Katy Perry

The metamorphosis was stunning — back in the early '00s young Katy Hudson (as she was then known) found herself on the fringes of the Christian rock scene, releasing one Gospel-slanted album before amending her name, sidelining into collaboration with the Matrix ("Broken", "Damn"), and then totally revamping her image and reintroducing herself to the world as a bold, brassy, burlesque-inspired pop goddess. Strong buzz for early "new Katy" tracks (including plaudits from her spiritual pop-mother, Madonna) would soften us up for 2008 breakthrough sensation "I Kissed a Girl" and the supremely danceable "Hot N Cold." Both tracks are Dr. Luke-boosted pop rockets, delivering a massive dose of fun and sass to the charts, and Perry has continued in that vein with "California Gurls" (with its Snoop Dogg cameo) and a couple of ear-poppin' guest slots: "If We Ever Meet Again" (Timbaland) and "Starstrukk" (3OH!3).