Alexis Jordan - Laying Around With You

Of all the singles Alexis Jordan could have released from her album, Laying Around With You is perhaps the most baffling.

Coming from the same girl who gave us such storming dance-pop treats as Good Girl and Happiness, the simple mid-tempo acoustic strum of Laying Around seems remarkably reserved. But then again, I suppose it shows a different side to her.

The odds of the best track on the album - High Road - getting a single release look pretty distant now. And as Autumn and then Winter start to creep in, the cheery vibes of Laying Around sound a little out of place now, a throwback to the warm sunny rays and long nights of summer.

Co-written by Ne-Yo, his stamp is all over the track - there's more than a definite hint of his classic Hate That I Love You here, the track that of course inspired this brilliant dance remake.

Can we get K-Klass on the case with Alexis too please?

Laying Around With You is available to download here.

Alexis Jordan - How You Like Me Now

How You Like Me Now is a bit of a random one - at this point in an artist's album campaign, they're looking for a radio-friendly single that will wrap up sales for the album with a nice little boost.

And that's exactly how this track feels - a nice little boost. Nothing more, nothing less. With its scrawly, Arabian-esque synth-brass hook, it sees Alexis shuffling towards a more middle-of-the-road R&B direction; a kind of second-rate Rihanna.

Now, this might be all well and good on its own - after all, the song's not a bad little number, but we fell in love with Alexis for her all out disco-stompers, and there remains on her album one of the very best of an excellent bunch.

And that track comes in the form of High Road, a jaw-droppingly good bit of beat-heavy electro-pop. Snappy, feisty vocals - this is Alexis down to a T, all her personality, fire and charm packed into three minutes of WOW. This, for me, would have been the logical single.

How You Like Me Now can be downloaded from iTunes here.

Alexis Jordan - Good Girl

I can't rave enough about this song. Every month there will always be one song that I fall in love with more than any other. And in February, this is most definitely it. Now, I saw Alexis last year at GAY opening for Nadine Coyle and was charmed with her highly endearing pop sweetness as well as the fact Happiness is rather amazing.

And where Happiness began, Good Girl follows - all dance-pop lightness with just that edge of pushing the boundaries. There's a number of reasons why the song works so well. For starters, that funky strutting beat and rubbery bass sound is utterly infectious. You can't not move your feet to it. Remember that Alexis is an American Idol winner, and then listen to the Euro-disco shimmer of her tracks and her awesomeness reaches all new levels.

Then comes the fact this song has fifty-million different choruses. There's that catchy 'I like...' bit, then the tears on the dancefloor moment of 'You might mistake me for a heartbreaker...' and then the chorus-proper as it were of 'Good girl... but I've been bad before...'  - If one of them doesn't hook you, the others will.

Now, most good pop songs would be happy to leave it there. But Good Girl goes further, just listen to those swirling guitars and strings, all swept up into one hypnotic pulse - those chord changes are simply divine. Some songs just have IT... that moment where something just feels so right.

Alexis Jordan. Good girl? She certainly is. And this song is very, very good too.