Hercules And Love Affair wasn’t the only U.S. artist whose music finally landed on native shores yesterday after being issued overseas earlier this year. Nicole Scherzinger‘s “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” a UK single in March, unexpectedly popped up for download.

Scherzinger’s debut album Killer Love, already released nearly everywhere else but here, won’t arrive until November 15, perhaps to capitalize on her upcoming television time as a judge on Simon Cowell’s The X Factor. I applaud the decision to go with “Don’t Hold Your Breath” as the second U.S. single, following “Right There,” which sounded like a Rihanna leftover. 50 Cent was also involved. The single barely breached the Top 40, stalling at #39.

The synth-centric “Don’t Hold Your Breath” snared Scherzinger a #1 debut in the UK, and I’m not surprised. Co-written by legendary tunesmith Billy Steinberg (“Like A Virgin,” “So Emotional,” “I Touch Myself”), “Don’t Hold Your Breath” is a fantastically worthy “I’m moving on” successor to Scherzinger’s previous career highpoint as the central figure of The Pussycat Dolls, “I Hate This Part.” I can’t help but hear a bit of that pop brilliance in the bridge of “Don’t Hold Your Breath,” though the two tunes share only Scherzinger in common.

Though the tracklisting for the U.S. edition of Scherzinger’s Killer Love has yet to be revealed, the release of “Don’t Hold Your Breath” gives me hope that her debut UK single, “Poison” (produced by RedOne) will make the set. That’s a good one too.

Purchase Nicole Scherzinger – “Don’t Hold Your Breath” via iTunes.