We don't know about you, but this time of year makes us want to strap on a pair of sparkly gold stilettos, squeeze into something that's possibly too tight given how much we ate over Thanksgiving, and get our ho-ho-holiday on — on the dancefloor, of course. Thankfully, many of our favorite pop stars seem to feel the same way, obliging us with festive dance pop originals and clubby remakes of the classics, all decked out with killer beats and groovable hooks. To get you in the holiday spirit, we've assembled this little guide to the brightest lights on the holiday pop tree, from the Biebster's naughty, brand-spanking-new Under the Mistletoe to Destiny's Child's ode to Rudolph. It's Christmas — with a beat you can dance to. 'Tis the season to get your booty wiggling!Click here for a playlist:
Christmas on the Dance Floor
Justin BieberUnder the Mistletoe
The Biebster + the holidays? Why didn't someone think of this sooner?! The boy wonder knows how to get you in the festive mood. And we do mean mood: things get downright naughty on "Christmas Eve." The classics are craftily reworked (Santa comes to town with hip-hop swagger; the drummer boy goes clubbing), and the originals are finely tuned to show off Bieber's surprising range, from dubby coffee-shop pop to soulful country. Plus, a bunch of fabulous guests stop by, including Usher, Boyz II Men and, yes, Mariah Carey. Mistletoe is no Mimi holiday album. But it's one heck of a holiday party. [Rachel Devitt]
We all love our holiday traditions, including our favorite seasonal songs, whether you're a classicist or a "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"-ist. This year, why not add a global dimension to your holiday listening traditions by embracing some international music customs? We've assembled an extensive guide to the best international and Latin holiday albums, including Christmas-, Hanukkah- and solstice-friendly music from Ireland, Cuba, Jamaica, Eastern Europe and more. So start listening and find some new ways to (musically) say Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Nollaig Shona Dhaoibh! Ah Freilichen Chanukah! Happy holidays!
Like the holiday season itself (emphasis on season — as in weeks of festivities), Christmas songs are kind of a big deal in the Latin-music world. From meditative religious songs to rollicking salsa soundtracks perfect for a parranda (the caroling/party tradition), sun-kissed Spanish versions of "White Christmas" to "El Burrito de Belén," there's a song for just about every occasion, and chances are it's been recorded by just about every big-name Latin star. In the spirit of the season, we put together a massive navidad mega-mix with the perfect song for every mood and moment, whether you're waking up at the crack of dawn for a novena service, preparing for a festive nochebuena dinner with family or just celebrating the season with friends. It includes a multiversion "Burrito" breakdown! ¡Feliz Navidad!
Well, pop fans, it looks like Christmas came early for us this year. Or, to put it another (more accurate) way, your favorite pop stars hustled to get their big albums out in time for the holidays — but before the end-of-the-year dead zone in which no album survives. Many beloved boldface names here: Rihanna! Kelly Clarkson! Drake! Bieber! The Muppets! In fact, so many great albums came out in the last month, we couldn't find a way to limit it to just 10. So here are pop's Top 11 albums of the last month — plus honorable mentions!
When 
"Urban Latin" is at once an extremely specific and yet incredibly vague term, but for our purposes here we've defined it loosely as Latin music that in some way cozies up to mainstream hip-hop and R&B, whether through its beats, its aesthetics, its collaborations or its target audience. We've focused this Cheat Sheet on three prominent styles: reggaeton, Latin hip-hop, and the newest big player in this game, bachata. That Dominican pop genre hasn't always been as urban-identified as, say, reggaeton (in fact, bachata was originally the music of the rural poor), but many of its biggest stars are carving out an aesthetic kinship to R&B that feels organic and sounds hot. 
One of Latin music's biggest events of the year is coming up November 10. We're talking, of course, about the Latin Grammy Awards, the annual star-studded fete honoring the brightest stars and most exciting newcomers in the wide, wonderful Latin music world. Held this year in Las Vegas (and airing on Univision), the 2011 program promises to be a stunner. Mariachi star/actress 
Not to toot our own horn or anything, but we think Rhapsody's World Roundups are pretty exciting. It's just so rewarding and exhilarating to take this kind of whirlwind trip around the world of global music, digging into all the fantastic and often under-the-radar new albums that have come out in the last couple months. Our Top Ten this time out, for instance, spans critically acclaimed African desert blues, almost-lost Afro-funk nuggets from Benin, shiver-inducing flamenco, neo-folkloric Mexican alt-rock and Brazilian-zydeco/Western swing/New Orleans jazz mashups. And that's just the first half! Get soundtrekking!
