When “Untouchable” was first announced as the third single from Girls Aloud‘s Out Of Control, fans everywhere threw their hands up in victory.

Three minutes later, the celebrators’ mirth came crashing down upon one sobering realization: The seven minute “Stairway To Heaven” of the Girls Aloud catalog would have to be reduced to “radio friendly” proportions in order to be released.

The topic was one of fierce debate on the blogs and forums, rife with fear, anger, and a little bit of blood.

Here now is the “Single Mix.”

As you can see, the producers of the mix decided it proper to pour in their last box of electro jitters, thereby making the song “futuristic.” They’ve also decided to run the vocals through a vocoder–for absolutely no reason at all (other than to make Sarah sound like Cascada).

As you may be able to tell, this isn’t a creative massacre, though it’s not exactly the winning formula either.

Actually, I’m a bit puzzled as to why the producers didn’t cut down the song to this acceptable format without adding the (synth) bells and whistles, as the mix’s format seems appropriately faithful to the original.

The first performance of the single will be March 15 on Dancing On Ice, where the girls will be reportedly suspended on wires overhead while singing. Is it wrong that I keep giggling at the idea of Sarah wiggling her way out of the harness and plummeting down ten feet straight onto her ass? Because I see it coming from miles away.

DL: Girls Aloud – Untouchable (Single Mix)

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