the thread of little mix

Searched but no thread. UK girl group, X Factor a year or so ago, very pre-ordained success, but the important thing is that evidently someone must have gotten fired or replaced in their camp because they have gone from soppy inspiro to two excellent singles straight: "How Ya Doin'" and now this, to promo their second album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrhqLGk8W0

(am I off or do I hear a bit of "Rhythm Nation" in this?)
(also: sorry but if we're picking sides this is better than "Flatline.")

sorry but i simply refuse to believe any song is better than 'flatline', not even going to bother listening to this

this reminds me of What Would The Neighbours Say and Tangled Up-era GA. It's pretty weird when compared to their earlier singles, but if they get the video right that and the Thicke-isms in the sonics might make it a UK hit.

personally i love it because it is an overload of SASS

also let's put the official audio in here so that can get a few extra views than the measly ~390k it currently has

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ylkuBDyqIU

bump it up to 390001 mane

If you ignore Cannonball and Change Your Life they've had a decent run of singles. Wings was one of the better X Factor winner lead singles. I didn't really get with DNA until Popjustice posted the instrumental which shows how great the music is.

http://youtu.be/EwuwSkMkUQA

How ya Doin? should have been huge, not really sure why it wasn't. Move is their best single yet and deserves to be number one for a good few weeks. Oh and it's way better than Flatline which was a decent but nothing special.

It wasn't huge in the UK because 4th singles from albums that have been out for 6 months rarely do super well in the UK. They tried to mitigate this by recording the song with a better arrangement and adding a Missy verse to release as a separate single edit of the track, but then they moved up the release date to the middle of the week without much notice, which effected its chart position a lot since they had only 3 days worth of sales.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwD4eJGxPc4

i like the one with the roswell alien head

this song is so awesome.

I quite like Little Mix. Wings was a massive tune.

I have a feeling Move isn't going to be the massive hit it should be. Same with the excellent new single by Cher Lloyd too.

there's a definite "promotional single" feel to it for sure

I guess I just don't know what the kids want anymore. The first time I heard both these singles I thought they would be huge, now they I'm kind of thinking they will be lucky to make the top 10.

I think they still command enough fans and public interest in the UK to manage a top 5 placing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4xUE2X15bo

This sounds leagues ahead of their debut. That one song at 4:00 might as well sample "Bills, Bills, Bills".

spare me the ballads, but otherwise that is a very promising youtube

first time i've seen the video for move and i love it

THIS is what a fun, "female empowered" song/video actually look like, imo

Boy

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/nov/05/little-mix-boy

those harmonies! almost enough to make me forget that MKS have probably been dropped.

as much as i'm theoretically pro shameless recreations of "bills bills bills" era r&b there's still something a bit clunky about little mix generally - aside from being in favour of girl groups in a general sense, there's nothing really outstanding about them. sort of feel they definitely don't have enough personality, or insufficiently interesting personality, so far - still waiting for the moment it clicks, not hopeful it ever will

i mean contra rockist consensus, there's no such thing as an anonymous but good girl group, every great girl group has stood for something or at least stood out, and little mix...do not, in the slightest

i guess i'll give a thumbs up for the direction and attempt though!

basically they're the saturdays, not prime girls aloud

they are better singers than the saturdays

not talking about technical ability really, though "better singers than the saturdays" is a pretty low bar

they're probably better singers than girls aloud tbh

sort of feel they definitely don't have enough personality, or insufficiently interesting personality

isn't this the USP of pretty much every british girl pop rnb group in general though? i.e. they're not megastars, they're not moving to california, they're not threatening, they're approachable girls next door

like... interchangeability is almost the point?

that wasn't true of sugababes, mis-teeq, girls aloud...