Motown's indelible impact on pop-music history is a direct result of the talent on the Detroit-born label's roster. Berry Gordy and his team sussed out the most skilled and (equally as important) the most likable kids they could find, often plucking actual kids out of obscurity (and high school), turning them into polished, professional pop stars. But Motown's success was also undoubtedly due to the well-oiled, machine-like way the studio ran, taking ridiculously young diamonds in the rough and putting them through the label's "factory" system, which included training in everything from music and dance to, yes, fashion and manners. 
Nobody says, "Sayonara, sucker!" quite like 
Looking for your new favorite song? Your favorite pop star's got you covered, kid. The last couple weeks have seen a clutch of killer new singles dropping (apparently like it's hot, according to Alexandra Stan) from a dizzying range of pop-friendly artistes. Dive in and find your favorite with our latest edition of single-phile, which breaks down the latest and greatest singles with quickie reviews and hit-potential predictions. To hear everything featured here at once, try my 
Over the last decade or so, many Latin artists have carved out a new style by stitching indie rock, hip-hop, electronic and pop together with folk and traditional music to create a sonic tapestry that's at once comfortably familiar and chicly cutting-edge. New York outfit 
Although Halloween as we know it in the United States isn't celebrated to the same degree in the rest of the world, the holiday is starting to gain ground in Latin America, with kids dressing up and trick-or-treating everywhere from Colombia to Mexico. And why not? A strong foundation for the holiday already exists. First and foremost, there's Dia de los Muertos, in which families and friends gather to commemorate departed loved ones with eating, drinking, music and general fiesta-making. It's a joyous occasion, of course, but still one in which the ghosts or souls of the departed are said to walk the earth again.
Well, it's been an interesting month or so, pop fans. If the albums we've selected as October's Top 10 are any indication, it's been a time of risk-taking, new endeavors and career revitalizations. We've got artists from high-profile groups branching out on their own for the first time (hi, Patrick Stump of 
Singing and a deep, analytic appreciation for it has always been a part of my life. The child of two music teachers, I grew up singing in choirs, taking voice lessons and participating in super-nerdy, incredibly embarrassing, overly harmonized family sing-alongs (Seriously. When my extended family is around, even "Happy Birthday" is usually done in about 12-part harmony). When I went to college, I tried to avoid my destiny for a while but I ended up getting a degree in voice performance anyway. Which is a ridiculously useless degree if you don't want to be an opera singer or, you know, a performer at all, which I quickly discovered I didn't. Nowadays, my own personal vocal performances are pretty much limited to the shower and the occasional drunken karaoke turn. But as a music critic, what I've done with all that singing is channel it into a deep, analytical appreciation for singers. 
When 
"Latin crossover" has meant many things over the years, from pop songs featuring Spanish lyrics to Latino artists who cracked the predominantly white mainstream charts. It's a vague, loaded and problematic term. But underneath that confusing umbrella, talented artists of Hispanic heritage have added rich musical, stylistic and sometimes linguistic strains to the tapestry of American pop music. That's what we're celebrating with this Cheat Sheet on Latin Crossover Artists, compiled in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is observed September 15 to October 15.
In this edition of the Latin Roundup, we get to touch on several corners of the vast and varied world of Latin music, thanks to the stellar collection of stylistically wide-ranging albums out in the last couple months. Norteño's "narco" kingpin Gerardo Ortiz dropped his first album since last winter's attacks on his entourage. Indie-pop darling Ximena Sariñana made good on the hype surrounding her debut with an even richer, more mature, more fun sophomore collection. And rock queen Alejandra Guzman recaps her illustrious career with a killer greatest-hits collection. So let's dig in.
