On this Lady Gaga remix album, 10 producers and DJs sink their teeth into her meaty catalog — with predictably uneven results. Stuart Price gives "Paparazzi" a breezy shuffle that diffuses the track's gritty tension, Marilyn Manson roars unnecessarily on "Love­game," and Glam as You add a bloopy bounce to one of Gaga's coolest grooves, "The Fame." Passion Pit do the most effective surgery on "Telephone," sliding arcade synths under Chipmunks-speed vocals — a makeover beautiful and grotesque enough to earn Gaga's seal of approval.

“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.