Trained as a gospel singer, Jessica Simpson long ago learned subtlety was at direct odds with testifying. Judging by Skin, her third album, it's a lesson she's still working through. Her powerful voice is done a disservice by insipid songwriting and arrangements — as on the loathsome club track "Forbidden Fruit" and the uncomfortably stately ballad "You Don't Have to Let Go" — that consistently get in the way of her pipes.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.