X (Kylie Minogue album)
X is a 2007 album by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It is her tenth studio album release, her first release since 2004's greatest hits compilation Ultimate Kylie, and her first studio album since 2003's Body Language. X was preceded by lead single "2 Hearts" and released worldwide in November 2007. The American release of X came in April 2008, preceded by the single "All I See".
Work on the album began following Minogue's gradual recovery from breast cancer and subsequent radiotherapy treatment. Her cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2005, resulted in the postponement of Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour tour midway through its run. Minogue resumed the tour in late 2006, in the midst of recording X, and was completed later in the following year.
Despite mixed critical reception, X was nominated for a BRIT Award for "Best International Album" and debuted at #1 in Australia, and in the top five in the United Kingdom. No official statement has been given on the sales of X but according to the UK newspaper The Times, as of December 2008, X had sold one million copies worldwide.
On 3 December 2008 it was announced that X had been nominated at the 51st Grammy Awards in the category of Best Electronic/Dance Album, making it Minogue's 5th Grammy Award nomination.
Background
While recovering in Melbourne, Minogue began writing lyrics towards the end of her cancer treatment in mid-2006, having not worked on any music for the previous year. Inspired by thinking about the things Minogue wanted to do once her recovery was complete and of her doubts about returning to her career; she wrote lyrics which would later form the basis of “Cosmic” and “No More Rain”.
Due to the recovery time following her cancer, X was the first album Kylie had consciously prepared for the recording of, having previously been engaged for much of her career in an endless cycle of record, release and tour. She had worried about not having sung in some time and whether or not she could perform so soon after her cancer treatment. Minogue started work on the project in May 2006, only breaking for the resumption of the Showgirl tour at the end of the year. Once the tour was finished, she returned to the studio to complete the album, feeling that completing it was a personal goal she had set.
Initial sessions in New York with Jake Shears and Babydaddy of Scissor Sisters would result in "White Diamond" and "Singing In My Sleep" before Minogue settled down with her longstanding co-writers Biffco (Richard Stannard, Julian Peake and Paul Harris) in Brighton to work on a number of tracks. This collaboration proved very productive, with "Stars", "Fall For You", "Ruffle My Feathers", "Taprobane" and "I Don’t Know What It Is" being recorded. During the Biffco sessions, Scottish musician Calvin Harris worked with the team on "In My Arms", while Stannard brought in a track he’d sourced titled "The One", which he co-produced with Russell Small and James Wiltshire of Freemasons. Stannard also worked with Stuart Crichton on "Tell It Like It Is", Dave Morgan ("Simple Boy"), Rob Davis ("One To One"), Martin Harrington, Ash Howes and Hannah Robinson ("Give Up To Love").
Once the sessions for the album had got underway, Parlophone’s A&R team sent out writing and production briefs to a large number of artists, producers and songwriters, some of them well regarded, some up-and-coming and some unknown, requesting demo submissions for Minogue and her team to hear. Minogue continued to work with a growing number of artists on her new material. Harris returned to the project with "Heart Beat Rock", sessions with Scottish musician Mylo resulted in "I’m In The Mood For Love" and "Spell of Desire" while underground London group Kish Mauve produced two of their own songs for Minogue, "2 Hearts" and "Lose Control". Boy George and Amanda Ghost submitted a track called "I’m Ready", with further submissions coming from Rob Davis, Hannah Robinson ("So Safe"), Henrik Korpi ("Never Be Lonely"), Siobhan Fahey, Goldfrapp, Sneaky Sound System, Hot Chip and Alan Braxe.
Minogue’s material took a harder electronic approach with some of her newer collaborators. Danish producers Mich Hedin Hansen,and Jonas Jeberg forwarded a demo of "Like A Drug" to Parlophone, which was rejected at first but accepted on second try. Minogue recorded the track in London, and later she recorded "All I See" (written by EMI songwriter Edwin "Lil Eddie" Serrano), "Down Down" and "Rippin’ Up The Disco" with them. Sessions in Stockholm with songwriter Karen Poole and Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant resulted in tracks "Speakerphone", "Cherry Bomb" and "Nu-Di-Ty". Minogue brought out her lyric book and attempted to work on "No More Rain" with them, but their production heavy style did not work well with the song.
