Aiden Grimshaw has thrown a spanner into The X Factor’s machine with 'Is This Love' by showing that a reality show contestant can produce something spectacular when they believe in their music. Aiden’s stint on The X Factor was marked by painful introversion and the occasional struggle to keep the power of his voice in check. Given his two year sabbatical to work on his debut material, his first single could have been overworked and overwrought, but this is brave and honest. More importantly, it’s bloody good. While the lyrics stick to the standard pop trope of confused love, there are clever riffs with dark lines: ‘There’s a fiery eye in the middle of a dark sea / and it’s pulling me down / and I can’t breathe’. Lines like this are mixed into a melody that combines electronic trance, nods to dubstep and hypnotic falsetto runs. ‘Is This Love’ is raw and violently alive with a brooding imagination. It’s fresh and it’s stark; it’s also a comfortable distance away from the muddled material that X Factor contestants usually deliver. It deserves to be a chart smash.