Twenty-five-year-old Trey Songz made ladies squeal last spring with a sultry MTV Unplugged cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody." The R&B smoothie's fourth record has no such surprises, notwithstanding a brassy, helium-voiced cameo from Nicki Minaj on the catchy, booze-celebrating "Bottoms Up." Otherwise it's just steady mackin' over dull, airbrushed slow-jams, as Songz rhymes "just like a kid who found some candy" with "let me feel and find your panties." Yes, he invented sex, as an earlier single noted. But when he declares, "The only thing inside my mind is 'mm-hmm,' " it's hard not to say, "Really?"

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.