St. Lucia's splendid synth-pop allure has instant pop catchiness, but Grobler's willingness to wear his lyrics' romantic motivations like a badge of honor gives Matter a thrilling extra jolt.

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.

Thanks to [Lorde's] vision, and her grip on the series' most important thematic elements, the 50 minutes of music behind Mockingjay Part 1 ably function as both a glance at 2014's finest purveyors of complex, downcast pop and a complement to the start of the series' chaotic, brutal conclusion.

The journey of its latest change has been bumpy, but by blending its storied past with the musical present, Queensrÿche's members prove the band as a whole is indeed greater than any one person.

The opening track, "Don't Let Me Fall," showcases the rapper's smoothed-voice singing talent and vulnerability ("They say what goes up must come down/But don't let me fall") over a booming guitar, while "Magic" (featuring Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo) takes a more pop-driven direction.

For an album with crowded electro-pop instrumentation, the music isn't overbearing, and Little Boots' cheeky lyrics never lose any of their dry attitude.

While listeners can't help but be reminded of his fall from grace, Brown also shows us on Graffiti that he's still a formidable talent.-

At the very least, listening to The Cutting Edge 1965-1966 should send you scurrying back to the official versions of those three classic Bob Dylan albums. It’s his story, and it’s history, reconsidered one more time.

He makes up for the lack of addictive anthems and playfulness with his impressionable stream of sentiments--our kryptonite, his superpower.

["Louder Than Words" is] a riveting and beautiful piece of music, yes, but not quite a definitive statement. The same might be said of The Endless River as a whole.

The band fares better in a handful of frothier cuts.

Monroe sings these songs, many of which she co-wrote, with exquisite, bruised sensitivity.

With sterling wordplay and a consistent melancholy vibe, the Detroit native took all the tension, the highs and lows, and laid it out on wax, compiling the strongest project of his career.

As first impressions go, Know-It-All is a charismatic balance between dreams and reality that makes its author stick out in the most impressive way.

The easier-but not exactly wiser-route for Brown would've been to take jabs at those who turned their backs on him, but his tactic here seems to give listeners a solid album.

[A] promising, unapologetically dense debut.

Sonically it's a super-charged take on the girl-group sound, with thundering drums, multilayered vocals, heart-wrenching lyrics and loads of echo-all of which contrasts with her honeyed voice.

The music is digital and danceable but with emotional depth--much of it thanks to Mayberry.

The younger act strikes a posture of ­winsome self-assurance across these 11 tracks.

For all the grief and regret it contains, it's a triumphant debut, encapsulating the grit of life, ­turning it into a hell of a journey.

Speedin' is an uncomfortably internal album that's a pleasurable listen. It's not as gleefully nihilistic as Future, but comes across just as revelatory.

You can hear the result of all those showbiz connections in the radio-ready economy of high-sheen hook bombs.

Debut LP We Are King finally gives the act room to stretch its crushed-velvet sound to its outer edges. The three voices often swirl into one, with lockstep harmonies that make challenging, constantly shifting melodies go down easy.

Streisand gives her trademark romantic-ballad treatment to 13 well-known standards.

No matter the mood and tempo, though, the Florence & The Machine heard on How Big How Blue How Beautiful is a newly self-aware one. It shows a different kind of mastery by allowing for a different kind of vulnerability, an especially delicate balancing act for a young woman in pop music.

Clearly you can take McBride--who co-wrote six of these tracks--anywhere and she'll sound just fine.

Bingham's writing is filled with stark images and canny observations, which is evident on such tracks as "Self-Righteous Wall" and album opener "The Poet." Look for this gifted young artist's star to keep rising.

On this adventurous LP, the critically lauded Scottish sextet waits until track nine, "Ever Had a Little Faith?," to offer one of its patented gently strummed character studies.