Minogue requested setting up a studio in Ibiza with previous writing partner Karen Poole, and newcomer to the fold Greg Kurstin, an American multi-instrumentalist musician/producer. Once there they wrote "Wow", "King or Queen", "Deepest Blue", "Carried Away", "Do It Again", and "Magnetic Electric". Minogue gave "No More Rain" to Kurstin to complete a new production on the song. Poole also worked on a track with Soul Mechanics entitled "My Love Is Real".
A few more tracks completed rounded off the album’s sessions. Minogue recorded a cover of Roxy Music’s "Love Is The Drug" with Calvin Harris, and completed "Cosmic" with producer Eg White. Minogue encountered songwriter Guy Chambers at a function, who offered her a song he’d written over the previous four years and built around a sample of Serge Gainsbourg’s "Bonnie et Clyde". Cathy Dennis joined Minogue in furthering the track, which became "Sensitized". She had also written a number of songs for Minogue’s album, including one co-written with producer ++++ Ronson entitled "Boys Boys Boys". Minogue also completed a number of tracks with her longtime writing partner Steve Anderson of Brothers In Rhythm; those tracks included "Hush Hush", "Flower" and "That's Why They Write Love Songs".
Scottish musician Mylo was also recruited to record several of the tracks for the album with Minogue. After recording tracks in the studio, he was told "they were being sent off to be mixed and would be on the final record". He was shocked when the final product was released without any of his tracks included. "To be honest, I think the album is a complete mess, except for the track she blatantly stole, (from Kish Mauve) "2 Hearts"" he told BBC Radio 1. "I plan to keep up my public beef with Kylie for as long as possible".
It has also emerged that the Pet Shop Boys were invited to write handful of tracks for Minogue. After having submitted them, they were subsequently ignored: "We never heard anything back," explains Neil Tennant. "I think every songwriter in London wrote songs for Kylie's last album. [...] When we were on tour, we had two male backing singers and both had submitted songs for Kylie's album as well. They never heard anything either." Chris Lowe, Tennant's partner in the durable pop duo, adds flatly: "We won't be doing it again."
Album title
The title of the album, X, is a reference to the fact that this is Minogue's tenth studio album, with X being the Roman numeral for the number 10. It was later stated in an interview on her official website that during the production period, fans on the forums had been referring to it as "Album X". Kylie later stated because of this, X seemed to her to be the obvious name for the album.
Also thought to be a reference to the INXS album X, which was released when Minogue was dating Michael Hutchence. The album features the song "Suicide Blonde" that is commonly attributed to being about Kylie.
Promotion
To promote the release of the album, Minogue performed on an exclusive show on ITV1 called The Kylie Show, featuring six songs from the new album, and four of her previous hits. It aired on 10 November, 2007. Minogue also joined Jo Whiley on Radio 1 for a special show promoting the new album called Kylie and Whiley during which they recreated a scene from Neighbours. In addition, Kylie performed several songs in various European TV shows.
On November 28, 2007, Minogue announced she would promote X with a tour, to be called KylieX2008.
To promote the album, Kylie appeared on January 14, 2008 on the "Sunrise" morning show in Australia .To promote the lead single and the album in the U.S., Minogue appeared on several shows. On March 31, she gave an interview on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. Minogue also performed "All I See" and "Can't Get You out of My Head" live on the results show April 1, 2008 of the American program Dancing with the Stars. She also performed on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. She also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and performed "All I See" on April 7, 2008 and appeared at the American Idol (season 7) special Idol Gives Back along with some of the biggest names in music, such as Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Bono, Annie Lennox, Maroon 5, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and many more on April 8, 2008. This was Minogue's final appearance in the United States before heading back to England to prepare for the tour, which began on May 6, 2008 in Paris. Unfortunately, the album peaked at #130 on its debut. Some fans blame the delayed release of X in the States, as it was released almost six months after its international release, at which time fans already bought import UK versions of the album.