"interchangeability" isn't even true most of the time, it's just laziness on the part of rock critics (cf every r&b singer being merely a cipher for the male producer)

because when "interchangeability" IS true it tends to mean the group is a bit shit (SATURDAYS)

as an american i found sugababes, mis-teeq and girls aloud very personality-less, soz. the more i live in the uk though the more i see what people like about them

i do think that a certain blank up-for-it-ness works in little mix's favour

but even so, c'mon man they knock the saturdays into next month!

well, that's a very low bar!

i don't really feel like little mix's up-for-itness has progressed much beyond kids' tv presenter level

To be fair to Little Mix they have one Syco-backed album to their name, which probably hasn't left them a lot of space to project quirk or any sort of esoteric personality.

But I think the idea that they are relatable girls-next-door is on point. Certainly that's what Tulisa used to bring up after almost every one of their X-factor performances.

also, though they may not have been in the beginning, sugababes basically ended up being the very definition of interchangeability!

ha in one sense yeah but also not, because each member change transformed the group aesthetically as well!

"relatable girls next door" only goes so far as a USP - it's the unspoken things, the attitudes and lyrical flourishes etc, that really make girl group character. sugababes v1's sullenness, girls aloud's defiance, destiny's child's snottishness etc etc. again i'm not at the point of ruling out them developing this soon, maybe even on this upcoming album, but as yet there's no personality i can bring myself to care about, so my investment in them is just lukewarm...

Salute

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2488454/EXCLUSIVE-First-listen-title-track-Little-Mixs-upcoming-album-Salute.html

not really feelin that one, kind of a too-obv destiny's child rip no? except without the OTT self-justification?

live in a few minutes here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/

"salute" sounds v much like rated r-era riri

props to the enduring appeal of that Curiosity Killed The Cat song! used to love those guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj9Onf6EnH0

Full album stream: http://littlemixdaily.com/news/album-stream-little-mix-salute-deluxe-edition-listen-to-the-album-in-full

so the ballads are kind of boring but this is them well and truly delivering on everything they promised when performing "don't let go" on x-factor

"competition"! perrie's crazy note on "about the boy"! and the bonus tracks are great as well, wish they were all on the album proper instead of the 3 ballads tbh.

early favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcnzCklSJW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5lfJkXJ3kk

http://i1.cdnds.net/13/42/618x618/little-mix-salute-album-artwork.jpg
http://www.tvequals.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Girls-HBO.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6todhlzMEX8

That version of "Word Up" is pointless.

AttenTION!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjpa0SMOug0

Love the song and video. They've come such a long way.

New single: http://www.josepvinaixa.com/blog/little-mix-black-magic/

the first part of the chorus sounds a lot like something i've heard before - maybe by kelly clarkson? i can't place it and it's driving me crazy.

The chorus reminded me a bit of Blank Space. I think this a brilliant single. Not quite in the same league as Move but still really great.

It's a melange of the Blank Space chorus and the second half of the chorus on Kelly Clarkson's "Mr Know It All" (finally deducing this was a highlight of my day).

The result is something like what I'd imagine Jeppo is cooking up for her album, i'm here for it although i hope they haven't lost their weirdness ("Move", still a belter, was such a charmingly odd thing)

here's the official version btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM6w27puq_g

video is like you took the problematic grain of "you belong with me" and took it to its nastiest end point. leave the poor girl who just wants to chill with her bf alone this is not edifying

Yeah I'm not crazy about the video but I love the song.

Just listening to their last album. Move really is one of my favourite singles of the last five years, it's perfect.

holy shit this cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcfFk9puQS0

Smoked it

<3

this is perfect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WpoKRnoPRU

hmmm i like "Black Magic" and "Wings" but not feeeling that one

lol their new album is called Get Weird apparently

mittle lix - wet geird

the snippet I heard of "weird people" sounded promising. feel doubtful that this new album will top salute but still looking forward to it

New album nowhere near as good as Salute but still a handful of very good songs on there.

