Chris Brown is a sixteen-year-old Virginia soulster riding a hot single, "Run It!," a de-crunked "Yeah!" that gets by thanks to a slinky synth beat and the mix of smooth seduction and cunning come-ons in Brown's baby-mack vocals. The rest of his debut is less provocative — full of puppy-love heartache and doe-eyed laments about being too young to hit the club, Chris Brown is innocuous enough for the Teen People set, which is part of the problem. Brown's voice suggests both Usher and a young Jacko, but his charms are often lost in the album's plush, listless production and undercooked songs.

“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."