Bark + Bite

K'NAAN and Nelly Furtado open their arms and hearts to misfits

In case the Internetz and wealthy pop stars haven't told you yet: It gets better. This viral campaign which was started in response to the tragic rash of gay suicides last year, has shifted pop music toward soaring self-esteem anthems. Katy Perry mastered it with "Firework" and here comes Somali-Canadian rapper K'NAAN trying his hand at it with help from his fellow Canuck, Nelly Furtado.

Look, if you're sick of these schmaltzy inspirational pop anthems, this might rub you the wrong way. There's a corniness factor at work, and K'NAAN's hip pop verses float somewhere between Lupe Fiasco and will.i.am territory. They're not quite bad and not quite good either.

The aim of K'NAAN's song is focused on painting the story of two misfits of society: Adam and Mary. Mary struggles with the pressures of outer beauty placed on her by society, while Adam suffers from abandonment issues from his absent father and ultimately ends up a slave to his drug abuse. It's a cliched afterschool special we've all seen a thousand times before.

Nelly saves the song with her rich, golden hook: "I don't wanna be left in this war tonight / Am I alone in this fight? / Is anybody out there." It's much more "Like A Bird" than "Promiscuous" and Nelly sounds glad to be back in that airy zone.

Listen to K'NAAN and Nelly's collaboration below

Jennifer Hudson and Ne-Yo have a battle of the sexes on "Think Like a Man"

It's always a battle between what he said and she said when it comes to relationship drama. And who does drama better than Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson?

Joining forces with Ne-Yo and Rick Ross for the lead single for the movie Think Like a Man soundtrack, Jennifer Hudson bellows with all of her gospel might over a stormy R&B track.

"You said every king needs his queen back, that's why you needed me baby/ Right in between lust and love, you go and mess things up," Hudson belts.

But Ne-Yo claps back for the fellas, smartly replying that they would've been "better friends" than lovers. Rick Ross was thrown in the mix because what song ISN'T Rick Ross thrown on these days? Frankly, it's just a matter of time before Purina hires him to re-do the meow, meow jingle too.

Listen to Jennifer Hudson and Ne-Yo's duet below

D.A. Wallach of Chester French steps out with the Supa Dups

Chester French frontman D.A. Wallach is trying on a new outfit. A new band, more specifically, called the D.A. and the Supa Dups.

Have no fears, CF fans. D.A. maintains that he is working on new Chester French music in parallel with his new side projects. His latest brainchild, D.A. and the Supa Dups, takes a very Caribbean approach to music with lush reggae tones and breezy island melodies. He has paired with Jamaican producer Supa Dups, which is how their collaborative stage name came about.

On the first offering, "Who Do You Know," the sounds of paradise collide with doo wop for a tale of love at first sight.

Who Do You Know by dasupadups

The other single, "Too Cool," brings on board controversial skin-bleaching dancehall musician Vybez Cartel for a funky, dancefloor filler about a good girl who's really bad.

Too Cool Featuring Vybz Kartel by dasupadups

What do you think? Is D.A. onto something with his Supa Dups spinoff or is he better off with Chester French?

Kelly Clarkson makes her return with new single "Mr. Know It All"

At first glance, Kelly Clarkson's new single, "Mr. Know It All," seems to be a sequel to one of her first hits, "Miss Independent." In reality, the song represents a very different point in Clarkson's career, and unfortunatly it's a bit of a step back for the original American Idol winner.

The singer who brought us super catchy loud hits such as "Since U Been Gone" and "I Do Not Hook Up" as well as softer, slower classics like "Breakaway," has always been a master at knowing when to pump up the noise and when to tone it down and let her voice shine. Yet on this track, the balance is off. Softer instrumentals are paired with a Pink-esqe tone to Clarkson's vocals, and the mix just doesn't quite click.

When listeners get to the chorus and the gruffness in her singing is dropped (for the most part), the song gets a whole lot better. As Clarkson sings, "You think that you know me/That's why I'm leaving you lonely," it's difficult not to groove along.

But that's another problem with this song: It doesn't exactly lend itself to blasting in the car and screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs (whether or not the windows are rolled up on down, that depends on you). It's frustratingly close to being a mega-hit; if the instrumentals and the vocals matched more consistently, there'd be no stopping Clarkson yet again. Instead, we're left with a track that won't be remembered as one of Kelly Clarkson's Greatest Hits but that is close enough that it won't disappoint most fans.