OMG is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujbW5m9NITM

I'm finding it really hard to love this band. After Salute I really thought they were on the verge of being the amazing group I always wanted them to be. After playing it so safe on Get Weird I was hoping they'd come back with something better than Shout Out To My Ex. The verses just aren't really there and the chorus is a blatant rip off of Ugly Heart. Very disappointing. https://youtu.be/mJSHMRZSPdQ

i get an "accelerated 'Shake it Out'" impression from the chorus also

Jesy's departure and reason for it is hardly a surprise, but the fact that she's basically been cyberbullied out of the band is a damning indictment on the state of the world in 2020

what happened exactly? news reports are very coy

she's been relentlessly harassed online her entire career, idk if something particular was the final straw for her though

I haven't seen anything about a specific incident or anything, but it's been nearly a decade since they won X Factor and even then she was not just being relentlessly trolled, but it was substantial enough that it became part of the band's narrative and brand. That's a lot for anyone.

Can you imagine a girl group having success from 1991 to 2000 the way they've stayed consistent over their decade?

With Jade releasing single "Angel of My Dreams" today all four members have now put something out as a soloist.

Jesy's debut single was a musical and PR disaster...and I think to follow through on boxedjoy's posts above, it appears she wasn't so much bullied out of the band as that the other members (Leigh-Anne particularly) grew tired of her blackfishing. Perrie's put out two mid-00s Kelly Clarkson-style pop-rock singles that are competent but not especially interesting to me. I like some of what Leigh-Anne's been doing - her singles and EP have covered ground ranging from 2-step, Afropop and what I'll ungenerously call Spotify-playlist-R&B.

Anyway, the Jade single is I think quite interesting; it follows the Girls Aloud Frankenstein method of stitching seemingly incongruous elements together that somehow work as a whole. There's a bit of "Puppet On A String", several tempo changes, Brat-y breakdowns, and a dig at Simon Cowell. Certainly it has me intrigued as to what she might do over the course of an album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDm_bXB_Gac

Yeah I've noticed that since she left the other members have been keen to distance themselves from Jesy and her race cosplay antics. At the time her statement on her departure alluded to the abuse she was getting for being fat (which is absurd - I wish I was "fat" like Jesy, not fat like the 17st lump that I actually am)

None of their solo directions have particularly grabbed me yet, I really love Perrie's voice but I couldn't even finish a playthrough of the last single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgUwi6RmC9Q

I'm obsessed with Jade's new single which seems to be the perfect combination of Solange and Jessie Ware.

the jade album isn't out until september but it's fantastic (although there's one track that's out there but i can't track down)

^^ officially out today and i'm really enjoying it, which is a relief as the last couple singles ("fufn", "plastic box") had veered into more generic territory that to me was less exciting than the first couple releases

This album is fantastic, has the playfulness, wit and ambition of Girls Aloud in their prime.

Yeah, really enjoying the album. Such a shame it has taken so long to come out. Jade wanted it out back in spring apparently. The label seemed to be desperate to get that second big hit single though.

I’m absolutely obsessed with “Unconditional”, that seasick melody in the chorus that then devolves into a “Standing In The Way Of Control” rip…genius.

Kinda surprised they didn’t release the Supremes-sampling one as a single, it seems like an obvious hit (and frankly works far better than it has any right to)

Yeah, they need to put out the Supremes one immediately. That's her New Rules. Apparently it's Jade as a kid singing the sample which makes me love it more.

I've seen a few comments saying it the second half is a big drop off, but Lip Service, Headache and Before You Break My Heart are all so great. Slow Disco is a beautiful closer too.

This is such a great album. The chunky momentum is almost Natural Brown Prom Queen-esque, whiplashing between gorgeous textures throughout

Did a double take listening to the excellent George Riley album, also released on Friday, which too has a song called ‘Unconditional’.

"Plastic Box" may be generic, but the execution is A+

JADE (capslock) album still bringing ridiculous amounts of joy and has only gained in stature since release. Zigzags wildly all over the shop and somehow manages to avoid falling flat at any point. It is SO GOOD

Poor Perrie didn't even get a thread bump for her album (have not heard) but she seemed pretty sound on recent Girlbands Forever BBC doc