Darius Danesh is fast becoming the pop equivalent of Frank Bruno - a plucky underdog who keeps getting beaten, but somehow achieves more popularity in defeat than he ever would by winning. Now, after his humiliation on Popstars and a so-near-and-yet-so-far third place finish in Pop Idol, the chirpy young man has the last laugh on his critics by getting to make an album all of his very own, neatly boosted by his recent no 1 single 'Colourblind'. On the plus side, Dive In shows that Darius does at least have a half-decent voice, his bizarre Britney imitations thankfully now just a distant memory. This isn't much consolation, however, when it becomes clear that the decision to let him write his own songs was a grave, grave mistake. A sickly sweet melange of syrupy ballads and bland, mid-tempo pop, they have only one real distinguishing feature - and that's Darius's stomach-churningly awful lyrics. "You're just not good enough," the ever-sensitive Simon Cowell is reputed to have told him when the message wasn't getting through; sadly, for once, Mr Nasty appears to have got it just right.
