After splitting into five separate personalities for 2007's American Doll Posse, Tori Amos pulls herself back together again on her latest. The result is a set of prog-inspired balladry with less bounce than her last disc. The plodding "Strong Black Vine" has Amos saving folks from "that evil faith" over strings straight out of Zeppelin's "Kashmir," and "Police Me" is a multitracked mess of percussion, orchestration and New Wave synth lines. Among the standouts: the ballad "Maybe California," a tender show of empathy for a mother about to throw herself off a cliff.

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."