Last summer we all went a bit nuts for 'No Air', Jordin Sparks's uber-emotional duet with the then uncontroversial Chris Brown. Now the American Idol star has done it again. Her new single, which popped up online a couple of days ago, is already one of the songs of 2009.

It's called 'Battlefield' and it's co-written and produced by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, the man behind 'Bleeding Love' and 'Halo'. It does bear a passing resemblance to the latter, but it's more bombastic, more overblown and, well, just plain better.

"Why does love always feel like a battlefield?" Sparks asks on the chorus, presumably awaiting a response from eighties rock queen Pat Benatar. Actually, Benatar isn't a bad starting point when describing what 'Battlefield' sounds like. It's got desk-rattling drums, lashings of guitar, a corking vocal performance, lyrics that really go to town with the "love is war" metaphor and a production job that's as subtle as Lady GaGa's dress sense. It's essentially a classic soft rock ballad pumped full of steroids and given a gleaming noughties makeover.

Oh, and when Sparks sang it on American Idol last night, she did so in true soft rock fashion - surrounded by industrial quantities of dry ice. Number one surely beckons.

What do you think of 'Battlefield'? Use the space below to have your say.