Aphrodite (Kylie Minogue album)

Following her recovery from breast cancer, Minogue released her tenth studio album, X, in 2007. Slated to be released as Minogue's comeback album, X was certified platinum in Australia after it debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart and was eventually certified platinum. In retrospect, critics argued that the album did not serve as a worthy comeback for Minogue. The initial recording sessions for Aphrodite began in April 2009 when Minogue met with British singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot, with whom she wrote the track "Better than Today". Its live instrumentation, along with the fact that X had been burdened by contributions from too many producers, prompted Minogue's record label Parlophone to decide on a more natural and less convoluted production style for Aphrodite. Later sessions with Pallot proved to be less successful, as her suggested songs were "rapidly supplemented with tracks from a wide range" of contributors. Minogue felt her sessions with Pallot did not yield any dance-pop tracks; fearing that she was "going down the same road, doing the rounds of all the pop dynamos but lacking any cohesive quality," she approached her close friend Jake Shears, male lead singer of American pop group Scissor Sisters, for advice. He had previously served as the executive producer of American recording artist Madonna's tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), and international news agency Reuters regarded him as "one of the most in-demand pop producers". In an interview with Popjustice, Price revealed that he got involved in the production of Aphrodite after he met Minogue for a writing session in October 2009. As executive producer, Price was responsible for "shaping the album's sound", deciding its track listing, and mixing the songs in order to ensure that they "feel like they're part of the same album." == Composition ==

Billed by her record label Parlophone as her comeback album, and is primarily a dance-pop and disco-pop album. Its title alludes to the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. "All the Lovers", one of the last tracks to be recorded for the album, It is similar to Minogue's 2004 single "I Believe in You", but has a "more danceable edge", and features a "gauzy, heartbeat rhythm" and "'80s-era synth lines". The song was met with critical acclaim from music critics and was frequently commended for its production and chorus. The second track "Get Outta My Way" was described as a "flamboyant explosion of pop, synth and dance" that "[s]tick[s] faithfully to [Minogue's] roots in bubblegum pop". The song focuses on a "frustrated and furious" Minogue delivering "wispy" vocals in a form of a warning to her uncaring partner, indicating that she may leave him and start "grinding away with another chap". Its lyrical content is suggestive in nature. although one critic named it a "concert hit waiting to happen." "Closer" takes a darker and more atmospheric approach, featuring "sighing background vocals and spiralling harpsichord-esque synths." Price likened the song to Janet Jackson for its "'Rhythm Nation'-esque qualities." It was met with critical acclaim by most music critics, and was declared to be one of the strongest tracks on the album. Minogue wrote the melancholic seventh track "Illusion" with Price. but criticised for its monotony. Written by Minogue, Jake Shears and Calvin Harris, "Too Much" was described as a "rave monster" and is built on a "fugue of synths and disco-rific sampled strings". Critics were divided on the track, with its energy being praised but Harris' production being disapproved of. "Looking for an Angel", one of the first songs Minogue and Price wrote together, The set closes with the electropop track "Can't Beat the Feeling", ==Release and promotion==

fashion designer and friend Jean Paul Gaultier (pictured) Aphrodite was released in Australia on 2 July 2010 in digital download, standard CD, and LP formats. A special Experience Edition CD, which contains a 28-page booklet, unseen footage from Minogue's 2009 For You, for Me tour, behind-the-scenes footage of the promotional photo, video shoots of the album and an exclusive online interview was also released on the same day. Gaultier had previously designed the costumes for Minogue's KylieX2008 and For You, for Me tours. A three-disc edition of Aphrodite, subtitled the Les Folies Tour Edition, was released on 3 June 2011. In addition to the standard version of the album, the Tour Edition contains a second disc with remixes of the original songs by producers such as Pete Hammond, Denzal Park, Muscles and Bimbo Jones, as well as a third disc featuring a 20-minute party mix. On 6 July, Minogue celebrated the worldwide release of the album with a performance held at the Pacha Club in Ibiza, Spain. It was released in the United States on the same day. The tour was staged by the creative team behind Disneyland Resort's World of Color show, and the budget of the tour was reported to be around $25 million. Concert shows were held at Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. Minogue's costumes and wardrobe was designed by her frequent collaborators Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, owners of the Italian luxury industry fashion house Dolce and Gabbana. The concert shows were spectacles "loosely based around Greek mythology". A live album of the concert show, held at the O2 Arena in London, was released as Aphrodite Les Folies: Live in London on 28 November 2011. Italy, Scotland, and Spain. In Australia, "All the Lovers" missed peaking inside the top 10 by reaching number 13 on the singles chart. In the United States, the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Joseph Kahn and features Minogue singing the song, dressed in a white cobweb-style T-shirt worn over a black bra and knickers, while standing atop a mountain of lingerie-clad couples caressing each other. " during the Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour "Get Outta My Way" was released as the album's second single on 27 September 2010. It reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and number 69 on the Australian Singles Chart. In the United States, the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "Better than Today" was released as the third single from the album, on 3 December 2010. The single peaked at number 55 on the Australian chart, thus becoming the second single release from Aphrodite to miss charting inside the top 50, while peaking at number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. Following the poor chart performance of "Get Outta My Way" and "Better than Today", Minogue expressed disappointment in her record label Parlophone, saying: "It's confusing. I felt a little let down with my releases from Aphrodite. I was caught out like a lot of artists were, with record companies figuring out how to do single releases these days. I remember doing a promo for one of the last singles and it just felt really old-fashioned. I'm pretty computer-savvy, something didn't feel right, but no one said anything to me. You get Britney releasing 'Hold It Against Me' and Gaga's 'Born This Way' available on iTunes the day you hear it first. That's how it should be. And there's me waiting for a mid-week chart figure like it's 1989." Although Minogue mentioned that "Better than Today" would be the last single to be released from Aphrodite, The single managed to reach the top 50 in Australia, peaking at number 50 on the singles chart. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, thus becoming the fourth single from Aphrodite to peak atop the chart. == Critical reception ==

