Following a break last week and not straying too far from previous ‘Underrated’ posts, this week’s post centres on another album by a female musician – Kylie Minogue’s 2007 CD ‘X’.
There were high hopes for Kylie Minogue’s tenth studio album before its release; it had been preceded by an almost decade-long comeback, which had seen Minogue score some of the biggest hits of her career, including ‘Spinning Around’ and ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’. It would also be her first album since she had been forced to take a career break, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Fans and critics alike were curious to see how the events of the previous two years would have impacted Kylie’s sound and creativity. The result left many scratching their heads.
Following the completion of her ‘Showgirl’ tour at the end of 2006(which had been postponed following the cancer diagnosis), Kylie focused all her attention on the new album, to be called ‘X’. A title either in relation to the disc being Minogue’s tenth album (X is 10 in Roman Numerals) or in reference to fans referring to the new album as ‘Album X’ in online forums prior to its confirmation, depending on who you believe. Producers of the day including Calvin Harris, Freemasons and Boodyshy & Avant were brought in to create a new sound for Kylie – a sound that divided fans and many felt was ‘unauthentic’.
‘X’ is not a bad album; in fact when it’s at its best ‘X’ is some of the most exciting music of Kylie’s career. It is however by no means perfect - there is no clear direction in either its theme or sound, not mention there are some incredibly boring and even annoying moments (See ‘Sensitized’). That said, the lack of a clear direction does make ‘X’ a dramatic and interesting listen for music fans, but alienated much of the hardcore Kylie fans who felt she was trying to be everything but the person they wanted her to be: Kylie Minogue.
Many fans had hoped in the wake of her cancer battle, that pop’s eternal pixie princess would have come of age and begin to reveal herself as a multi-layered, credible ‘artist’, in the same way Madonna had a decade earlier with ‘Ray of Light’. Instead, ‘X’ focuses on familiar Kylie themes of falling in love and dancing, set to an array of futuristic electro and r’n’b influenced sounds, with - crucially - almost no mention or reference to the big C. As a result, ‘X’ has become to Kylie fans what ‘Hard Candy’ is to Madonna fans; something they’d rather pretend didn’t happen.
Unlike ‘Hard Candy’, ‘X’ really does include some of the best tracks Kylie has made in recent years. Songs such as ‘Like a Drug’ and ‘Speakerphone’ that criminally didn’t receive single treatment are electro dance-pop heaven and find Minogue for the first time sounding authentically sexual. The widely panned (and reviled by fans) lead single ‘2 Hearts’ is a great addition to the album taken in context of the experimental nature of ‘X’. Second single ‘Wow’ is great radio-heaven pop-fodder and the brilliant Calvin Harris produced ‘In My Arms’, was paired with the only decent music video to come out of the ‘X’ era – futuristic high-fashion - trademark Kylie, and no one else does it quite as well. ‘The One’ produced by Freemasons is a gorgeous euro-pop arrangement and probably the best track on the album (especially in its remixed form), however by the time it was released as a single many Minogue fans and the public had already moved on from the project.
It’s telling that Kylie has decided to work with Stuart Price on her latest disc ‘Aphrodite’ – the man behind Madonna’s ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ which reconnected her with her fans after the disappointing sales of ‘American Life’. Kylie is clearly hoping that he will work that same magic for her, following the strong backlash from ‘X’ by her fans. And while ‘Aphrodite’ is a quintessential Kylie album, ‘X’ is a much more accessible album for the casual Kylie listener and pop music fan. Although it’s not life changing or introspective in any way, shape or form, perhaps ‘X’ is the most honest Minogue has ever been with her audience? The message seems to be that she doesn’t want to dwell on the sad times or for you to know the real Kylie Minogue; she just wants to make you dance. Well if the result is 'X', then that’s fine by me.
To view previous articles in our Underrated series, click here. Otherwise,enjoy 'Like a Drug', below.
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