Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams' pop/R&B solo debut is a rousing success. Not necessarily because it's so incredibly fantastic: It is very pleasant in spots ("Stop This Car," for instance, rather enjoyably works the most heavy-handed automotive metaphor this side of "Shut Up and Drive" and Williams' voice in general has this nice, slightly off-beat, almost Billie Holiday quality to it), albeit a little low-energy at times (see how we can't stop using words like "pleasant?"). But what makes Unexpected so successful is also what makes it so, well, unexpected: In short, it does not sound remotely like Beyonce.