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

Name: Mike Wass | Location: Sydney, Australia | Twitter: @poptrashmike

7. The One: X polarized fans and critics like no other album in Kylie’s glittering discography. Some, myself included, found it brave and original. Others declared it forced and jarringly impersonal given the diva’s recent cancer battle. It seemed like the only song that everyone could agree on was “The One.”

The glorious Freemasons-produced mid-tempo ballad is the best example of Kylie’s ongoing flirtation with Italo-disco — a dalliance that began with the title track of her Light Years album and seemingly reached its zenith on “I Believe In You.” As magnificent as those anthems are, “The One” eclipses them both with its melancholy-drenched synths and fragile, pleading chorus.

There’s something almost unbearably sad about what, on the surface, should be a euphoric love song. The credit for that must go to Kylie. Her restrained vocal is as heartfelt as it is nuanced, hovering perfectly over the icy, New Order-influenced sound palette.

Released with little fanfare in mid-2008, “The One” barely crawled into the UK top 40 and failed to chart in most of the icon’s major markets despite the huge popularity of the Freemasons remix in clubs. Ironically, the song has become some of signature tune and live highlight — proving that quality always wins out in the end.