Even if Alesso was late onto the ever-growing list of Swedish EDM DJs and producers, his debut studio album, Forever, successfully argues that his name should be pushed somewhere near the top on versatility alone. "If I Lose Myself" with OneRepublic is the expected pop uplift aimed at the dancefloor, while "Sweet Escape" with Sirena and "Scars" with Ryan Tedder are sweet-and-sour EDM vocal numbers that stick in the head. Not much new there, and yet "Heroes (We Could Be)" with Tove Lo is bold enough to just borrow from the like-named Bowie song and then build an entirely new number around it. A surprising amount of funky electro helps separate this groovemaster from the competition, and all of it is topped off by the amusing, eerie, and boomy opener "Profondo," a title for which the album's typesetter must have left off the word "Basso."© David Jeffries /TiVo

"I ain't livin' with the ghost/No future living in the past," sings Jon Bon Jovi on "Living with the Ghost," the second song on This House Is Not for Sale, the first new Bon Jovi album without guitarist Richie Sambora. From those words, it's clear that Jon Bon Jovi isn't shedding many tears for his departed collaborator, and This House Is Not for Sale proves this to be true. While there are certainly moments of sweetness here -- he pens love songs to his woman ("Labor of Love") and guitar ("Scars on This Guitar") -- they're somewhat overwhelmed by the aggressive arena rock that dominates the album. Musically, this is a throwback -- not to the '80s but to 2005's Have a Nice Day, which is the first album Bon Jovi recorded with producer John Shanks. Often, This House Is Not for Sale -- which is the sixth album Shanks has recorded with Bon Jovi -- recalls the exuberant singalongs from Have a Nice Day ("God Bless This Mess" is a kissing cousin to "Who Says You Can't Go Home"), but where that 2005 album felt joyful, this 2016 album is driven in part by spite. Thirty years into his career and Jon Bon Jovi still acts like the underdog ("Every day I wake up with my back against the wall/Anytime you get up, someone wants to see you fall"), and he still sings like he has scores to settle. Presumably, some of these outstanding debts may be with Sambora, who did not leave on good terms, but Jon Bon Jovi is determined that "This isn't how the story ends, my friends, it's just a fork along the road," which goes a long way toward explaining how muscular This House Is Not for Sale is. Bon Jovi and Shanks may not have done much to freshen up the band's sound -- they don't take any mid-2010s musical trends into consideration -- but that simmering defiance does mean this is the band's liveliest album in years.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

James Bay is a young British singer and songwriter whose heartfelt songs and passionate vocal style suggest a greater maturity and experience than one would expect from an artist whose debut album was released when he was 24 years old. Chaos and the Calm, Bay's first full-length album following a pair of well-received EPs, reveals he has a precocious talent as a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, and is just as comfortable with outgoing tracks like "Collide" as he is with intimate, personal numbers such as "Let It Go" as he winds together elements of pop, folk, rock, blues, and soul. Often compared to Ed Sheeran and Ben Howard, Chaos and the Calm shows James Bay has the style and the ability to stand on his own, and it's the work of a new performer with an impressive potential.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Even if Alesso was late onto the ever-growing list of Swedish EDM DJs and producers, his debut studio album, Forever, successfully argues that his name should be pushed somewhere near the top on versatility alone. "If I Lose Myself" with OneRepublic is the expected pop uplift aimed at the dancefloor, while "Sweet Escape" with Sirena and "Scars" with Ryan Tedder are sweet-and-sour EDM vocal numbers that stick in the head. Not much new there, and yet "Heroes (We Could Be)" with Tove Lo is bold enough to just borrow from the like-named Bowie song and then build an entirely new number around it. A surprising amount of funky electro helps separate this groovemaster from the competition, and all of it is topped off by the amusing, eerie, and boomy opener "Profondo," a title for which the album's typesetter must have left off the word "Basso."© David Jeffries /TiVo

