While fellow pop stars like Lady Gaga and Ke$ha squabble over who's the boldest freak, Natasha Bedingfield has found a niche repping for the wide-eyed average gal. "Strip Me" is a deceptively saucy name for the lighter-waver that launches the U.K. diva's third disc – like her smash "Unwritten," it's a bouncy female-empowerment anthem. When Bedingfield strays from her airy Kelly Clarkson vibe, she can be gorgeously soulful ("Run-Run-Run"), but she has the most fun rocking out to "All I Need," a synth-heavy dance track that recalls Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive."

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“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”