"I found myself in a secondhand guitar," sings London chanteuse Lianne La Havas on the title track of her debut album. That's not idle talk. La Havas, just 22, is a natural who uses her six-string acoustic and her husky R&B croon to create songs that fall winningly between categories: part Bill Withers-esque neo-soul, part Bon Iver-style indie folk, with punchier beats than you'd expect and welcome detours into Sade's plush bedroom. There are surprises: jazz chords that seep into wintry folk ballads; come-ons that double as threats. The lyrics dwell on troubled romance, but the cool, pretty, expertly arranged music washes over you like a healing wave.

Listen to 'Is Your Love Big Enough?':

“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.