Tuesday 3 July 2012

Little Mix - Wings


Well this is unexpected. After butchering Cannonball for their X-Factor winning single, Little Mix return with a track that's quite different from the urban music they sang in the competition.

That said, it's pretty well suited to the girl band - full of feisty attitude and youthful vibrancy, even if the shallow lyrics are pure cliché. The backbone of the production is an infectious hand-clap rhythm, which morphs into a Lose My Breath/Run the World style military beat towards the end. The opening brass call may hint at Hairspray's You Can't Stop The Beat, but the brass stabs throughout add a contemporary soul flavour. It's a fun and infectious pop record and a guaranteed number one, but with the amount of airplay this is likely to receive it's also a guaranteed annoyance.

Most of all, the girls have clearly realised over the last few months that whilst their voices are individually quite weak, together they are far more powerful (see End of Time video below, Beyoncé's far superior modern classic clearly a major influence on Wings). The essence of a pop band is the ability to sing in harmony. There's not enough of it here and it's quite low in the mix (no pun intended), but it's certainly there in the pre-chorus especially. If they can continue to improve their vocals with tight harmony, then perhaps a fresh resurgence of girl power really is on the cards.


3/5


Listen: Wings is released on 22nd August.