Last year, a young pop-R&B upstart named 
It's easy to forget that pop stars are real people, too. After all, they're famous! And beautiful! And rich! And, well, surreal. But it's true: as real people from the (mostly) real world, they, too, have real problems. They struggle with relationships and mental health issues. They go through down times and deal with drug and alcohol addictions. In fact, sometimes it seems like they might be even more prone to such "real" issues than the rest of us.
With its roots in Indian films of the 1950s and '60s, Indian film music is the sound of playback singers (something akin to voiceover artists) reinforcing pivotal scenes — and revealing hidden emotions and future plot developments. The tradition is based in classical and folk performance wherein theater, dance and song coexist seamlessly, but for the last several decades, Bollywood soundtracks have also contributed heavily to India's pop music culture, spawning big stars and hit songs. Film music, in other words, is a vital part of daily life in India and a powerful vehicle for cultural expression. But especially in today's Bollywood, where composers and singers create music under intense time pressure, creating a flurry of pop tunes that come and go within a matter of weeks, Indian film music can be overwhelming. So we assembled this brief introduction to the vast, varied and exciting world of Bollywood, breaking down the industry's biggest stars and hottest composers in both the classic (1930s-1960s) and contemporary era in this handy-dandy extensive (yet still drop-in-the-bucket) annotated 
We all reacted to the horrible events of September 11, 2001, in our own ways — wherever we were, whatever we were doing, whichever CD or radio station or fizzy pop single we first reached for to help us cope. Here, Rhapsody's editors offer their own musical perspectives, from saber-rattling country to hopeful worship music, from pop-punk bromides to plaintive protest songs, from the momentary tentativeness of comedy to the fieriness of hip-hop to the transcendence of jazz. As Sonny Rollins put it, "Maybe music can help. I don't know, but we have to try something." Here's what we tried. 
Like the country's rich and varied natural landscape — and its thrilling and often tumultuous socio-political history — Colombian musical culture is exhilarating, breathtakingly diverse and at once richly historic and cutting-edge. Its musical claims to fame encompass everything from wide-ranging folk traditions to some of the world's biggest Latin pop stars, from rock heavyweights to alt-folkloric hip-hop. Colombian musicians are also equally brilliant at both artistic importing and exporting: salsa inundated the country and Colombians made it their own, while homegrown cumbia has infiltrated nearly every sector of the Latin world. What we've assembled here in this guide to Colombian music is only a very brief introduction, but it will give you a taste for just how deliciously diverse this country's musical heritage is. Dig in.
Can you believe it's already fall? Seems like just yesterday we were dusting off the old mojito mint muddler, taking the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini out of mothballs and talking about summer jams. (Though that could also be because the last edition of single-phile was literally about summer jams.) And now it's time to pack up the white pants, send the kiddies off to school and start getting primed for fall's big albums. 
Psychedelic rock has always been pretty global by definition, in a misty, crystalline, incense-and-peppermints kind of way. In its '60s and '70s heyday, the influences of psychedelia — drugs, sitars, mysterious religions, political ideologies — traveled along a crisscrossing bohemian circuit of exotic locales from India to Morocco to Guatemala. At the same time, local musicians in each of those places and many more joined the trip themselves. Psychedelic artists like Ethiopia's 
The last month has been a bit slow for straight-up pop releases: albums by those artists who can only be classified under "pop." That said, the last month has also bestowed upon us a clutch of new albums that may come to us from other primary genres, but are also perfectly comfortable under pop's roof: hip-hop fueled by serious star power, rock and pop-punk that's not afraid of a hook or a dance beat, and indie music from around the world that's aesthetically as pop as 
We admit that the title of this Cheat Sheet we've compiled ("we" being Latin editor 
The Video Music Awards are Sunday night! Yes, we know, MTV doesn't play videos much anymore. And chances are 
It's hard to imagine pop culture or, well, life in general without 
Like baby dolls (so easily creepified!) and nursery rhymes (so easily zombified!), fairy tales are like super-duper strong catnip (like, you could bake brownies with it) to tortured artist types. And why not? There's so much fodder there for impressing upon one's audience just how tortured and artsy you are: dark and twisty paths. Gothic architecture. Brutal morals. Childhood-perverting plots. And those are just the Disney versions. The originals, which were traditionally told as warnings to children who had to protect themselves in a less sheltered world, are even more terrifying.
