarded a demo of "Like a Drug" to Parlophone and later flew to London to record the track with Minogue within a day. While there, they also recorded "All I See" and "Rippin' Up the Disco".; "All I See" was co-written by Edwin "Lil' Eddie" Serrano, whose vocals on the demo were used on the final version.
Songwriter Guy Chambers, whom Minogue met at a social event in 2006, offered her a song he had written over four years before. The track is built around a sample of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1968). Cathy Dennis joined Minogue working on the track, which became "Sensitized". Minogue also completed "Cosmic" with producer Eg White. Minogue collaborated with her longstanding co-writers team Biffco, including Richard Stannard, Julian Peake, and Paul Harris.; Together they wrote "Stars" and "I Don't Know What It Is" (with Rob Davis) in Brighton.; Stannard also co-produced "The One" with Russell Small and James Wiltshire, better known as the English duo Freemasons. Music group Laid and Emma Holmgren originally recorded "The One", but they eventually gave the song to Minogue. In April 2007, Scottish producer Calvin Harris was announced as a producer working on X. He was introduced to Minogue through her A&R executive Jamie Nelson.; He ended up co-writing "In My Arms", "Stars" (both with Biffco), and "Heart Beat Rock" (with Karen Poole).
Sessions in Stockholm with songwriter Poole and Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant resulted in the tracks "Speakerphone", "Cherry Bomb" and "Nu-di-ty".; ; Minogue brought out her lyric book and attempted to work on "No More Rain" with the duo, but their production-heavy style did not work well with the song. Minogue had formed a friendship with her frequent co-writing partner Poole prior to the production. Minogue felt easy when co-writing songs with her because they shared the same vocal register. Feeling tired of recording in London, Minogue suggested going to Ibiza with Poole and American producer Greg Kurstin in August. They set up a studio booth in a villa and put the final touches on the album.; They wrote "Wow" on the day they arrived in Ibiza; "King or Queen", "Carried Away", "Do It Again" and "Magnetic Electric" were also written and recorded during these same sessions.; Minogue also gave "No More Rain" to Kurstin to complete a new production on the song.
Several tracks with other songwriters and producers were rejected during the production process. Minogue completed a few tracks with her longtime collaborator Steve Anderson—one of those is a track titled "Flower" that was later recorded for the orchestral album The Abbey Road Sessions (2012). Scottish musician Mylo was shocked when his recorded tracks with Minogue were scrapped, despite being told they were being sent off to be mixed and would be on the final record.; Minogue was reportedly working with R&B producer Terry Riley, her longtime collaborator Stock Aitken Waterman and New York-based DJ Roger Sanchez, who says she is "moving in a different direction"; their work never materialised.; ; Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, better known as Pet Shop Boys, were invited to write a handful of tracks, which were apparently rejected. They ended up using some of the rejected ideas for their own 2009 album Yes.; English band Hot Chip was asked to meet a "top-line songwriter" from Minogue's camp, but this never occurred as they were busy making Made in the Dark (2008). Nelly Furtado reportedly had a duet with Minogue for the album, but the song was never recorded. Further submissions came from Boy George, Amanda Ghost, Mark Ronson, Daft Punk, Alan Braxe, Groove Armada, Hannah Robinson, Siobhan Fahey, Goldfrapp, Dragonette, Sneaky Sound System, and Kiki Lesendrić.
Musical styles
X has been characterized as a dance-pop and electronica album that incorporates elements of electropop and pop rock.; ; Chris True of AllMusic commented on the album's musical diversity, pointing out the mix of calculated dance-pop from Minogue's early 2000s releases and her personal work akin to Kylie Minogue (1994) and Impossible Princess (1997). BBC Music's Chris Long felt X captured the trend for electro music. Tom Ewing of Pitchfork called it an album that "hops around searching for a sound it's comfortable with" and felt Minogue was trying to have "the whole contemporary UK pop scene on a single CD". Sharon O'Connell of Yahoo! Music, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian and Ewing found the influences from other contemporary artists in the late 2000s, such as Daft Punk, Girls Aloud, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Sugababes.; ;
The album opens with "2 Hearts", a 1970s-style electro-rock, glam track. The song features heavy piano rolls, electric guitar, and chanting "whooo" towards the chorus.; ; Music critics found its production was influenced by Goldfrapp,; Roxy Music,; PJ Harvey, Scissor Sisters,; and Blondie.; "Sensitized", another rock track, is built around the sample of Gainsbourg and Bardot's "Bonnie and Clyde".; Ewing wrote the track swings harder than anything else on the album, while Spike commented it comes off like a diluted version of "Cowboy Style" (1997) with a slower pace.; The 1980s-evoking disco-rock "Stars" features guitar riffs in the chorus.; ;
The synth-pop "In My Arms" features a flimsy, nearly-punk production by Harris.; Ewing felt his production works like "a cassette player version of Justice—all hiss and stickytape", while Ed Power of Hot Press called it a Giorgio Moroder update for the Generation Z.; The track contains fuzzy synths, 'whooosh!' effects, clattering beats, and an intro where Minogue robotically wonders "How do you describe a feeling?".; ; The stomping electro track "Like a Drug" has a sinister production, with a distorted airy vibe. Critics noted the similarities between the track and Visage's "Fade to Grey" (1980), and Mel & Kim's "Respectable" (1987).; ; "Heart Beat Rock" has sing-a-long verses, stuttering beats, and frothy Neptunes' keyboards.; ; ; Both Ewing and Bruce Scott of Prefix commented that "Heart Beat Rock" is better suited for Gwen Stefani, who embodied a more sassy and exciting tone.; The electro-disco "Wow" opens with a jangling piano line, and contains an "ooh-wow-wow" refrain towards the chorus.; ; ; It was compared to Madonna's "Holiday" (1983),; ; the work of Stock Aitken and Waterman, and Daft Punk by music critics. "Nu-di-ty" is a funky electronic track that has influences from Timbaland,; Spears,; and Black Eyed Peas. Minogue speaks Japanese at the end of the track: "どういたしまして" ("You're welcome").;