Cher Lloyd - Beautiful People

Over the past year, Cher Lloyd has been, for us, one of the most frustratingly captivating popstars we've had the pleasure of listening to. And I say pleasure, because as annoying and confrontational she can sometimes seem, she also remains one of the most exciting stars to emerge from the X Factor (and the UK as a whole).

And whenever we've doubted in her, she always seems to come right back with something to set our fears at rest. For every cringe-inducingly titled Dub On The Track, there's something really amazing like Beautiful People.

This is Cher at her most genuine, the song serving as a firm reminder that at heart she is still just an ordinary girl - shoved quickly into the spotlight. In a recent interview Cher talks about how she feels she had to grow too fast, and it tells in the tender wariness of Beautiful People, as she targets the people who make her cry.

It's a track of frightening, unobtainable aspirations, peer pressure and the dawning realisation that these 'Beautiful People' aren't that special after all. As far as great pop ballads go, we really rate this. As a marker of Cher's album, we feel that unfortunately Beautiful People might be in the minority; but in our dream scenario, Cher would have turned out a whole record of tracks as good as this.

Cher's album Sticks + Stones is available to pre-order on Amazon now.