Dido

There is something irresistible and sweet about Dido, and it matters little what she sings about since she imbues every syllable with a Zen calm and folky tunefulness. On her sophomore album, she happily doesn't try to rewrite her big hit "Thank You" from No Angel. She instead builds new air castles out of minor chord musings, off-kilter hand claps, and beats that underpin her straightforward, spare-no-details songs about time and the pursuit of love, such as the defiant "White Flag" and the frothy confessional "Sand in My Shoes."

Eminem's "Stan" and the soundtrack to TV's Roswell gave Dido the exposure that proves
how pop with a little depth can outsell cookie-cutter crap if people get the chance to hear
it. Like No Angel, her 1999 debut, Life for Rent isn't groundbreaking, but it has its own kind
of integrity. The smooth-voiced Brit has been singing achingly over lush synths in her
brother Rollo's club-music act Faithless since 1995, and their continued collabor... More >