Mayer Hawthorne may be best known for his funky stuff, but the neo-soul singer has a major soft spot for pop music. "There's nothing wrong with that," he says with a laugh. One of his favorites pop songs in recent memory? Rihanna's slow-rolling "Stay." "I love that song," says Hawthorne, who recorded his own version that you can listen to exclusively below. "I know it may be surprising for my fans to hear that, but I think that's one of the best pop songs that's been written in the past decade," he adds. "I mean, I think it's just a great pop song. That one spoke to me." The cover, which Hawthorne recorded during the same sessions as his take on Lorde's "Royals," sees the Detroit native adding his signature laid-back flair to the pop star's heartbreaking cut. "The only thing that was missing from the original version of the song was the funk," he says. "So we took it to that sexy Barry White funk zone. Any time I'm doing a cover of a song, I'm trying to do it better than the original. I'm trying to beat the original. Otherwise I don't see the point of doing a cover."