Aphrodite received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67 based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Kitty Empire from The Observer enjoyed the album and complimented Price for "lending a sleek cohesion to the whole (album)", but opined that Aphrodite "lacks the depth and chutzpah of some of her rivals' efforts". Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian acknowledged the album's "sharp production", but commented that the album is "only as good as Kylie herself" and criticized it for being uninteresting. Sophia Money-Coutts from The National felt the album lacked new and diverse material from Minogue's previous efforts, while Margaret Wappler from the Los Angeles Times commented on the album's dependency on "old reliable" music and concluded "Our midnight bird (Minogue) has been in the club for a long time, however, and it shows." ==Accolades==

In 2010, Aphrodite was nominated for Best Pop Release at the ARIA Music Awards, but lost to Sia's We Are Born; Minogue was nominated for Best Female Artist, but lost to Megan Washington. AllMusic included Aphrodite on their list of "Favorite Pop Albums of 2010". Idolator included the album on their list of "10 Out of '10: Idolator's Favorite Albums of the Year" list, with critic Robbie Daw writing that "hooking up with producer Stuart Price turned out to be the perfect way for Kylie to give her already impressive career a fresh jolt" and that "Aphrodite pretty much was my Summer 2010". At the 2011 Virgin Media Music Awards, Aphrodite was voted the Best Album by British music fans. The lead single "All the Lovers" also received an award, being voted "Best Single". In 2015, Vice ranked Aphrodite tenth on its list of "The 99 Greatest Dance Albums of All Time", praising the album's relentless energy. == Commercial performance ==

", on her Aphrodite: Les Folies tour. The song became her fifth number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart On the chart date of 18 July 2010, Aphrodite debuted and peaked at number two on the Australian Albums chart; it stayed in the position for three weeks. The same feat had been accomplished by Minogue's debut studio album Kylie (1988) during the same week 22 years prior. The album spent one week at number one and a total of 29 weeks in the top 40 of the chart. She also became the first solo artist to have a number-one album in four different decades in the United Kingdom, in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. On 1 April 2011, Aphrodite was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 units. Aphrodite became Minogue's highest-charting album in Canada to date by peaking at number eight on the Canadian Albums Chart. it marked Minogue's second highest-peaking album on the chart, behind Fever, which peaked at number three. The album also reached number two on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. As of April 2011, Aphrodite had sold 50,000 copies in the US. ==Track listing==

Notes • signifies an additional producer • signifies a co-producer • signifies a vocal producer ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Aphrodite. Musicians • Kylie Minogue – lead vocals, backing vocals • Mima Stilwell – additional backing vocals • Jim Eliot – piano, keys, bass, drum programming • Peter Wallevik – keyboards, programming • Daniel Davidsen – keyboards, programming, guitars • Mich Hansen – percussion • Lucas Secon – additional keyboards • Alexandra Segal – additional backing vocals • Maime Hladiy – bass • Olivia Nervo – additional backing vocals • Miriam Nervo – additional backing vocals • Beatrice Hatherley – additional backing vocals • Tim Rice-Oxley – piano, keyboards • Fraser T. Smith – guitars • Nerina Pallot – additional backing vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards, synth, electric guitar • Andy Chatterley – piano, keyboards, synth, drum programming • Stuart Price – additional keyboards • Ben Vella – electric guitar • Calvin Harris – all instruments, arrangements • Pascal Gabriel – all instruments • Børge Fjordheim – all instruments • Hannah Robinson – backing vocals • Richard X – Minimoog operation, keyboards Technical • Jim Eliot – production • Stuart Price – additional production ; mixing ; co-production ; vocal production ; production ; additional backing vocals recording ; additional vocals recording ; executive production • Dave Emery – mixing assistance • Cutfather – production • Peter Wallevik – production • Daniel Davidsen – production • Damon Sharpe – co-production, recording • Lucas Secon – co-production • Pete Hofmann – recording, Pro Tools editing • Mads Nilsson – mixing • Starsmith – production, mixing • Olivia Nervo – vocal production • Miriam Nervo – vocal production • Fraser T. Smith – production, mixing • Beatriz Artola – engineering • Andy Chatterley – production, engineering, recording • Nerina Pallot – production, engineering, recording • Jason Tarver – engineering assistance • Nathan Khors – recording assistance • Brian Gottshall – recording assistance • Calvin Harris – production, mixing • Sebastian Ingrosso – production, mixing • Magnus – production, mixing • Pascal Gabriel – production • Børge Fjordheim – production • Geoff Pesche – mastering Artwork • William Baker – photography • Digital Light – photographic post-production • Adjective Noun – art direction, design ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==