A major problem with the album's promotion was Minogue's management selecting poor choices of singles. Numerous sources, including gossip monger Perez Hilton responded very positively to the track "Speakerphone", produced by Bloodshy and Avant. Another fan of that song is American singer, Madonna who included the track on her Celebrity playlist for iTunes in 2008, stating that she thought that "Speakerphone" was the best song on the album. On the season 2 premier episode of "America's Best Dance Crew," which aired on June 19, Fanny Pak used "Speakerphone" in the Crew Choice Challenge. The song was commended for being overly modern and progressive, especially for an American audience who responded to "Can't Get You Out of My Head". Others responded that "Wow" or "Like A Drug" would have been a suitable first single for the album in the United States. Instead, "All I See" was released once again to appeal to an urban ++++et (As was Kylie's ninth studio album, "Body Language") and failed even though the single version featured the American rapper Mims. Minogue has rarely appeared in the public eye in the country except for heavy airplay of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and "The Locomotion", seldom appearing on general music channels such as MTV and VH1 and never having a tour on the continent of North America. In Europe, additional problems arose in the release of "2 Hearts" as the song was a drastic jump from Minogue's other work (Especially on X ) and clearly duplicated from the Kish Mauve version. The release of the final single, "The One" was a neglected release as it featured only a digital download single along with a promotional music video. The single version was remixed with a more club feel by the Freemasons. Shortly after this, the Media ran with the story that Kylie herself was "disappointed" with how X turned out. "Kylie Minogue has said she does not believe that her last album X met her usual high standards. The Australian popstar spoke of her disappointment with the record to The Sun, but insisted that she was pleased with the singles 'In My Arms' and '2 Hearts'. "In retrospect, we could definitely have bettered it, I'll say that straight up," she admitted. "Given the time we had, it is what it is. 'Wow', 'In My Arms', 'The One' and '2 Hearts' are crackers. They go off like a frog in a sock."
Track listing
Bonus Tracks
Online bonus tracks "Magnetic Electric" (Kurstin, Minogue, Poole) - 3:17 - Digital download bonus track.
"Rippin' Up the Disco" (Jonas Jeberg, Jasmine Baird, Mich Hedin Hansen ) - 3:29 - CD-ROM download via Kylie.com
"White Diamond (Ballad Version)" (Jason Sellards, Scott Hoffman, Minogue) - 3:03 - iTunes pre-order bonus track.
"Carried Away"(Kurstin, Minogue, Poole) - 3:14 - MP3 release from Amazon.com bonus track.
"Heart Beat Rock (Benny Blanco Remix) ft. MC Spank Rock"(Poole, Wiles, Harris) - 3:13 - Bonus track from Brazilian online retailers such as UOL Megastore.
International bonus tracks "King or Queen" (Kurstin, Minogue, Poole) - 2:38- Japanese bonus track
"I Don't Know What It Is" (Minogue, Davis, Stannard, Harris, Peake) - 3:17 - Japanese bonus track
"In My Arms" (featuring Jolin Tsai) (Minogue, Wiles, Stannard, Harris, Peake) – 3:32 - Taiwanese bonus track
"All I See" (featuring Mims) (Jeberg, Hansen, Edwin "Lil' Eddie" Serrano) – 3:52 - USA bonus track
3. In My Arms (featuring Jolin Tsai) replaces the original track.
Mexican Special Edition "In My Arms" (featuring Aleks Syntek) (Minogue, Wiles, Stannard, Harris, Peake, additional Spanish lyrics by Aleks Syntek) – 3:43
"In My Arms (Spitzer Dub)"
"Wow (CSS Remix)" - 3:17
"Carried Away" (Minogue, Kurstin, Poole) - 3:14
"Cherry Bomb" (Minogue, Karen Poole, Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Jonas Quant) - 4:17
"Do It Again" (Minogue, Kurstin, Poole) - 3:21
Special Nokia Kylie X Bundle "Heart Beat Rock (Benny Blanco Remix) feat. MC Spank Rock"(Poole, Wiles, Harris) - 3:13 - Included as a bonus track available to download from special Kylie X Nokia phones.
