Pink doesn't sing songs. She mauls them, gobbling the microphone like a hyena that hasn't eaten in a week. At her best, she is pop's most galvanizing tough broad, but her sixth LP devolves into self parody. Co-written with studio aces like Max Martin and Greg Kurstin, it delivers power-chord packed electro-pop, and the lyrics cover the usual subjects: self-reliance, sex, rebellion. It's supercatchy, but Pink strains to shock, peppering songs with gratuitous curse words. Best is "Just Give Me a Reason," a ballad co-written with fun. frontman Nate Ruess, in which Pink dials back the drama, letting the melody and sentiments do their work, and singing, for once, instead of yowling.

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."