Jill Scott: 'Hate On Me'

Sick of Leona bleedin' Lewis but still fancy a bit of syrupy R&B hollering in your Christmas stocking? Jill Scott may bethe answer. Her new single 'Hate On Me', taken from her album The Real Thing: Words And Sounds Volume 3, is a stiletto-stomping soul classic to put Beyonce, Christina and all the rest of the modern diva crop firmly in their place.

The queen of neo-soul (No, we don't know what that means either!) smacks her haters around the chops with a fine line in crunching beats, squelching sax and enrapturing vocal show-boating of the highest order. With the vitriolic, go-girl attitude of classic Gloria Gaynor and the smooth contemporary production skills that call to mind Mark Ronson's knob-twiddling best, this is a belting single that will have you pouting and strutting about your bedroom like the proverbial peacock.