On his third album, this Oregon troubadour gets back to the percussive, reggae-lite ditties that went missing on his last album, 2009's City of Black & White. "Hey Mama" suggests a Michael Franti tune, and on "She Got the Honey," Mat Kearney raps, "Saw her down at the De La show/Walking in looking down at her toes." The genre-mixing doesn't always work: "Young Dumb and in Love" sounds like a neutered jock jam, and the grandiose synth pop of "Sooner or Later" is barely distinguishable from OneRepublic. With melodies this hummable, though, Kearney should be soundtracking another Grey's Anatomy scene in no time.

Listen to "Hey Mama":

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“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.