Are you homely, like "Mary," who "never won a pageant"? Or angry, like "Adam," who "grew up mad and anti-social"? K’naan and Nelly Furtado are here to raise your self-esteem: "This is for everyone who felt invisible," the Canadian hip-pop aristocracy beckon. Early front-runner for 2012’s most dispiriting pop pep talk.

Listen To K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado's "Is Anybody Out There": 

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• Photos: Random Notes

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.