Nicole Scherzinger: 'Baby Love'

On paper, it looked like a licence to print money. The lead singer of the world's most popular girl group – who also happens to be the prettiest, most talented member of the world's most popular girl group – records a solo album with virtually everyone who's produced a hit single over the last couple of years (and Sting). But pop has always been a cruel, unpredictable mistress, and after lead single 'Whatever U Like' failed to crack the US top 100, Nicole Scherzinger's solo album has been pushed back to the New Year. Vases, we presume, are being smashed as you read.

Consequently, the decision to infest Blighty with 'Baby Love', a folk-tinged R'n'B ballad that's essentially a kissing cousin to Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry', feels like an exercise in damage limitation. Though Scherzinger's southern drawl remains an intriguing vocal presence, it's hamstrung by lyrics as tritely romantic as the denouement of a Mills & Boon novel ("You are my baby love, you make my sun come up"). Ultimately 'Baby Love' just isn't the right single to launch a world-class superstar - for tips on that one, Nicole might want to take a glance in Leona Lewis' direction.