My knee-jerk response to all things Skylar Grey-related has long been a very Mean Girls, “Stop trying to make Skylar Grey happen. It’s not going to happen.” Though Grey co-wrote Eminem & Rihanna’s “Love The Way You Lie” and has been featured on other artists’ singles, her solo career has gotten little traction.

Grey’s released two singles in the last several months, the ridiculous “C’Mon Let Me Ride” and the dreary “Final Warning,” both from her long-delayed sophomore set, Don’t Look Down, now due July 6. (In 2006, she released an album under her real name, Holly Brook.)

But Grey’s latest single, “Wear Me Out,” co-written and produced by J.R. Rotem (Rihanna, Jason Derulo), might just get her back in the game. Sure, the song echoes Tidal-era Fiona Apple right down to a music video that bites the flashlight effect of Ms. Maggart’s “Criminal” clip, but that’s precisely what drew me into “Wear Me Out” and has me hitting play again as soon as it’s finished. If this was vinyl, I might just…

Still, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. While I wish the opposite was true, odds are slim that “Wear Me Out” will be Grey’s ticket to the top. Sounds may be shifting in mainstream pop, but probably not this far, not yet.

Purchase Skylar Grey – “Wear Me Out” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.