"Wow" (72 Hours Remix) - 4:16 - Included as a bonus track in some special Kylie X Nokia phones.
"In My Arms" (Behind The Scenes Video) - 1:56 - Included as a bonus track in some special Kylie X Nokia phones.
Tour Edition
Australia
Bonus Remix Disc "2 Hearts" (Harris & Masterson Extended Mix)
"2 Hearts" (Alan Braxe Remix)
"The One" (Freemasons Vocal Club Mix)
"Wow" (David Guetta Remix)
"Wow" (CSS Remix)
"In My Arms" (Chris Lake Vocal Mix)
"In My Arms" (Steve Pitron and Max Sanna Remix - Short)
"In My Arms" (Sebastien Leger Remix)
"In My Arms" (Spitzer Remix - Radio Edit)
"All I See" (Remix) featuring MIMS
Asia
Additional tracks on Disc One <li value=14>"All I See" (Remix) featuring MIMS
"Magnetic Electric"
"The One" (Freemasons Remix)
"Can t Get You Out Of My Head" (Greg Kurstin Remix)
Bonus DVD 2 Hearts" (Music Video)
Behind the scenes of "2 Hearts"
"Wow" (Music Video)
Behind the scenes of "Wow"
"In My Arms" (Music Video)
Behind the scenes of "In My Arms"
"Wow" (Live At The Brits 2008)
Special edition DVD "Xposed": Interview with Kylie
Photo Gallery
White Diamond Film Trailer
"2 Hearts" music video
Access to online bonus track "Rippin' Up The Disco"
USB edition bonus "2 Hearts" music video
White Diamond Film Trailer
Album artwork
Web links
Access to online bonus track "Rippin' Up The Disco"
International Editions
United States
X was released in the US on Capitol Records/Astralwerks on April 1, 2008. The track listing does not differ from other international versions with the exception of a new version of "All I See" featuring rapper Mims as a bonus track. The album was available for download in the U.S. briefly via iTunes (where it peaked at #43) and the Zune ++++etplace. The album was released once again on April 1, 2008 debuting at number #82 at the American iTunes Top 100 Albums, peaking to #48 and debuted at #20 and peaked to #10 at the iTunes Pop Top 100 Albums.
"All I See" was released digitally on March 11, 2008 and was released to American radio on April 15, 2008, a month after the digital download became available and also two weeks after the album was released at the States, peaking at #139 on the US Billboard 200.
For the end of the year, the album was named the third best album of the year by The Dallas Morning News.
Mainland China
The Mainland Chinese edition of X was released on February 16, 2008 by EMI. The album consists of a 10-track edition, including smash hit singles "2 Hearts", "Wow" and "In My Arms" featuring Jolin Tsai, but omits the songs "Like A Drug", "Speakerphone" and "Nu-di-ty" due to strict Chinese censorship restrictions.
Mexico
With the release of the Spanglish version of "In My Arms" featuring Mexican singer Aleks Syntek, EMI Music México announced a Special Mexican Edition was set to be released on 26 August 2008. The track will be included as a bonus track and not replacing the original as in the Tawainese Edition.
Japan
In Japan, a different version of the album was released. The album consists of a 15-track edition, including the hit singles "2 Hearts", "Wow", "In My Arms" and "All I See". It also contains two bonus tracks, being "King or Queen" and "I Don't Know What It Is", the B-sides of the single "2 Hearts".