This edition of the World Roundup underscores just how vast and wide-ranging the music under the ambiguous umbrella term "world" can be, and at the same time, what beautiful common ground exists there. Afropop, Balkan brass, Brazilian tropicália, Haitian-Cuban choral folk music, East African dub, globe-trotting electro-funk ... you'll find all that and more below. But even this disparate range shares an investment in and undying dedication to the groove, whether it inspires a meditative trance or rocking-out jam-band exuberance. So sit back and let it all sink in.
Dance variety shows that targeted younger fans had long been a staple of pop music by the time Chicago DJ and concert promoter Don Cornelius premiered Soul Train in 1970. But with the first howl of "Soooooul Train!" the beloved result irrevocably transformed the heavily whitewashed model of such earlier programs as American Bandstand. The focus on African-American artists and, well, soul music -- Motown, funk, classic R&B, Philly soul, and, later, disco and hip-hop -- made the show a cultural hub for African-American audiences, and brought that culture to the white mainstream, introducing viewers across the United States to new fashions, dances and music. 
Bow down to Deadmau5, oh ye water-logged masses. Pics by Garrett Kamps.
Just sing, man: CeeLo does his Rock God thing. Pics by Garrett Kamps
My sister is obsessed with chickens. Like, seriously. She has a kitchen full of kitschy chicken stuff. Any time there's a call for a nickname to put on the back of a t-shirt, she goes for something poultry-related. She does a mean chicken impression (hen-pression? OK, maybe not): it's just not Christmas in my family without her clucked rendition of "
Latin alternative music, like anything lurking under that ambiguous "alt" umbrella, is a hodgepodge hive of sounds, ranging from gritty rock to twee pop, from experimental electronic music to quirky hip-hop. But one aspect of the sound is easy to pin down: initially a kind of boys' club (or at least a club in which admittedly very talented boys got most of the attention), the world of Latin alt has recently been invaded by captivating, critically acclaimed, incredibly talented female artists. In fact, there are so many fresh new female faces in this world that we're focusing here primarily on women working in the cantautor (aka singer-songwriter) tradition, and saving the hard-rocking outfits, punk bands and emcees for another time. But even within that concentration, a wealth of sonic diversity exists, from Juana Molina's ambient electro-pop to Rita Indiana's techno-merengue, from Pistolera's folklorico rock to indie-pop darling Ximena Sariñana, whose masterful self-titled sophomore album dropped this week.
Welcome to 
This edition of our monthly Pop Roundup serves two purposes. First, as always, it's your exclusive guide to the hottest new pop albums — the big ones you know, but also the up-and-comers you just haven't fallen in love with yet. But this particular dispatch is also a great showcase of the breadth encompassed under that ambiguous umbrella (that's right: ambiguous umbrella) we call "pop." We've got everything from Joss Stone's increasingly blues-soaked soul-pop to The Summer Set's Bieber-meets-emo pop-rock, from Vanessa Carlton's new '70s-spun opus to dance-pop princesses like Kelly Rowland, Selena Gomez and, well, Pitbull. And, of course, there's Queen Bey.
The much-lauded second album by 
Ah, summer. The season of beaches, bikinis and banging summer singles. A few weeks back, we gifted you with our massive mega-mix of 
Welcome back to 
Welcome back to 
"
After three solo albums and a full tour of duty in 
Welcome back to 
By 1998, 
Welcome to 
Welcome to week two of 
Summer, summer, summertime. It's that time of year again: barbecues, bikinis, lazy days at the beach and, of course, summer jams — those songs that just somehow define the best season of them all. We've assembled a massive collection here: more than seven hours of summer-themed classics, from "
A bunch of punk kids form their own adult-scaring, mainstream-baiting subculture with a unique style, slang and sound. Sound familiar? That's the recipe for basically every pop music style ever, but the particular concoction we're talking about here resulted in the Latin-laden R&B and swing genre known as pachuco boogie, which came to life in the '40s and '50s.
