R&B star Taio Cruz may have become a ubiquitous presence in the U.K. charts over the past three years, having appeared on tracks by Tinchy Stryder and McFly, as well as nine of his own hits, but even so, the release of a best-of package just two albums into his career still feels remarkably premature. Exclusively compiled for the U.K. market, The Rokstarr Collection collates all of his singles, bar "No Other One," alongside several album tracks from his LPs Departure and Rokstarr, and three previously unreleased songs from the latter's International Edition ("Higher," "Dynamite," and the Ludacris version of "Break Your Heart"). There's no denying the impact his innovative fusion of electro beats, techno synths, and R&B hooks, which he first showcased on 2008 Top Five single, "Come On Girl," has made on the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. But despite scoring two number one singles, "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite," he hasn't yet produced enough material or offered enough variation in his brief career to justify a 15-track greatest hits. Indeed, The Rokstarr Collection only highlights how unimaginative and samey his more recent output has become. While he burst onto the scene with the smooth soul balladry of the Ne-Yo-esque slow jams "Moving On" and "I Just Wanna Know," the success of his urban synth pop reinvention has seen him concentrate instead on a series of increasingly formulaic and derivative club-friendly tunes. Strip away the guest vocals from Kesha, Tinchy Stryder, and Ludacris, and "Dirty Picture," "Take Me Back," and "Break Your Heart" are pretty indistinguishable from one another, such is their similarly heavily Auto-Tuned and generic techno-pop production. When Cruz veers away from his signature sound, he's much more interesting. "I Can Be" is a motivational, string-soaked, midtempo which shows that underneath the layers of studio trickery, Cruz possesses a pretty impressive, soulful voice, while the chiming guitars of "Feel Again" and the pounding rhythms of "Falling in Love" recall the melodic epic rock of early Coldplay, a healthy indication that he'll be more than capable of adapting once his trademark sound is considered passé. If Cruz can add a bit more variety to his future work, he could well have enough material for a pretty stellar compilation in a few years time, but for the moment, The Rokstarr Collection falls far too short to be anything other than a mildly diverting career stop-gap.© Jon O'Brien /TiVo

One of those artists where the forward slashes keep coming -- singer/songwriter/producer/label owner/etc. -- Taio Cruz creates futuristic, vibrant, and supremely polished music that’s split so evenly between R&B and pop that you might well call it R&P. Make that R&P with some rap and dance music flavors along with A-list guest stars like Ludacris (the glittering single “Break Your Heart”) and Kesha (the naughty club workout “Dirty Picture”). The hooks are plentiful on Rokstarr and infectious as they come. while as a producer Cruz is the Akon-meets-will.i.am-meets- Xenomania package that radio and record labels have dreamed about. Sounds good, and the album does the whole way through, but lyrics are a sore point and when ballads appear to help round out the effort, Cruz’s Coldplay-big soundscapes just help emphasize how his words are trite. Still, when you let the clichés fade into the background this is a master class in what the mainstream wants for a soundtrack in 2010. Break off a single or two and leave the rest for aspiring producers to study.© David Jeffries /TiVo

One of those artists where the forward slashes keep coming -- singer/songwriter/producer/label owner/etc. -- Taio Cruz creates futuristic, vibrant, and supremely polished music that’s split so evenly between R&B and pop that you might well call it R&P. Make that R&P with some rap and dance music flavors along with A-list guest stars like Ludacris (the glittering single “Break Your Heart”) and Kesha (the naughty club workout “Dirty Picture”). The hooks are plentiful on Rokstarr and infectious as they come. while as a producer Cruz is the Akon-meets-will.i.am-meets- Xenomania package that radio and record labels have dreamed about. Sounds good, and the album does the whole way through, but lyrics are a sore point and when ballads appear to help round out the effort, Cruz’s Coldplay-big soundscapes just help emphasize how his words are trite. Still, when you let the clichés fade into the background this is a master class in what the mainstream wants for a soundtrack in 2010. Break off a single or two and leave the rest for aspiring producers to study.© David Jeffries /TiVo

Portland rapper Yeat rode viral online success to a major-label deal, and with debut studio album Up 2 Më he amplifies all the different components that made him stand out from the pack when he was starting out. His production is saturated and colorful, decorating trappy drums with burning synths and menacing bell samples rather than the usual piano loops and generic dreamy atmospheres so many mainstream rap hits rely on. His vocal style is a throaty gurgle doused in Auto-Tune, bending melodic hooks into distorted bleats on the fast-switching flows of "Money So Big" and slowly squeezing out syllables over the blown-out bass hits of "Ya Ya." Viral single "Gët Busy" is one of the better examples of Yeat's strange powers coming together. A tense beat made up of droning synths and nervous hi-hats is all the rapper needs to launch into a stream of tight, sometimes bizarre lyrics that range from puffed-up club scenes to lines about being so high he feels like a snail. It's funny, weird, and infectious, like the best of Up 2 Më. Uncommon production choices and Yeat's laid-back but surprisingly off-center personality make these tracks a breath of fresh air in a commercial rap landscape where artists and songs can sometimes feel interchangeable. © TiVo Staff /TiVo