Hey, if the ’60s retro-soul thing can work for the likes of Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy, Cee Lo Green, VV Brown, etc., who’s to say it can’t give former Pussycat Dolls member Melody Thornton a boost with her solo career? The 26-year-old chirping songbird compares herself to a wild horse and a phoenix in her first official solo single. Should ex-Doll/Killer Love minx Nicole Scherzinger be shaking in her big black hat? Get a load of “Sweet Vendetta” below and decide.

Are the Pussycat Dolls really breaking up because of feuding within the group? New York Post‘s Page Six reports that Nicole Scherzinger (who previously tried sailing away from the five-piece pop act to unspectacular results) has sparked irreparable ire with the other members, and they’re breaking up for good. However, one particular Pussycat Doll exclusively tells us otherwise.

Says a source to Page Six:

“It is war. They have broken up for good. None of the other girls are speaking to Nicole, who they believe took the limelight, then went off to do her own thing.”

Wouldn’t surprise us if this was true, since there have been reports of bitterness between the girls for a while now. Plus, the release (and re-release) of Doll Domination didn’t exactly blow the charts away.

We briefly spoke to Dolls member Melody Thornton last week at a recent event in Hollywood—she’s definitely not one to keep mum on her views regarding her more heavily featured bandmates, so here’s what she had to say about the girls going their separate ways:

The Pussycat Dolls are currently on a break. Is this an indefinite hiatus or something more permanent?
Oh, no. Well, I don’t know… as of right now. The Dolls have been working consistently since “Don’t Cha” came out in 2005. So we need a break. They’re human bodies and minds and they need a break. It’s as simple as that. There’s nothing else behind it. Until the big man says I got a song and it’s time to work again, we’re on a break.

So if your label called you tomorrow and said, come on back and record this hit song…
Then I’d be back in the studio.

Are the other Dolls working on their own solo projects?
Yes.

How about you? You’re appearing on E! show Bank of Hollywood. Are you done with music?
Oh, no, I’m still working on music. I have to. That’s what I do. I’m not doing anything else. [This show is a] side project.

What’s your solo stuff sound like? Is it pop like the PCD?
It kind of derives from 1960s, Ike and Tina Turner, R&B up-tempo. I want it to have real instrumentation and real music. That’s what I believe real music is. As far as ballads go, I have always been inspired by Mariah Carey. I‘m a crazy Mariah Carey fan. It’s good, ’cause I can sing my ass off.

With regards to today’s news, Thornton may have been just been doing wishful thinking by calling it a “break.” Either that or she really couldn’t care less about her pop group dissipating and would rather focus on her own projects. Don’t forget this wonderful quote from Melody during a 2006 interview with now defunct Blender mag regarding her feelings on Nicole being the lead vocalist:

“I’m biding my time. Whether they want to admit it or not, we all see this as a springboard for something else. Some girls have said, ‘It’s my dream to be in a pop group,’ and I’m like, ‘OK, because I want to be Mariah Carey.’”

Well, at least the girl is consistent with what she wants.