Vocalist Merry Clayton's musical story was articulated in the Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom, a documentary about backing vocalists on countless classic rock, pop, soul, and gospel hit records. Clayton's duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" in 1969 is a prime example. Before that appearance, she'd been a professional for nearly a decade. In 1962, at the age of 16, she duetted with Bobby Darin, then joined Ray Charles' Raelettes. Since then her voice has graced literally hundreds of charting and legendary recordings. Between 1970 and 1975 she issued three albums for producer Lou Adler's Ode label, and a pair of excellent gospel outings, 1980's Emotion and 1994's Miracles. In 2014 Clayton was in a car accident and suffered the amputation of both legs below the knee. She spent five months in the hospital, but responded to the news of her loss with gratitude when told she could still sing. The following year she appeared on Coldplay's "A Head Full of Dreams." Beautiful Scars was co-produced by Adler and Grammy-winning gospel songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist Terry Young, who contributed five songs to the set. It opens with a new read of Leon Russell's "A Song for You." Clayton initially covered it on her 1970 debut album, and she and her late husband, the great saxophonist Curtis Amy, chose it as their song. Adler honored that by dubbing in Amy's original 1970 saxophone solo. Clayton's performance affirms that her voice has lost none of its suppleness, elasticity, or passion. She follows with a rousing version of Sam Cooke's "Touch the Hem of His Garment," fronting a gospel choir a cappella, showcasing her power and authority. "Love Is a Mighty River" was penned for her by Coldplay's Chris Martin. A piano, Hammond B-3, and South Africa's Soweto Gospel Choir underscore her conviction and positivity. Likewise, Diane Warren penned the powerful title track for her. Clayton's delivery is initially soft and subtle, but she gradually ratchets the song into a soaring, anthemic testament of hope and faith. She's surrounded by tasteful strings, electric guitars, processional drums, and cascading keyboards. She rocks the house with Young's stomping "He Made a Way." Its riveting tempo, combined with Clayton's muscular delivery, revels in the influences of Dorothy Love Coates and Mahalia Jackson. The soul-gospel of "Oh What a Friend" frames that voice in swinging horns, funky wah-wah guitars, and shimmering percussion. Clayton croons above it, offering a stirring expression of spiritual gratitude. Beautiful Scars closes with a glorious medley of Stuart Hamblen's "It's No Secret What God Can Do," the Five Stairsteps' "Ooh Child," and Jackie DeShannon's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," sung in duet with her teenaged granddaughter Kyliyah backed by a strident gospel choir. Beautiful Scars is glorious. It's not a comeback album but an astonishing new chapter in the book of Clayton's epic life.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Yung Bleu first registered on the Billboard 200 with Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions, and after scoring gold with Moon Boy and charting a third time with Tantra, he made this full-length Love Scars sequel. Bleu crafts another set heavy on slow jams that emphasize his oft-modulated singing voice and willingness to be open about heartache, whether it's rooted in mistrust, jealousy, or insecurity. The simultaneously atmospheric and gut-spilling "Games Women Play" is the clear standout. Other noteworthy tracks include "Distant Lover," another Chris Brown collaboration, and "Stingy," an unflinching duet with Tink. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

Yung Bleu has explored more of his R&B side with his Bleu Vandross mixtape series and has even used that title as a credited alias, but it's Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions that offers the rapper/singer's highest concentration of R&B. As confessional as it is confrontational, the EP balances slow jams with aching ballads supported by sympathetic trap-styled productions from Nate Rhoads. A mix of emotions fills each track, and Bleu's vulnerability is always apparent, even when it's liberally modulated. The deluxe edition adds two tracks and swaps out the original "You're Mines Still" for the Hot 100-hitting version featuring a verse from Drake. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

