It's the balance between delicate guitar, lush cello and the singer's rich vocals on "Brooklyn Fawn" that proves Matt Pond PA is ready to stretch out, not compromise.

Lotus largely benefits from all the bombast--Aguilera hasn't sounded so fun and energized in years.

Because she's bold enough to do it her way, Aguilera maintains her reign.

The nine-song album's softer ballads--like the piano-driven "What If"--distract from Derulo's powerhouse vocals. His talent is somewhat misused on the tune, blanketed beneath equal parts Auto-Tune and lyrical vagueness. However, the inclusion of club bangers like "The Sky's the Limit" and "Love Hangover" boost the set's energy.

Simply put, Weezer needs to exorcise the metal demons and find a balance that works.

Levine's hummingbird vocals and passionate delivery are as earnest as they were on their 2002 debut Songs About Jane.

Ink has clearly studied his success, and it feels strategic that Full Speed is sardine-packed with star collaborators.

The problem is that the hints of personality underneath the braggadocio overflowing on "Based on a T.R.U. Story" exist as faint flickers, pointing to a storytelling skill that has yet to be given the spotlight.

After uniting with Kings of Leon/Modest Mouse vet Jacquire King, the band has emerged with a set that's more inviting than its first but just as catchy.

The album is a good-faith effort to match or even outstrip the band's onstage eclecticism, and the musical personality shifts help relieve the group's tendency to blandness, providing cover for Brown's dutifully generic, if personable voice.

Deja-Vu is at its best when it sounds like a victory lap, not a labored attempt to keep up.

The Remix's 10 songs won't replace Gaga's chart-topping hits, but the tracks offer enough interesting angles to attract Gaga diehards as well as casual dance music fans.

Who I Am is so polished and adult-sounding -trading teen pop moxie for organ and slide guitar-that one is left wondering whether the same songs about love, heartbreak and political curiosity wouldn't be a more satisfying evolutionary step in the hands of a scrappier troupe.

Animal teems with choruses that stick with the listener for days, from the blissful "Your Love Is My Drug" to the catty "Backstabber." Equally prevalent, however, are heavily processed vocals, which make it hard to tell whether the California cutie can actually sing.

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.

Not only does Wilder Mind reintroduce the band members as rock gods worthy of the title, it does so ­without changing what fans cherished most about them in the first place: their songwriting, their sentiment, their gusto.

Jason Aldean's Old Boots, New Dirt, the singer's sixth studio album is a mixture of the party songs he has become known for--but also shows a little bit more of an emotional and sensual side than listeners might be accustomed to.

What results is a new-ish, but not necessarily improved, Nickelback.

Hood Billionaire lands in a dull gray area between feel-good retro rap (its first two singles are the Memphis homage "Elvis Presley Blvd" and the pleasant but forgettable jazz jangle of "Keep Doin' That [Rich Bitch]") and Rozay greatest-hits karaoke that tries and fails to recapture the impact of his bulletproof Teflon Don bombast.

The subtler, less stylized Wiped Out! keeps the palm-trees-at-twilight feel, but the sound is more hazy R&B than rock.

He may still sport the same look, but stylistically his new music proves that he's not a one-trick pony.

Reincarnated stands as an enjoyable pop record laced with an assortment of roots and dancehall reggae references.

It sounds like a collection of random one-offs rather than an album. Foxx's voice, falsetto and all, still sounds lovely, but he seems unsure exactly how he should use it.

Gold Cobra reminds us of how much fun a tight, no-holds-barred rap-metal record can be in the right hands.

A set of tightly crafted, richly arranged pop songs.

The band fares better in a handful of frothier cuts.

This Stockholm-based DJ outfit scored a dance hit earlier this year with "One (Your Name)," its hard-hitting collaboration with Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D. But separately, the men of Swedish House Mafia-Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello-have been rocking dancefloors for years, so here we have a 24-track primer designed to update new fans on each artist's earlier work.

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