My Wicked Heart gives Diana Vickers a turbo-charged pacemaker

Diana Vickers has just unleashed her third single upon the world which is going to form the basis of the "deluxe version" of Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree. We'll get into the ethics of that particular marketing wheeze some other time, but for now, let's focus on the positives, shall we? My Wicked Heart received its first play on Radio 1 this afternoon and it goes a little something like this...



That's pretty much 3 for 3 on the "awesome single" front for Vickers, really, isn't it? Seriously, it's like everyone involved just thought "fuck it, I don't think it sounds quite big and brassy enough it. Get a raft of trumpets in here, stat!" It definitely pays off. This is a playfully fun single, in contrast to the more pensive Once and The Boy Who Murdered Love and firmly puts to bed any lingering doubts we may have had that Diana Vickers is becoming a licence to print money.

This song doesn't so much have "a hook" as it has an entire fishing tackle shop. Whether it's the infectious bass at the start or the infectious brass or the impish "ooops" in the chorus, everything about this song screams likeability. And just when you think the whole thing can't get more catchy, Vickers breaks out a "la,la,lai" middle-eight and exclaims "whoops-a-daisy!". Just take a moment to reflect on that, people. The phrase "whoops-a-daisy" is included in one of the month's best new tracks. Amazing.

This is a phenomenal single which shows Vickers at her pizie-ish best. It's perhaps not entirely original. A few listens has suggested more than a fleeting nod to tracks like Work by Amerie, and we hope we're not totally remiss in observing that the guitar has a Creep-ish timbre to it. Yet, despite that, there's no point in denying that My Wicked Heart *works*. At times, Diana's voice has genuine power behind it, rather than retreating into the naif whisper which we all know is so divisive. When seen alongside Once and Boy Who Murdered Love, this single continues the masterclass that the folks at RCA have been giving on hiding the negatives and accentuating the positives.

After The Boy Who Murdered Love failed to really make any sort of impact on the charts, Diana's team had to be worried that the momentum that was built with Once was dying off. But credit to everyone involved for ripping away the shirt of this project and giving it an adrenaline boost right in the aorta. This track, for our money, is a critical smash. We sincerely hope that it proves to be a commercial one, too.