Miley Cyrus' Time of Our Lives EP spawned the carefree mega-hit “Party in the U.S.A.,” but on her second album, she does just about everything she can to distance herself from that look and sound to announce that she has grown up. On Can’t Be Tamed’s cover, she’s clad in black from her heavily lined eyes to the tips of her toes, sporting pale skin and chestnut hair several shades darker than Hannah Montana blonde. The album’s sound is several shades darker too, but within reason; while none of these songs sounds like it belongs on one of her alter ego’s albums, Can’t Be Tamed was released by Hollywood Records, Disney’s more mature imprint. So while “Liberty Walk”'s bold synths and beats and rapped verses sound edgier than any of Cyrus' previous work, upbeat lyrics like “Don’t live a lie/This is your life” keep the song Radio Disney-friendly. She also tries this dancefloor-ready sound out for size on “Who Owns My Heart,” the stomping title track, and “Permanent December,” which apes the Auto-Tuned rapping of Kesha's “Tik Tok” minus that song’s mindless fun, which is actually a recurring problem on Can’t Be Tamed: too often, Cyrus equates grown-up with joyless, and songs like “Scars” reach for an emotional depth that isn’t there. Though pop was Cyrus' bread and butter during her Hannah years, the album’s synth-dominated tunes don’t jell with her voice; she sounds more natural and more grown-up on the songs that straddle rock and country, including the revved-up cover of Poison's “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and the anthemic “Two More Lonely People,” which makes the most of her voice and appeal as they are. Even occasionally overwrought ballads like “Stay” and “Take Me Along” are a more organic fit for the singer she has been and could become. At times Can’t Be Tamed feels perfunctory, doing the job of showing Cyrus is growing up without making her too mature for her still-young fan base and little else. She’s taken another step away from Hannah here, but there should be room for fun even in more adult musical territory.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Yung Bleu first registered on the Billboard 200 with Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions, and after scoring gold with Moon Boy and charting a third time with Tantra, he made this full-length Love Scars sequel. Bleu crafts another set heavy on slow jams that emphasize his oft-modulated singing voice and willingness to be open about heartache, whether it's rooted in mistrust, jealousy, or insecurity. The simultaneously atmospheric and gut-spilling "Games Women Play" is the clear standout. Other noteworthy tracks include "Distant Lover," another Chris Brown collaboration, and "Stingy," an unflinching duet with Tink. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

Yung Bleu first registered on the Billboard 200 with Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions, and after scoring gold with Moon Boy and charting a third time with Tantra, he made this full-length Love Scars sequel. Bleu crafts another set heavy on slow jams that emphasize his oft-modulated singing voice and willingness to be open about heartache, whether it's rooted in mistrust, jealousy, or insecurity. The simultaneously atmospheric and gut-spilling "Games Women Play" is the clear standout. Other noteworthy tracks include "Distant Lover," another Chris Brown collaboration, and "Stingy," an unflinching duet with Tink. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

Yung Bleu first registered on the Billboard 200 with Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions, and after scoring gold with Moon Boy and charting a third time with Tantra, he made this full-length Love Scars sequel. Bleu crafts another set heavy on slow jams that emphasize his oft-modulated singing voice and willingness to be open about heartache, whether it's rooted in mistrust, jealousy, or insecurity. The simultaneously atmospheric and gut-spilling "Games Women Play" is the clear standout. Other noteworthy tracks include "Distant Lover," another Chris Brown collaboration, and "Stingy," an unflinching duet with Tink. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

Yung Bleu has explored more of his R&B side with his Bleu Vandross mixtape series and has even used that title as a credited alias, but it's Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions that offers the rapper/singer's highest concentration of R&B. As confessional as it is confrontational, the EP balances slow jams with aching ballads supported by sympathetic trap-styled productions from Nate Rhoads. A mix of emotions fills each track, and Bleu's vulnerability is always apparent, even when it's liberally modulated. The deluxe edition adds two tracks and swaps out the original "You're Mines Still" for the Hot 100-hitting version featuring a verse from Drake. © Andy Kellman /TiVo