From a field of strong competitors, the best woman won it. It speaks volumes for Victoria Hesketh and the show on which she once auditioned, Pop Idol, that when she sang before Simon Cowell and his fellow judges she lasted only three weeks. The most charismatic pop stars are ill-suited to prime-time talent shows.

In the six years since, Hesketh’s flowering as a bona fide pop sensation has culminated in Little Boots – the solo incarnation under which she has released two limited edition singles, Stuck on Repeat and Meddle.

In November, amid the jam-tastic “real music” environs of Later . . . with Jools Holland, there was something borderline subversive about her performance of the latter song. Seated at Holland’s beloved piano, she placed some sort of primitive digital box on top of it and tapped out the opening notes. On a Stylophone.

Because there’s no trace of snobbery in Hesketh’s outlook, she makes the same demands of her audience. Her camp combination of minor chords and major emotions - machine-tooled to work as well in the kitchen as on the dancefloor – sets her apart. No less appealing is the sense that little about her rise has been stage-managed. She often posts songs online without pausing to ponder how good they are (see “Something I wrote the other day” on YouTube, which, incidentally, is very good indeed).

And, after a dull procession of Radio 1-sanctioned indie combos, it’s nice to be treated with a bit of intelligence by someone who understands that, often, it’s the most ephemeral-sounding pop music that leaves the most lasting impression.

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