Featured Playlist
- 25 Songs
- LM5 (Deluxe) · 2018
- Glory Days: The Platinum Edition · 2016
- Get Weird (Deluxe Edition) · 2015
- Get Weird (Deluxe Edition) · 2015
- Glory Days: The Platinum Edition · 2016
- Glory Days: The Platinum Edition · 2016
- Glory Days: The Platinum Edition · 2016
- Get Weird (Deluxe Edition) · 2015
- Therapy · 2021
- Woman Like Me (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Single · 2018
Essential Albums
- While Little Mix’s musical output has always transcended its talent-show beginnings, there were moments during the group’s early years when it felt like the members were stuck on a pop conveyer belt. Little Mix’s 2012 debut, DNA, was released less than a year after the group won the top prize on the British version of The X Factor; a follow-up album, Salute, arrived not long afterwards. So far, so seamless. But Little Mix’s third effort, Get Weird, was held up for a year—with the band members later revealing that nearly an album’s worth of material had been scrapped along the way. Still, while the protracted recording of Get Weird was unusually tortuous, you wouldn’t know it from listening to the record. Unlike the moodier, more experimental Salute, the light and buoyant Get Weird finds the band members leaning into a pure pop sensibility. The lead single, “Black Magic”, has the effervescent bounce of 1980s teen pop, featuring a killer chorus and an instantly catchy call-and-response bridge (“All the girls on the block knocking at my door (I got the recipe)/Wanna know what it is, make the boys want more (Now you belong to me)”). “Black Magic” doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But the song stormed the charts and solidified Little Mix’s status as the globe’s most reliable hitmaking girl band. And there are plenty of hits to be found on Get Weird. While previous Little Mix singles owed a debt to En Vogue and Destiny’s Child, “Love Me Like You” harks further back, with its harmonised “Sha-la-la-la” verses and doo-wop stylings recalling The Ronettes and The Supremes. But if “Love Me Like You” features a retro sound, its lyrics are surprisingly suggestive: “Used to get it when I wa-a-ant…Now I’m dealin’ with these bo-o-oys/When I really need a man who can do it like I can”. Things escalate even more on the naughty “A.D.I.D.A.S.”, which features such to-the-point lines as, “Excuse me, do me or lose me/Get me to the bedroom, do your duty”. When pop groups try to grow up with their fanbases, the results often come off as contrived; on Get Weird, though, such diversions are executed with a welcome, knowing wink. Elsewhere on the album, Jason Derulo lends his tremulous vibrato to “Secret Love Song”, dedicated to the group’s LGBTQ+ fanbase, while Sean Paul makes a typically spirited appearance on thumping single “Hair”. It all makes for an effort that, despite its title, isn’t particularly weird. But it is certainly wonderful.
Albums
- 2021
- 2018
Artist Playlists
- Neon-laced, chart-obliterating bangers from the UK's biggest girl group.
- Far-flung locations, astonishing style, and big voices.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
Compilations
More To Hear
- Little Mix’s Jade talks new album and 10 years of the group.
- Little Mix talks about working with Saweetie on "Confetti."
- MNEK chats with Little Mix’s Jade about working with Beyoncé.
- Little Mix celebrates 10 years and pick their favourite songs.
- Little Mix select their favorite throwback classics.
- The ladies talk "Break Up Song," quarantine snacks, and Tik Tok.
- Olivia Rose, Raye, and Sian Anderson guest.
More To See
- 15:10
About Little Mix
As the first group to win The X Factor, Little Mix set a high standard from their formation in 2011. In the years since, the quartet have exceeded any expectations placed on them, performing spirited pop that unapologetically shows off its members’ personalities and effortlessly fit in with the 2010s’ constantly shifting pop trends. Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall had all auditioned as solo singers when trying out for The X Factor but were put together early on in the show’s run, and their charisma and harmonies won over viewers. Little Mix’s first single from their 2012 debut album, “Wings”, was an ideal opening statement for them, its themes of empowerment boosted by a stomping beat and a sing-along-worthy chorus. Since then, they have channelled confident girl groups like the Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child as well as forward-thinking singers like Janet Jackson and Rihanna, with singles like the sparkling “Black Magic”, the defiant “Shout Out to My Ex” and 2017’s chaotic Stormzy collab “Power” combining no-nonsense lyrics with immediate beats. In 2020, they cemented their legacy both on record and with Little Mix: The Search, a reality show tasked with putting together a next-generation band—demonstrating that their goal since they were put together in the early 2010s has been lifting up people all over the world through energetic, danceable pop.
- ORIGIN
- London, England
- FORMED
- August 2011
- GENRE
- Pop