Album: Nicola Roberts, Cinderella's Eyes (Polydor)

To suggest that Roberts is the most interesting Girl Aloud is to damn with faint praise, so let's just say Cinderella's Eyes is one of the finest pop albums of the year and be done with it.

Conspicuously characterful, it posits Roberts as the Scouse Robyn with its buoyant mix of ferocity, girlishness and off-beam electronics. The lyrics are self-revealing, the collaborators (Diplo, Metronomy) canny, and the voice sinuous; set against so much Auto-Tuned cod-raunch, a fairy tale indeed.