X : Kylie Minogue : Review : Rolling Stone

Kylie Minogue has never commanded the zeitgeist like Madonna or stalked a stage with the queenly cool of Beyoncé or hurtled across octaves like Mariah. But in a two-decade career, the pint-size Aussie has ruled the British and European charts by supplying nonstop fizzy fun — she's pop divadom's party planner in chief.

Minogue's tenth album arrives on the heels of her battle with breast cancer; thankfully, the experience hasn't made her music discernibly deeper. X compiles wall-to-wall club thumpers — the clomping electro-pop single "2 Hearts" has been a dance-floor smash for months — and songs about sex, dancing and sexed-up dancing. In "Nu-Di-Ty," one of two buzzing, percolating tracks by Swedish beat wizards Bloodshy and Avant (Britney Spears, Madonna), Minogue commands her man to perform a striptease: "Just pop that zipper for me/And work that thing out."

Minogue has a pipsqueak voice to match her diminutive frame, and she wisely cedes the musical spotlight to her producers, allowing her vocals to be processed and thoroughly T-Pained. But she permits herself the occasional moment of subtle diva hauteur. "Wow" opens with perky house-reminiscent keyboard chords that nod to her big hits of twenty years ago — like Madonna, she has stuck around long enough to revive her own Eighties sound.

JODY ROSEN

(Posted: Apr 17, 2008)

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Review 1 of 3

2of 5 Stars

A robotic, plasticy album, with a lack of real personality. Coming to a hairdresser near you.

Sep 20, 2008 22:21:50

Review 2 of 3

4of 5 Stars

One would think that having to go through a battle of cancer might make someone look a little more deeply into their music...with Kylie that's just not the case. And sometimes thats a good thing. With Kylie's tenth studio album 'X', Kylie does what she does best...glorified, unapologetic dance pop. This time though, she seems to have gone back in time. Instead of experimenting with new sounds, Kylie goes back in time with this collection of songs that re-explores her musical career thus far. The mid-tempo lead off single '2 Hearts' is less than 3 minutes long and serves as a juicy interlude into the rest of the album. From there, the tempo picks up, and electro-disco Kylie comes out in full force with songs 'Like A Drug', 'In My Arms', and 'Speakerphone', all sounding very similar to the tracks on 2001's 'Fever'. From there, she changes it up a bit. 'Sensitized' has more of a mid-tempo motown feel (and is probably the best song on the album). 'No More Rain' can be assumed to be a biographical song relating to the cancer struggle, but it comes across as grade-schoolish and cheesy. 'The One' sounds like a cheap rip-off of 2004's 'I Believe In You', and 'Heart Beat Rock'...well, it just isn't good. The track 'Cosmic' belongs on her 1998 album 'Impossible Princess' - not here. 'All I See' has an R&B flavor to it, and the bonus version featuring Mims elevates the somewhat flat song into something worth listening to. But the songs 'Wow' and 'Nu-Di-Ty' are typical Kylie guilty-pleasures, and the album as a whole is fun, frivilous, and unabashed pop.

Aug 15, 2008 17:53:11

Review 3 of 3

3of 5 Stars

Kylie Minogue was been absent...from the music scene for a while. After her breast cancer, she FINALLY comes out with her 10th album, but the results have to be mixed. It's good that she's not singing about bad things, as she's trying to get back to her roots, and not be such a buzz-kill. But if she's going to return, she's going to have to scrap songs out of her album, such as "Heart Beat Rock," "Sensitized" and "Stars." Then there's mediocre tunes like "All I See" and "Nu-Di-Ty," then there's the best tracks, like "2 Hearts," "Speakerphone" and "Wow." The good tracks triumph the bad ones, but the most memorable are the most rare.

Apr 2, 2008 17:19:38

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