{blackbabes} Listen Up: Jill Scott, Bon Iver, Michael Bolton

Jill Scott, The Light of the Sun***R&B

Scott gets up close and personal on her new album, waxing poetic and righteous about love, heartache and self-empowerment. There are some painfully intimate moments, but the singer infuses her lithely soulful confessions and declarations with grace and dry humor. If anything, Light makes you eager for more of Scott's sunny but ultimately serious-minded perspective.

>>Download:Shame, All Cried Out (Redux), Hear My Call

Michael Bolton,

Gems: The Duets Collection

** POP

Does the world need another critic carping about Michael Bolton and his overwrought, constipated-sounding vocals? Probably not. So suffice to say that if you're a fan, you'll enjoy this collection of smoothly produced, mostly well-known pop and soul tunes pairing Bolton with a variety of artists. If not … well, why are you reading this?

>>Download:Love Is Everything, Sanja

Bon Iver, Bon Iver

*** INDIE POP

Justin Vernon's second album follows the serenely beautiful For Emma, Forever Ago, the lauded 2008 debut that led to soundtrack placements and collaborations with Kanye West. Bon Iver builds on that with creative splendor and emotional authenticity, plus a welcome stroll beyond Emma's claustrophobic Wisconsin cabin to the upbeat country in Towers and the soul in Minnesota, WI.

>>Download:Beth/Rest, Perth, Holocene

Pit Bull, Planet Pit

** DANCE POP

There are no wallflowers on Planet Pit, where the beats are always thumping . The Miami rapper could fill a dance floor with all the hot producers and pop and R&B stars on his album. Marc Anthony, Kelly Rowland and T-Pain are among the friends who help ensure that Pitbull will keep steady banging in all the clubs this summer.

>>Download:Rain Over Me, Give Me Everything