What do you think - do you love it? Hate it? Couldn't care less? Listen below and sound off!

Katy Perry gets a helping hand from Missy Elliott for "Last Friday Night" remix

For her last smash single, Katy Perry called on Kanye West for an assist on "E.T.," this time, Katy's goes for more of a throwback, calling on femcee veteran Missy Elliott. The results? Not too bad, really. But it hardly seems primed to make the single race up the charts like Katy's pairing with Ye.

What Katy seemed to be striving for on this remix seems like it would've been better accomplished by Nicki Minaj. She's the femcee du jour and she's already done the same for Katy's fellow pop princess Britney Spears on "Till the World Ends." Throwing Missy Elliott on here does more of a favor to Missy than it does Katy really, as it sheds a light of relevance on Missy's career.

But that being said, the breakdown section that replaces the album version's sax solo is downright funky. And Missy's wild energy remains intact. So it's a sign that Missy still knows how to get a party started, at least. And that's worth celebrating on any day of the week.

Listen to the remix of Katy's TGIF anthem featuring Missy below

Miguel talks about his next two singles, hear new track "On U Like Rain"

Miguel is a busy dude. That is when he's getting into scraps with other R&B singers on Twitter.

The barcode-haired singer recently played at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans and he talked about the next two singles from his debut project, All I Want Is You, with Sound-Savvy.

The plan is to release "Quickie" (which is already gaining traction on urban radio) and "Girls Like You" in tandem. He shot videos for songs, in one day no less, and by the way he talks about the concept, it sounds like they'll be combined as one video.

If you think about "Quickie" as far as the concept, "Quickie" and "Girls Like You" are completely opposite records, talking about completely opposite things. It was all about symbolism and juxtaposing my reality with my subconscious. One is my reality and one is the subconscious.

Watch Miguel talk about his new singles and hear a new song below

Monica sticks with that '90s sound on "Anything to Find You"

Some people in R&B just prefer to move on, like Usher, who is now cashing in on euro-pop with David Guetta and will.i.am. Monica, on the other hand, is loyal to R&B to a T. In fact, '90s R&B, the decade in which she rose to fame, is so much her thang, thang that she got Rick Ross and Lil' Kim to come together on a track that apes everything Mary J. Blige and Puff were doing in the '90s with hip hop soul.

Teaming up with her friend and reliable collaborator Missy Elliott, Monica sings about searching for a soul mate to end her lonely pangs over a sample of the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya." And maybe it's the Biggie sample that gives Lil' Kim back her mojo, cause she sounds like her old Hardcore self with her naughty quips about men being only good for the lickin' and not the stickin'. Rick Ross, as usual, is BIG-inspired as well, but he's really unnecessary filler on the track. Kind of like his appearance in Kanye's "Monster." The track would've been perfectly fine with just Mo' and Kim.

Despite the song sticking to the tried and true formula that Missy has concocted with Monica, the truth is that it still works. There ain't nothin' wrong, with a little '90s R&B. Can't get enough, to be quite honest.

Listen to Monica's new hip hop soul single below

R.Kelly awkwardly forces himself on to Britney's "Till The World Ends"

When R.Kelly hooked up with Britney Spears to produce her almost single "Outrageous" for her 2004 album In The Zone, he was an in-demand songwriter and producer. He'd weathered the backlash of his underage sex scandal by cooking up irresistibly catchy ditties like "Ignition Part 2" and at the time, he was busy producing for people like Nick Cannon, B2K, Ciara, Michael Jackson and Ginuwine.

It was an odd pairing somewhat back then, but it worked. Britney was able to sell R.Kelly's freak song about an "outrageous" sex drive and shopping spree thanks to her naughty but nice persona.

Now, perhaps as the result of an itch for a reunion with the Britser, R.Kelly has unnecessarily jumped on a remix of Britney's latest hit, "Till The World Ends," and it's pretty awful. Like old-uncle-trying-to-do-the-dougie-at-your-graduation-party awkward.

R. Kelly might be able to genre hop between R&B and gospel music but he sure as hell can't touch dance-pop with a ten foot pole. Just because you put autotune on your voice and hop on a boom boom pow beat doesn't mean you're will.i.am. This dance thing ain't for everybody!

Listen to R.Kelly's head-scratching remix to Britney's song below