Soul reformed popular character's meanness (9)

I believe the answer is:

lousiness

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'meanness' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.

'soul reformed popular character's' is the wordplay.
'reformed' indicates an anagram.
'popular' becomes 'in' (something that's 'in' is fashionable).
'character' becomes 'ess' (the letter S).
'soul' is an anagram of 'lous'.
'lous'+'in'+'ess'='LOUSINESS'

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I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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