The Delayed Diva
1. Robyn, "Be Mine!" (from Robyn, Interscope)
2. Sugababes, "About You Now" (from Change, Island U.K.)
3. Lily Allen, "LDN" (from Alright, Still, Capitol)
4. Amy Winehouse ft. Ghostface Killah, "You Know I'm No Good" (from Back to Black, Republic)
5. M.I.A., "Hit That" (MP3)
6. Lil Mama, "Lip Gloss" (single, Jive)
7. Mutya Buena, "Real Girl" (from Real Girl, Island U.K.)
8. Amerie, "Gotta Work" (from Because I Love It, Columbia U.K.)
9. Natasha Bedingfield, "I Wanna Have Your Babies" (from N.B., RCA U.K.)
10. Lauryn Hill, "Lose Myself" (from Surf's Up OST, Sony BMG)
11. Cassie ft. Ryan Leslie, "Sometimes" (MP3)
12. Mya ft. Snoop Dogg, "Walka Not a Talka" (MP3)
13. Róisín Murphy, "Modern Timing" (from Overpowered, EMI U.K.)
14. Kelly Clarkson, "Don't Waste Your Time" (from My December, RCA)
15. Madonna, "The Beat Goes On" (MP3)
16. Siobhan Donaghy, "Don't Give It Up" (from Ghosts, Parlophone U.K.)
17. Kylie Minogue, "2 Hearts" (from X, EMI, U.K.)
18. 50 Cent, "I Get Money" (from Curtis, Shady/Interscope)

When Matos made the rule that our mixes had to contain 2007 tracks only, I got to thinking about how slippery release dates became this year—and no demographic suffered more than the female pop act. Hence this collection of songs that were either leaked in 2007 and then postponed by their respective labels, or released in Britain and forced to prove themselves before getting a release here—in some cases, as in the various songs by Sugababes and its many soloists, never seeing U.S. release at all.

Among the sad stories here are the ever-beleaguered, big-in-Japan Amerie; the stuck-in-limbo Lauryn Hill, with a soundtrack song that clearly should've been on her apocryphal third album; the much-debated, now-forgotten Kelly Clarkson (how I wish Clive Davis was proved wrong, but he wasn't); and Lil Mama, whose huge pop hit somehow didn't give her label enough confidence to release her all-but-completed album. There are totally uncontroversial stories here, too, like the evergreen Kylie, whose "2 Hearts" will see U.S. release in February; the unstoppable M.I.A., delayed but not defeated by customs; and a certain very wealthy, Michigan-born über-diva whose next album is slated for mid-'08. Among my omissions are Beyoncé's released, then pulled cover of Des'ree's "Kissing You" (didn't really fit the theme); anything by B's former Destiny-mate Kelly Rowland; and, most obviously, the heavily hyped Nicole Scherzinger, none of whose aborted single releases inspired even a shred of interest in me.

I placed dueling Brit divas Allen and Winehouse back-to-back; the selection by the latter is the alternate take that accompanied the U.S. release of Back to Black, featuring a Ghostface rap commissioned by a label nervous to break Winehouse in America (they needn't have worried). I lead off the mix with a 2005 Robyn song just seeing official U.S. release as '07 closes, and I end with the most infamously delayed diva of all, one Curtis Jackson, arguably the only "bitch" here.

Chris Molanphy is a freelance music critic and Idolator columnist ("Canon Fodder," "100 and Single") whose work has appeared in CMJ and Billboard and on RollingStone.com.