Taylor Swift, alt-country hipster? Hearing is believing, and on this first cut from The Hunger Games soundtrack, Swift sounds the part, cooing a lover's lullaby over stark folk-twang accompaniment (courtesy of T-Bone Burnett), with harmony vocals from indie sweethearts The Civil Wars. Whether this is a one-off novelty, a trial balloon cred-move, or the stirrings of a "grown-up" style remains to be seen. In any case, it's Swift's prettiest ballad.

Listen to "Safe and Sound": 

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“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"