Just as One Direction was groomed (oops… we mean ‘spontaneously formed by Nicole Scherzinger’) to be the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC for the smartphone generation, Little Mix are clearly stitched to be the new Spice Girls. You could even say that it’s in their ‘DNA’! Their songs are loud, rhythmic and empowering in nature just as the Spice Girls were back in the day.
Their second abum ‘Salute’ isn’t a big jump forward in sound and image but focusses on the elements that sustained the band’s success beyond their ‘X Factor UK’ win.
The distinctive production of ‘Wings’ is seen again in ‘Move’ which has one of the best middle eights in recent pop memory. ‘About The Boy’ is also ridiculously catchy and the accompanying acapella-ish ‘Boy’ recreates some Destiny’s Child harmony magic. ‘Mr Loverboy’ is all about a ’90s Mariah Carey vibe, which you’ll be quite grateful for. Seriously, try not to smile listening to it!
For ‘Change Your Life’-esque empowerment anthems, go no further than ‘Little Me’. Though it missed the UK top 10, its message of self-love is quite refreshing amidst all the club references in the charts today. Unfortunately, the other ballads on the album (particularly piano ballads ‘These Four Walls’ and ‘Good Enough’) are quite weak. Save your $2.19!
It would be sad to see their label giving up on the album (they recently announced the imminent release of a non-album single for UK charity Sports Relief), because although ‘Little Me’ was not successful, there’s no reason to believe that the great high energy numbers from ‘Salute’ would flop as well. Instead, we guess they will just have to go in this new section of the reviews (as seen below). That’s almost as good as another number 1 right??
Download : Move, Little Me, About The Boy, Mr. Loverboy.
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