Whatever we were expecting from the new Rihanna single, it wasn't this. Beginning with an eerie guitar solo and ending with a gunshot, 'Russian Roulette' is a haunting, tensely atmospheric pop ballad with lyrics as dark as daytime radio gets. "It's too late to think of the value of my life," she sings at one point. Quite frankly, listening to this late at night with the lights off could give Derek Acorah the heebeegeebies.

However, once you get over the initial WTF?!, it becomes clear that 'Russian Roulette' is a masterful return effort: brave, brilliantly-realised and bizarre enough to distance Rihanna from the pop-R&B pack (and, of course, Lady GaGa). Factor in her most confident vocal yet and only her second songwriting credit on a single and the conclusion is inescapable. One of our favourite popstars is growing in front of our eyes.