Back in the misty days of Autumn 2007, a brother and sister act rose to prominence on The X Factor. Sean and Sarah Smith frightened the life out of Simon Cowell, but not enough to put him off mentoring them all the way to the final with their High School Musical themed performances.

And a year later, Same Difference are making their first assaults on the charts with their kid-friendly brand of bubblegum pop. In a fit of marketing genius, they’ve called the album Pop, so it does exactly what it says on the tin.

If I can offer an early comparison, the sound is almost exactly like that of classic Steps. Remember Steps? (Mmmmm, Faye Tozer….) Well, it has all of that pop goodness and all the chimes and bells that used to adorn every single Steps song back in the 90’s.

But what’s this? Pete Waterman, the evil mastermind behind Kylie, Rick Astley and…Steps is the driving force behind the Same Difference album. What a shock!

OK, enough rambling – is the album any good? Well, throwing any musical credibility I may still have to the wind, yes it is.

While it’s aimed squarely at the teenage end of the market, our kids loved the whole Pop album. The obligatory HSM track, Breaking Free is complimented by the very similar lead single, We R One.

Kylie gets a tribute when they cover Turn It Into Love, an early track from her SAW days, and there’s a song called Better Love Me, which sounds for all the world like a Steps track, even if I can’t prove it!

The kids’ highlight of the album was the electro-pop track If You Can’t Dance, but for me All The Roads Lead To Heaven has a slightly more mature sound and is perhaps the strongest track on the CD.

Overall, Pop is a fantastic pop album. Sean and Sarah deliver a solid performance throughout, but the similarities with bygone Waterman protégés like Kylie and Steps kind of remind me that the brother and sister act totally lack any kind of sex appeal.

However, if I was advising you to buy any album from last year’s 3 X Factor finalists, I’d recommend Same Difference’s, just for the – wait for it – fun factor.