On her debut, Kimbra – a.k.a. Gotye's counterpart in "Somebody That I Used to Know" – sounds like New Zealand's answer to Björk. Vows gives R&B a wacky art-rock spin, with a cappella vocal chorales mutating into sumptuous funk pop.

Listen to 'Vows':

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“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."