Cher Lloyd - album sampler mini-mix

Let's be honest, everyone was eager to hear what X Factor star Cher Lloyd would come out with. Taking the wise choice of not rush releasing her album in the immediate aftermath of the show and instead picking and selecting the producers that suited her, the initial signs bode well.

With a few album sampler mini mixes floating around, we took a listen to Cher's songs - If we're honest, it was an... interesting experience.

There's good and bad elements to Cher's debut, and it's definitely not the marmite love/hate experience many said it would be. No, Cher's album looks set to be a solid pop record, easily able to stand on its own amidst her contemporaries.

For the most part, the mini mix showcases a fun, playful side to Cher. It feels youthful, perhaps almost too much so - just as many critics targeted Swagger Jagger, a good deal of other moments on the album go dangerously close to tipping into that sickly-sweet nursery rhyme feel.

Cher may be a big Nicki Minaj fan, but the influence feels a little too overbearing at times - the heavily accented raps, the pace, the intonation; it all feels like a deliberate attempt to replicate what Nicki did so well on Pink Friday.

Cher is a talented rapper, no doubt about that - but she's also no Nicki Minaj. Cher sounds at her best when she's simply being Cher, not trying to replicate an artist that's already successful.

Dub On The Track is much, much better than I thought it'd ever be. When I first heard the title of the track a while back, I balked. Was this Cher, like so many before her, jumping onto the dubstep band wagon for a stab at credibility?

Ultimately though, the song ends up as one of the best on here - it's fast, exciting; and while that may owe more simply to the nature of the genre than to Cher itself, its danceability is undoubtable. Thumbs up on this one.

And after all - there remains the simple fact that Cher is still one of the most interesting, exciting characters to ever come out of the X Factor, and her music reflects that too. Individual, and with the distinct notion that the music she's made is the music she's actually interested in, it's a far cry from the early years of identikit ballads. And for that, Cher wins major kudos.

Cher Lloyd - Musical battles in the Twitter age...

Oh Cher Lloyd, what ever are we going to do with you? You don't know how frustrating it is to see you turning so many potential fans against you just because you've got a little eager on Twitter.

When Miss Lloyd first performed on the X Factor last year, we knew straight away we were looking at something special. She was fresh, cool, had buckets of personality. She was the most exciting star on the show for ages. Through the course of the competition we followed her eagerly, and in the live shows she delivered some of the best performances of the series with a chain of brilliant song choices to boot.

But post X Factor, it all seems to have gone so wrong. Sure, she's nabbed herself a Number One single, and before 'winner' Matt Cardle has even released any of his own new material. But at what cost?

Where before there seemed to be a united front of Cher Lloyd fandom - one and all seemed to embrace her 'freshness' - now there lies a clear divide, many turned completely off the star by her cocky teen attitude.

There's a fine line between confidence and outright arrogance, and it's one Cher has always trod very gingerly indeed. But ever since she was let loose on Twitter, that cocky 'I'm Queen of the world and none of you are gonna stop me' approach has gone too far. Her uncouth, uneducated mis-spellings and clenched teeth insults do her no favours at all. It makes her bratty, ungrateful.

For all of Cher's talk of haters, the one thing she doesn't seem capable of doing is rising above them. Sure, defend yourself against them, but not with the kind of childish rants that could have come straight from a bunch of chavs out on the street. Cher allows herself to be dragged into these Twitter battles with classic internet trolls, plainly giving them the attention they so clearly crave.

When you get those kinds of insults spilling out into your army of fans, you know you're in trouble. After all, there's nothing worse than an artist with attitude than a bunch of angry fans with attitude.

Acclaimed dubstep producer Skream recently took to Twitter to diss Cher's ludicrously titled Dub On The Track, saying 'Dub on the track by Cher Lloyd is awful, worst attempt at a commercial Dubstep track so far.' He was promptly blasted by countless Cher fans, saying they had never heard of him, to fuck off, etc etc. The usual childish drivel.

The thing is, without people like Skream, it's likely Cher would never even be recording a dubstep track. It was after all Skream's mix of La Roux's In For The Kill that first started to properly fan the flames of dubstep in the mainstream consciousness. What makes this scenario all the funnier is that Cher apparently asked Skream to remix her song, but was refused. As Skream says 'It would ruin my career'.

Being gracious doesn't cost you anything. If Cher learned this, she'd win a hell of a lot more fans. There's nothing wrong with making a commercial dubstep track - just look at Britney. But the problem with Cher is that it doesn't feel genuine. She may even be a genuine, clued-up fan of the genre, but it doesn't show in the finished songs - they're overly glossy, Americanised, cheap-sounding.

Look at people like Katy B or Nicola Roberts, making edgy yet still highly commercial pop. That's the way to do it. If Cher had approached things with a touch more class, elegance and patience, her debut album could have been one of the highlights of the year.

I really, really, really want to like Cher Lloyd. She looks so much the part - the new young female star for the Twitter age. But until she reigns in her outbursts, that's unlikely to happen.