Cheryl's got her 'voice back'

Cheryl Cole says she has got her "voice back" after she started taking on her critics on Twitter.

The singer, who is a regular on the social networking site, said: "I don't know what I was doing before Twitter, I really don't. Burying my head in the sand."

She told the BBC News website: "I never answer back unprovoked... But I'm always answering something back. I don't have any middle-men now. I've got my voice back."

Earlier this year, she got into an online spat with Cher Lloyd, who said she had not heard from Cheryl since she was mentored by her on the 2010 X Factor.

Cheryl posted a message on Twitter at the time saying: "Be careful who you kick on your way up... They kick you twice as hard on your way back down."

The Girls Aloud star said there was no pressure recording her third solo album, but the first album "was the scariest thing I've ever done".

She said: "I missed the girls massively, for ages. I hadn't anticipated how much I would miss them until I was in it."