B-Sides
"I Don't Know What It Is" (Minogue, Davis, Stannard, Harris, Peake) - 3:17 - Appears on 2 Hearts
"King or Queen" (Kurstin, Minogue, Poole) - 2:38 - Appears on 2 Hearts
"Cherry Bomb" (Minogue, Karen Poole, Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Jonas Quant) - 4:17 - Appears on Wow (UK Single) and In My Arms (European single)
"Do It Again" (Minogue, Kurstin, Poole) - 3:21 - Appears on Wow (UK Single) and In My Arms (European single)
"Carried Away" (Minogue, Kurstin, Poole) - 3:14 - Appears on Wow (UK Single) and In My Arms (European single)
"Magnetic Electric" (Kurstin, Minogue, Poole) - 3:17 Appears on The One single
"Can't Get You Out of My Head" (Greg Kurstin Remix)" (Cathy Dennis, Rob Davis, Greg Kurstin) - 4:04 - Appears on In My Arms (UK single) and Wow (European single)
Singles
"2 Hearts": Released globally as the lead single except for in the US. The single was a hit, reaching number 1 in Australia and number 4 in the UK.
"Wow": Released as the second single in the UK and Australia and the third in the rest of the world. It was a minor hit in Australia reaching number 11 but was a big hit in the UK reaching number 5 and selling around 180,000 copies.
"In My Arms": The second global release and 3rd UK and Australian release, it was a huge hit across Europe and Mexico. It reached number 7 in Mexico being Minogue's biggest hit there since 2002. It also went top 10 in Germany, France and Greece and hit the number one spot twice in Romania.
"The One": was released as a single in the UK, Australia & Europe. Although it was only released as a digital download single, it reached 36 on the UK charts and 13 on the OZ charts, making it a minor-success. It was also released physically as a 2-track promo.
Other Songs
"All I See": Released as the lead US single and 2nd Canadian single. It reached 81 on the Canadian hot 100 but didn't manage to chart in the US Hot 100. It was however a big hit on the Dance/Club play charts reaching number 3.
"Speakerphone": Despite never having been released managed to chart on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 85 due to high downloads from the album. It also gained small amounts of popularity in the US due to being playlisted by Madonna on iTunes and featured on America's Best Dance Crew.
In August Kylie held a competition for her fans to create a music video for Speakerphone. The winner was an animation made by hungarian animator Rudolf Pap. The video was shown in the Hollywood Bowl on october 4th before Minogue's concert.
Personnel
Kylie Minogue - lead vocals, backing vocals
Henrik Jonback - guitar
Paul Stanborough - guitar, programming, engineer
Julian Peake - bass, keyboards
Richard Stannard - bass, keyboards, producer
Guy Chambers - keyboards, producer
Jonas Jeberg - keyboards, vocal arrangement, producer, programming, engineer, mixing
Ian Kirkham - alto sax, electronic winds
Russell Small - percussion
Amanda Wilson - vocals
Cathy Dennis - backing vocals, producer
Richard Flack - backing vocals, programming, mixing, engineer
Karen Ann Poole - backing vocals, vocal producer
Adam Powers - vocal arrangement
Cutfather - producer, mixing
Greg Kurstin - producer, instrumentation, mixing, engineer
Eg White - producer, instrumentation
Ash Howes - programming, mixing, engineer
Jonas Quant - programming
Dave Bascombe - mixing
Niklas Flyckt - mixing
Matz Nilsson - mixing
Eddie Miller - engineer
Geoff Pesche - mastering
Ben Jackson Group - assistant engineer
Translation of "X (Kylie Minogue album)"
German: X (Album), Spanish: X (álbum de Kylie Minogue), French: X (Kylie Minogue), Italian: X (Kylie Minogue), Malay: X (album), Dutch: X (album van Kylie Minogue), Polish: X (album Kylie Minogue), Portuguese: X (álbum), Romanian: X (album de Kylie Minogue), Finnish: X (albumi), Swedish: X (musikalbum av Kylie Minogue), Turkish: X (albüm), Vietnamese: X (album của Kylie Minogue).
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