Ready? OK! Picture it: it's 2002-ish. You're a senior and totally, like, the hottest girl in school. Oh, and you're a cheerleader. Duh! Life is pretty sweet: you get to wear super-short skirts to school, you're dating the point guard, and Bring It On (and the sequel!) just came out, so everyone is, like, totally into cheerleaders right now. (As if they weren't already!) And? Bonus! The pop music of the day is totally awesome for killer floor routines: big, dance-pop beats (perfect for pom ripples!), and sexy (but not too sexy) lyrics performed by hot boys and girls who look like (or at least as good as) cheerleaders. (
May was Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, a celebration of the history and contemporary contributions of Asian communities and cultures to this country. That celebration includes the roles Asian-Pacific artists have played in American popular music—contributions that have all too often been overlooked, underappreciated or restricted. The history of American pop music has often been a predominantly black-and-white (and sometimes Latino) one; Asian artists struggle to get noticed and acquire record deals in a demographics-based industry that doesn't seem to know how to market them. But even those artists who do make it often get written out of the history books: see, for instance, the Asian-American big bands who toured the country during the swing era, or even the more recent contributions of West Coast Filipino DJ culture to hip-hop.
Regional Mexican music is a wide and varied world with hotly contested borders — its vast yet insular nature can be completely overwhelming to neophytes. From brass-tastic banda to romantic ranchera, from grisly narcocorridos to jubilant polkas (all sometimes in the same song!), this diverse swath of music pulses with the richness of Mexican cultures on either side of the border. The terrain encompasses the sounds of accordions and synthesizers, sticky-sweet pop and centuries-old folk traditions. It's a pretty exciting journey to take, and that's especially been the case in the first half of 2011, which has seen big-name release after big-name release (plus plenty of noise from hot new up-and-comers). We've rounded up this spring's hottest new releases in Norteño, banda, Tex-Mex/Tejano, duranguense, ranchera and more. So get ready to explore, and if you start to feel lost, just remember: almost all roads lead to Los Tigres del Norte.
You think "alternative" is a confusing, ambiguous, meaningless term? Try "Latin alternative." Does it mean a Latin band that plays, um, mainstream alt-rock? Or an artist that offers an alternative to Latin pop? And isn't every Latin band an alternative to the American rock mainstream? Yes? No? Maybe? Forget the semantics and just take a listen to the crème de la crème of albums that have come out under that heading in the last couple months. We've rounded up a Top 10 that includes American electro-poppers who sing in Spanish, Mexican garage rockers who sing in English, Argentinean psychedelica, Venezuelan dance punks and post-grunge rockers who pack soccer stadiums across the Latin American world. There's an alternative for everyone.
As a rule, our regular single-phile column is devoted to — OK, obsessed with — dissecting the latest and greatest in pop singles. And while our definition of pop is as varied as, well, the genre itself is, we do typically focus on English-language pop. But so many great Latin singles have dropped in the past few weeks that we had to remedy that language bias and give them some love. 
That title might sound like a crack about 
Last week, right here in this little space, we posited that there are (at least) two kinds of singers in the pop world. First, there are the belters, musical heavyweights who sing out, showing off all that those impressive instruments are capable of. We recapped the musical history of powerhouse vocals, touching on genres (like R&B and country) that have been friendly to such brassy boldness and melismatic acrobatics, as well as those in which bigger vocal figures have struggled to fit in. See our 
Beyonce! Gaga! Rihanna! Estelle! The boldface names of pop have been busy bees in the last couple weeks, dropping singles you're sure to be listening to for months to come. But don't let the big stars blind you to the up-and-comers, who are eagerly awaiting your attention — and absolutely killing it in the process. In short, single-phile is not wanting for exciting subject matter this time around. (Did we mention there's a new Beyonce single?!) So listen up as we break down your new favorite songs (and assess the likelihood that they'll succeed).
In the pop world, there are two kinds of female singers. You've got your belters, big voices capable of melismatic acrobatics that are in the business not so much of singing as of making bold, brassy vocal statements, honey. And then you've got your baby voices, ladies who can break your heart and turn you on with just one small, subtle coo. OK, so there are way more types of pop singers, but lately, it seems like the charts have been overrun with vocalists who adopt one or the other of those two singing strategies. So we decided to break them down — then pit them against each other in an Epic! Singer! Showdown!
