Kylie Minogue’s ‘X’ Turns Five In The US: Stan & Deliver

Bradley Stern | April 1, 2013 6:30 am

Stan & Deliver gives fans an opportunity to shake, cry and sing the praises of the albums they love from their faves.

Four years after her foray into coquettish, R&B-infused electronica on 2003’s Body Language, Queen Kylie Minogue returned in late 2007 with her tenth studio album – the aptly titled X. (The LP’s US release date was April 1, 2008.)

But to truly appreciate the essence of X is to know Minogue beyond the recording studio: Aside from being an edgy glitter drop of shimmering electro-pop gems and space-age ballads (which it most certainly is), X symbolized something much more powerful than its thumping contents: The disco diva’s triumphant return, following her fight with breast cancer during the prior two years.

As the turbulent timing of the album’s recording might already suggest, X is a scattered, unpredictable set, weaving wildly between synthesized disco euphoria (“In My Arms,” “The One”), forward-thinking electro-pop (“Speakerphone,” “Like A Drug”) girly flirtations (“Sensitized”), cheeky Swede-pop weirdness (“Nu-Di-Ty”) and rare glimmers of introspection untapped since the day’s of her adventurous 1997 release, Impossible Princess (“No More Rain,” “Cosmic”).

X wasn’t just a return to her usual territories, either: Beginning with “All I See” (a complete misfire, admittedly), X was Minogue’s next round of ammunition in her ceaseless battle to penetrate the American pop consciousness. And while her real reintroduction to the American mainstream since 2001’s Fever wouldn’t really come again until Aphrodite‘s string of Billboard Club #1’s a decade later, X was the artistic statement that proved Queen Kylie Minogue was, is, and forever will be a global icon — and a survivor.

But while it’s nice to have us wax poetic about a game-changing musical effort, it’s even nicer to hear from the fans (#LOVERS) themselves — which is why we turned this one over to you. To celebrate the five-year anniversary of the US release of X, we’re going track-by-track with some of Kylie’s most devoted fans.

How do you describe a feeling? Well, drop your socks and grab your mini boombox, ’cause we’re about to find out.