Passion Pit's 2009 debut was a hog pile of neon dance beats and helium-falsetto hooks, undercut by Michael Angelakos' endearingly heartsick lyrics. Their second disc is roomier and more varied: "Carried Away" packs an afternoon of early-Eighties MTV into three minutes, and "Take a Walk" sets lyrics about the Great Recession to stomping disco pop, displaying Angelakos' gift for making pain feel like pleasure.

Listen to "Take a Walk":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“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."