So many great new releases have come through the various channels of world and Latin in the short time 2011's been alive. So many, in fact, that we've pared them down to a Top 10 of the Year — so far. (And we didn't even quite manage to keep it to 10.) Now, that should tell you something about how this year's shaping up in the world of world and Latin. Saving the Latin pop for another time (or see our recent Latin-only 
The world of pop music is both a monarchy and a meritocracy. On the one hand, you have your queens and kings — pop royalty who need no last name, artists like 
What do belching brass lines and thrashing guitar licks have in common? How about jovial Balkan wedding bands and drunken, debauched N.Y.C. punks? Well, actually, quite a lot (and not all of it has to do with Eugene Hutz, Elijah Wood or Borat). 
Gay men and female pop stars have always had a special relationship. For decades, the latter have spoken to (and sometimes for) a demographic that has endured a great deal of prejudice and abuse, providing a mainstream voice (or at least outlet) for those who historically have had none in mainstream society. To adore a particular diva has been, at times, a means of building community, articulating a dangerous desire or simply making friends. But gay men also have plenty to offer their beloved divas: long renowned as tastemakers and trendsetters, gay men have increasingly become a sought-after demographic for the pop diva, more than one of whom has the Friends of Dorothy (and, especially, their dance clubs) to thank for her latest hit or, sometimes, her entire career.
At the ripe old age of 29, 
The Latin pop world knows divas. Take 
Is it just us or are the charts seriously blowing up lately? If someone's not setting off a "Firework" or some "Dynamite," they're making the place "Blow" or go "Boom." Even if they're not blowing stuff up, pop stars seem to be wallowing in a kind of dance-pop dystopia: drowning their sorrows in drink or relentless, brain-obliterating beats, singing about dancing away the pain or even "Till the World Ends," as Britney suggests in her new single. What the hellow is going on? 
Ms. Avril Lavigne's latest, 
The "Girls" in question refer to both the fans and the artists they loved. These are the girls who, depending on your sex (and sexual orientation), you either secretly drooled over or secretly wanted to be (or maybe both). A little (Emily the) strange, a lot artistic (or at least artsy), kind of aloof in an incredibly enticing way. Favorite activities included reading Sassy, doodling neo-feminist comic book characters, slathering on eyeliner, cutting bangs, seeing shows by quirky girl performers who looked a lot like them, and generally being cooler than you. Favorite bands encompassed the full range of indie girldom at the time — and it was quite a range in the early '90s, from twee pop to riot grrrl, from breathy hipster ingenues to screaming rockers, from 
Swedish pop presents an interesting conundrum — or, more accurately, a series of interesting conundrums — for American music fans. Older Swedish pop stars (like 
Winter is typically kind of a cold, barren wasteland as far as albums go, but in the Latin music world — like much of Latin America — things often manage to stay fairly caliente. The last few months (and granted, we are reaching back to the very edges of winter) have seen a number of exciting new Latin releases that encompass everything from alt-rock to Garifuna pop, reggaeton (lots and lots of reggaeton) to Ricky Martin. Catch up on current Latin music with our roundup of recent albums, complete with nutshell reviews, don't-miss tracks and further listening suggestions.
Much of soul history has been dominated by powerhouse African American singers — rightly so. Soul is often couched in the pain and joy, trials and tribulations of African American experiences. Every so often, however, along comes a white girl who has the blues — or manages to sing like she does, belting her way through one soul style or another with a big voice and bigger heart. 
In case you hadn't heard, a little Lady we like to call Gaga dropped the Huge! New! First! Single! off her upcoming Huge! Sophomore! Album! Yes, the buzz around this one has been deafening — and rightly so. Gaga has proven herself a trendsetter. In a very short amount of time, she dance-popified the charts. Now, as she puts her money where her mouth is by paying homage to her legions of gay fans, she is also clearly hoisting her own freak flag (think of "Born This Way" as the Little Monsters Creed, in other words). And once again, her fellow pop stars are right there with her. The pop world right now is full of songs and artists clearly invested in acts of rebellion, freakishness and monsterdom. So on this edition of single-phile, we take a walk on the wild side of the charts, analyzing the countercultural tendencies of your favorite mainstream pop stars.
