Madonna

The a-pop-calypse is upon us: The trend-swallowing mother of reinvention has reinvented herself as ... Nelly Furtado? Eschewing her usual stable of obscure but respected producers, Madonna has saddled herself with the biggest beatmakers in the biz for album number 11, and she doesn't always come out on top. Tracks like "Heartbeat," "She's Not Me" and especially "Give It 2 Me" (is that gamelan in there?!) are true Madonna: fresh, exciting, sexy. At times, however, the indomitable Madge is, well, dominated by the Neptunes, Danja, and especially Timbaland and his boy wonder, Timberlake.