God's really got a hold on the soul legendfloating over the digitized grooves of producer Michael Stokes, Smokey Robinson's unmistakable alto sounds as angelic as ever on this, his first religious album. He teases out "Let Your Light Shine on Me" as if it were one of his trademark romantic ballads, and he dollies back from "problems with my woman" to counsel with his god in "I Have Prayed on It." Elsewhere, Food for the Spirit is dragged down by by-the-Book expressions of belief and heavy-handed social commentary, but Robinson hasn't sounded this into it since his heyday, and that in itself is reason to rejoice.

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”