Last year, 
All eyes are on Egypt as the citizens of that country have risen up to demand a regime change and a government that will justly meet the needs of the people. As the world watches with bated breath to see what will become of the days of protests, we're also learning a great deal about the rich and complicated cultural history of that country. That history includes a diverse musical culture, the influence of which extends across the 
Releasing an album in December or January is always a bit of a crapshoot. On the one hand, it could give everyone one more thing to put on their Christmas list (or spend their holiday loot on). On the other, it could get lost amid the mountains of wrapping paper and holiday albums and New Year's resolutions and year-end lists. And that, friends, is where your handy dandy Pop Roundup comes in. We've gathered up the latest and greatest in pop releases from the past month or two, providing you with everything you need to catch up on what you missed while you were busy shoveling fruitcake in your mouth or trying to work it off at the gym later or, you know, drinking.
Descendants of Africans who escaped slave ships and built communities with the local Arawakan population along the Caribbean coast of Central America, Garifuna musicians are heirs to one of the world's most distinctive and resilient cultures. So it only makes sense that the musics they play represent some of the globe's most joyous yet politically critical, unique yet inherently diasporic, prolifically traditional yet hybrid, adaptive and inventive: the percussive religious music, the acoustic guitar-driven paranda, the various permutations of the punta rock genre created by the late great savior of Garifuna music, 
So here we are, a few short weeks into 2011, and the new year, baby that it is, is already strutting its stuff and looking rather fabulous. Musically speaking, we're starting the year off with some very hot new singles off some very hotly anticipated upcoming albums by some very big, very bold-faced and, uh, well, very hot names. So we've devoted this edition of single-phile to providing you, dear pop fan, with a little guide to the year (so far) in hot! new! singles!, including our 25-words-or-less summaries and predictions for whether or not the song will last through 2011's middle age.
If you're a new or casual fan of 
The worlds of world and Latin music can be very disparate. But because there is some overlap (hence, the job title of yours truly), we've merged the two worlds (or perhaps more accurately, multiple worlds) temporarily to run through some of the year's most hotly anticipated albums. Just call it musical globalization! On this vast horizon, then, are Garifuna soul and Guadalajaran rock, Pitbull and Ladysmith Black Mambazo — and that's essentially just the first quarter of 2011. In short, the world(s) are looking pretty exciting this year.
Something was missing from pop music last year. Don't get us wrong, 2010 was a great year for pop and all: we enjoyed the dance popicization of the charts, we thought 
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the music inside is so delightful! 'Tis the season for new holiday releases, so we've rounded up the best and the brightest of this year's offerings from rock, pop, country, jazz and more. Check out our nutshell reviews, don't-miss track recommendations, further listening suggestions and tidings of comfort and joy. OK, we'll stop with the corny Christmas references.
The question on everyone's mind (OK, ours anyway) as we listen to the 
Don't call 
"I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth." That's what it has sounded like in our heads the past few weeks, thanks to Willow Smith's unbelievably infectious debut single, which has been making the blogosphere rounds like some kind of freaking kiddie dance-pop epidemic. So in the interest of placating our new goddess by, you know, converting the rest of the world, we've dedicated this edition of single-phile to new and just under-the-radar artists like Ms. Smith — the smash hits of tomorrow by the best pop artists you aren't listening to. Yet.
The pop world has been positively hopping during the last month or so, bursting at the seams with hot new release after hot new release. This edition of the Pop Roundup, therefore, not only showcases the quantity, but the genre-spanning quality of that beloved umbrella term we call pop, jumping from Latin pop to kiddie rock, from hipster hip-hop to synth-tastic country. Catch up on what you've missed (and get ready to feed some new addictions) with our comprehensive guide, featuring nutshell reviews, don't-miss tracks and further listening suggestions. 
Portions of album content provided by All Music Guide © 2011 All Media Guide, LLC ® 1999-2011 Rhapsody International Inc.