Lead single "Ride," from Ciara [1]'s upcoming "Basic Instinct" album, finds the singer returning to her R&B roots with a smooth, yet confident vocal. The downright sexy tune stands out thanks to the downtempo production backing up Ciara's naughty, breathy lyrics. Ludacris [2], hip-hop's master of memorable one-liners, steals the scene with his featured verse: "With a rack like that and a back like that, CiCi better CC me," he raps. "So I gotta put her to bed...let the 808 bump and the beat go bump 'cause you ride it like a thoroughbred." Ciara matches the cascading musical blips and ripples of "Ride" with her gyrations in the song's music video, in which she steers a mechanical bull and alternates between around-the-way girl and video vixen. Expect to "ride the beat" with Ciara this season as this song continues to climb the charts.-Michael Menachem