Cheryl Cole was the heartthrob of the nation for the longest time and suddenly had daggers pointed at her from all ends after the Gamu-gate scandal. As Piers Morgan put it, she went from being "Mother Teresa to Cruella Deville". All said and done, she is STILL the undisputed 'Queen of the British Media'. She's also a big brand in herself - gorgeous 'single' woman, style icon, the girl next door who wears her heart on her sleeve and a journalist's best friend.

Her debut album '3 Words' has been certified multi-platinum and she's hoping for an encore with 'Messy Little Raindrops'. Ironically both albums are very similar: Both have great curtain raisers in 'Fight For This Love' and 'Promise This' respectively and then suddenly the tempo drops, Cheryl's out of her element and before you know it the album has more songs you would rather forward than rewind. The tracks on 'Messy Little Raindrops' seem aged and outdone by a decade. Many of them are intended for the dance-floor but end up being lounge - at best.

She's clearly not a good lyricist. Fathom these lyrics on the title track Raindrops: “You are the tree, and I was the apple, that fell to the ground, and turned brown”. Clearly she needs a lesson in analogies. Her soulful vocals sound anything but believable and it's only on the up-tempo tracks that she manages to score. Thankfully there are quite of few of those towards the end of the album.

'Everyone' (feat. Dizzie Rascal) has a catchy foot-tap metronome that infuses life into it. 'Hummingbird' is resurrected by a lovely chorus. Probably the best tracks come towards the end. 'Better To Lie' is another nice collaboration with Augusto Rigo. 'Let's Get Down' and 'Waiting' manage to salvage some pride of what is a rather disappointing album. The former track sounds like a Black Eyed Peas rehash while the latter uses a piano hook of Vanessa Carlton's 'A Thousand Miles'.

To put it plainly, Cheryl Cole is a great brand that people love and every teenage girl aspires to be like. Maybe she needs to persuade colleague Simon Cowell to get behind the console and produce her next album. If rumours about the duo moving to judge the US version of X Factor are true, then this album won't win Britain's Most Desirable Woman any fans across the Atlantic.

Rating: 5/10