One look at Nanna Øland Fabricius’, AKA Oh Land’s, statuesque blonde figure, and you’d easily mistake her for just another disposable European pop star.

But, it seems this beauty has talent too. The Danish musician, who now lives in Brooklyn, NY, has actually forged a nice little niche for her brand of eclectic indie-pop, which is further showcased on her sophomore self-titled release.

No doubt, you’ve heard her lead single “Sun of a Gun” on Gossip Girl or in some trendy commercial. This bouncy pop song picks up the slack left behind by Feist, and is revisited on tracks like “White Nights” and “We Turn It Up”.

But, it is when she slows it down where we have some gorgeous musical moments. “Perfection”, “Lean” and “Wolf & I” are breathtaking and lush. 

I think the reason I took a while to get into Florence + the Machine’s debut album Lungs is because I didn’t really like the singles “Dog Days Are Over” and “You Got The Love”. It was too stage show for me.

However, I ignored those songs and found that the bulk of her songs have a more darker, tribal sound that’s more to my liking.

Thankfully, she continues to delve into her dark side even more for her new album Ceremonials. Florence even coined the term “chamber soul” – a fusion of chamber pop and soul music – to describe the bigger and darker sound.

Ceremonials is haunting, violent, scary and hopeful, a careful examination on the negative outcomes of love and romance. 

There’s no big surprise that Adele pops onto my list. After all, on the strength of one single (for the majority of the year) and her stellar voice, she helped reverse the decline in record sales and managed to top the charts week after week and win countless awards.

My only drawback is that the songs on the album hop from genre to genre. There’s neo-soul on “Rolling in the Deep”, country twang on “Don’t You Remember?” and gospel on “One and Only”.

Usually, I like my albums to have a bit of a more cohesive sound, but thankfully Adele’s voice is arresting enough to provide that uniting thread. And it’s best showcased with sparse musical accompaniment (see: “Someone Like You”), not fighting with overdone production (see: “Set Fire To The Rain” – I think I’m the only person who can’t stand that song).

While Britney Spears is something akin to a blank canvas that producers and stylists paint to suit the needs of their songs, Rihanna is more like molding clay that resists, yields and gives in to her crafters, allowing to actually become what the songs represent.

Plus, she’s got way more personality than dead-eyed Britney.

However, one of my biggest complaints about RiRi is that her albums start off strong, then quickly goes off the rails, jumping tracks from genre to genre and losing steam. I didn’t even bother with her album Loud, because each single was vastly different from the previous one and, frankly, I didn’t like any of them.

With Talk That Talk, Rihanna finally finds more cohesion. All the songs boast a swagger that, fortunately for her, translates from four-on-the-floor house tracks like “We Found Love” and “Where Have You Been” to more reggae and hip hop inspired tracks, like “Talk That Talk” and “Cockiness (I Love It)”.

She even pulls off an impressive sample of The XX’s “Intro” for “Drunk On Love”.

While I could do without the ballads and while I’ll never understand why “Birthday Cake” is only half a song (is it supposed to be an interlude?), I have to recognize that this is Rihanna’s strongest album to date.

Recent divorcée Jennifer Lopez has found a novel way to help her broken heart and bruised ego. Make music video where every man in the city is chasing you for your affection!

I have to admit, I think this video is pretty funny and cute. But, I have one question: If the mystical concierge from the West Indies only meant for the cookies to be eating in a small bite, why did she make them so damn big? If I were J-Lo, I'd have scarfed down the whole thing. 

(But, my resulting video would have been much more x-rated.)

Melanie C AKA Sporty Spice AKA Talented Spice has a new solo album out. 

Sure, I may have a soft spot for all things Spice, but "Think About It" is actually good. Not so much because of the music, which sounds like a Dr. Luke-Katy Perry cast-off, but because of her voice. This song would have been nothing special if handled by Katy or Ke$ha or Britney. But, Mel's strong and un-Auto-tuned voice shines strong and breathes a fun energy to the song.

Thank you for showing us how good pop music can actually be!

In her last single "Smile", Avril Lavigne calls herself a crazy bitch multiple times.

In her new video for "Wish You Were Here", she proves it. She's all mopey and manic about her lover who is with her and she misses him so much that she starts crying uncontrollably and nearly drowns herself in a bathtub.

Girl! Pull yourself together!

Lana Del Ray, real name Lizzy Grant, describes her style as a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra". That should have been an instant turn-off.

But, after listening to her two singles "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans", you know what? She's right!

Her melancholy retro-blues sound, her puffy hairdo, her grainy self-directed music videos and her smoky Stevie Nicks voice, this 24-year-old singer is the musical equivalent of The Virgin Suicides and Valley of the Dolls. She's my new obsession

Canadian electro-pop singer Lights is prepping the release of her second-album Siberia.

The lead single "Toes" sounds a bit darker, as she sings about an unpredictable lover keeping her on her to-oh-wo-oh-oh-oh-woes. 

Too bad the video does little to keep us on our toes. Lights is just walking around Toronto, looking pretty.

Granted, all her videos are minimalistic, but I kinda like that she had a quirky, artsy gimmick in them, be it cardboard backdrops or buckets of paint.

I guess the point is to focus on the song. And damn, it's a great song.