Girls Aloud are back!

The new Girls Aloud single had its first play on Radio 1 last night and, to put it mildly, it's not what anyone was expecting. It's neither a 'Call The Shots'-style pop romp nor a floorfiller in the 'Something Kinda Ooooh' vein. Hell, it's not even a ballad.

So, what it is then? Well, if you asked Girls Aloud and Xenomania, their producers, to come up with a new song for the Dirty Dancing musical, it would probably sound like 'The Promise'. That's right, Girls Aloud have gone sixties.

"Oh balls," you're probably thinking, "Not them as well!" But 'The Promise' is actually really good - a cute, wistful pop song that feels like a semi-distant relative to to 'Can't Speak French'. There's a groovy "one, two, three, four!" intro, some nice Spectorish touches in the production and a lovely, classic-sounding melody.

In summary: it's hard to get your head round at first, but Girls Aloud are still very much on form. If you haven't heard it yet, radio rips are easy enough to find on YouTube.

What do you think of the new Girls Aloud single? How do you think it will do in the charts?Use the space below to have your say.