The result is certainly more adventurous than anything from her peers, if a little forced.

Rihanna may have been a good girl gone bad on her 2007 album, but on her new one, she's a good girl gone bad-ass.

The saying goes: If it isn't broken, don't fix it. That seems to be the strategy Jay Sean and his team employed.

After 20-something years of rap and dance running in mostly parallel lines, Kid Sister's imagining of their intersection is fresh and unapologetically fun.

The end result may not be enough to convince America it's missing out, but expect this album to bring the already-converted back onboard in droves.

Annie steals listeners' hearts with her light-as-a-feather vocal delivery and infectious beats.

During the 13-song set, Jones ditches the gentle piano-playing of her previous work and rises to a new level of creative boldness.

This rock supergroup delivers by drawing upon each member's talents and creating a sound that's refreshingly singular and remarkably fun.

While the artist has raised some eyebrows by asking, "Who says I can't get stoned?" (on the album's first single, 'Who Says'), the rest of the collection certainly has the goods to eclipse that overblown controversy.

As haunting as Lewis' ballads are, perhaps fewer of them would do her some good.

Waking Up boasts enough intertwining pop melodies backed with anthemic vocals to show fans of the 2007 Timbaland-remixed track "Apologize" that OneRepublic can deliver more addictive hooks while still maintaining its own graceful and introspective sound.

Judging by the delivery of those poignant lines, it's hardly a stretch to imagine Bieber racking up more hits in the next decade to come.

Overall, the God MC can still carry the throne as one of the greatest rappers of all time, but he'll need stronger production the next time around.

Her latest release, Midwinter Graces, is a typically provocative-in the best possible way-entry in the yuletide canon.

The New Jersey group gets back to the business of rocking on its 11th studio album, The Circle.

Luckily, Wale never spreads himself too thin on Attention Deficit and maintains the urgency of his mixtapes to ensure that the set contains little filler.

The band's sixth studio album, Alter the Ending, is a perfectly blended concoction of acoustic melodies, graceful harmonies and powerful anthems wrapped around the story of a man trying desperately to save a failing relationship.

It's a sleekly presented modern-rock album with no shortage of bruising guitars or catchy choruses.

It's good, dirty fun.

Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas steps out with his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young, and dynamically weaves '80s techno-pop with psychedelic punk, while also reinventing his usual monochromatic croon.

Here, the artist seems to finally feel comfortable in her own skin. It's a wide-ranging album-she's in love, out of love, light-hearted and playful.

From the range of production styles to the bonus disc of live tracks, Swords is a welcome catalog addition

This Reading appearance-released for the first time on the CD/DVD package "Live at Reading"-captured the trio's skill at turning simple power chords into some of the most memorable rock anthems of the '90s.

And as on "Idol," that aesthetic is most appealingly expressed here in the material that seems the least suited for it-i.e., mushy heartland rock ballads.

Bleach is freshened up with remastered versions of unusually heavy songs like the haunting "Negative Creep," where Cobain howls about alienation and being stoned, and the pounding "Floyd the Barber," where the main subject of the eerie track is a man being strapped down and tortured by characters from "The Andy Griffith Show.

The chaos is nothing new for Say Anything, but the band's newest release is tightly executed and gives fans a deeper look into Bemis' clever mind.

This smart four-disc package commemorates the concert's 40th anniversary with a pristine remastered version of the original recording, five previously unreleased songs from the same show and an entire disc devoted to the fiery opening acts, B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner.

This time the quintet holed up for two months in a Northern California cabin, and the resulting collection from the idiosyncratic singer/songwriter is intimate, experimental, and ultimately accessible.