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Song Stories

“Nasty”

Janet Jackson | 1986

Janet Jackson penned this tune as a response to men who were behaving badly. "The danger hit home when a couple of guys started stalking me on the street. They were emotionally abusive," she told Rolling Stone. "I took a stand. I backed them down. That's how songs like 'Nasty' and 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' were born, out of a sense of self-defense." The song's video was choreographed by Jackson's good friend Paula Abdul, who also appears in the clip.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

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."

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