Listen to Katie Waissel's new single

When Katie Waissel soared up the Twitter trending topics the other day, we scrambled around to make sure that she was alive, well, and not suddenly dating a royal. She had actually just been on Alan Titchmarsh's talkshow, promoting her upcoming single 'The Ugly Truth'. The track features on her self-titled album, which, believe it or not, came out last month.

So, what's it like? Much more listenable than we had any right to expect - in fact - you'll hear much worse fare scaling the charts this year. 'The Ugly Truth' is a competent, if slightly cheap-sounding tale of love-gone-wrong boasting that doo-wop vibe that has enjoyed a resurgence of late - think Noisettes, or Paloma Faith and Corinne Bailey Rae when they're feeling bouncy. Some have suggested that the "shoop-de-lang-a-lang" refrain has been yoinked from the old Babyshambles/Libertines number 'What Katie Did', but it's surely as old as the hills?

Sadly though - and despite the odd lyrical treat ("Did I do something wrong / Sing you too many songs") - once you strip away the surface, this is pretty empty, inoffensive fluff. Like her X Factor tenure, the desire to be liked coming across is almost physically overwhelming. We wish Katie well, but we also think her songs would sound so much better if she let any personality shine out from behind the wave of slick ambition.

Listen to Katie Waissel's 'The Ugly Truth' below:



> Katie Waissel: 'I hope X Factor was worth it'

What do you think of 'The Ugly Truth'? Let us know in the space below.