Little Mix: The Last Discography Rate (For Now...)

RainOnFire

RainOnFire

Staff member
28

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IS YOUR LOVE ENOUGH?

AVERAGE: 8.224
HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x7 (@Sally_Harper, @tylerc, @GimmeWork, @munro, @YourLeadSinger, @Music Is Death)
LOWEST SCORE: 6 x2 (@Sprockrooster, @Purple)
MY SCORE: 8
2019 RATE: 17/83

"Is Your Love Enough?" is your highest-rated album track from Glory Days, making the album's five singles your Top 5 from that album.

The song was included as one of the bonus tracks on the Platinum Edition re-release of the album. While it falls from #17 in the 2019 rate, it improves on its average (8.15 to 8.22).

"Is Your Love Enough?", hands down, would have been the easiest smash of Little Mix's career. I'm not saying it's my favourite album track of theirs (it's not even my favourite bonus track from the Platinum Edition to be honest, I think I like "If I Get My Way" better), but purely from a pop music fan's point of view and without bias, this song is a hit.

It's perfectly on trend while not sounding dated (and it hasn't aged badly either) and it is an absolute earworm. My favourite bit of production is the hand-claps before the final chorus bursts through, and the production in general sounds more expensive than what they were usually working with. And shout-out to the brilliant "is your love enough, na na na na na na hey" hook.

At this point in the campaign, the girls had scored five huge smashes and the tour was wrapping up. The Glory Days era was a massive success and it was probably time for a well-deserved break... but I also feel like this is the song that could've smashed even without a drop of promo.

The group was on such an incredible high that probably anything would have been a hit, so it's such a shame they didn't release this. My guess is that everyone involved was thinking that one more single would've been overkill (and to be fair, we saw that scenario play out in 2021 with the Between Us singles flopping).

But still... a hit is a hit. What a waste!



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27

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BOY

AVERAGE: 8.251
HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x6 (@boombazookajoe, @Dijah., @GimmeWork, @cleggar, @Robert, @Music Is Death)
LOWEST SCORE: 5 x2 (@Sprockrooster, @Epic Chocolat)
MY SCORE: 8.5
2019 RATE: 23/83

Salute entered the Top 40 with seven songs, but lost four of them in the space of six eliminations. Oop! But such is the case in a rate for an album that didn't boast a ton of smashes but had a handful of super strong album tracks. The album's two hits, "Move" and "Salute" remain.

"Boy" pretty much maintains its ranking from the 2019 rate, and jumps from a 7.93 average to 8.25 as well.

This would not have worked as a single, only because I think it's too low-key for radio and not as instant as "About the Boy" or "Nothing Feels Like You", but its strength lies in the fact that it's a brilliant showcase of the talent of this group.

The acapella intro, the '90s R&B vibe, the harmonies... this song is everything. It's a shame they never really explored territory like this across a full album (and once again, it boggles my mind that they went from having songs like this on Salute to some of the absolute garbage that clogs up Get Weird's tracklist).​
 
V3RYP05H

V3RYP05H

“Is Your Love Enough?” not being a single was absolutely bizarre. I agree that they easily could’ve had another hit with it. I suspect they themselves were burnt out but imagine having 6 hits to their name from one album era? Has any girl group ever achieved that? They could’ve. What a shame.

Also while the two “Boy” songs on Salute are my least favorite, I do agree that they’re far better than anything on Get Weird.
 
RainOnFire

RainOnFire

Staff member
26

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REGGAETÓN LENTO (REMIX)

AVERAGE: 8.306
HIGHEST SCORE: 11 x1 (@Sprockrooster), 10 x8 (@boombazookajoe, @tylerc, @cleggar, @Robert, @TéléDex, @YourLeadSinger, @Music Is Death, @Xander)
LOWEST SCORE: 4 x1 (@munro)
MY SCORE: 9
2019 RATE: 21/83

"Reggaetón Lento (Remix)" was released as the fifth and final single from Glory Days. It was originally released as a collaboration with CNCO, and was later included on the Platinum Edition re-release of Glory Days.

The song was first released as CNCO's third single from their debut album Primera Cita. From what Wikipedia tells me, it was already a huge hit in its own right, and the most successful single from the album.

Almost a year later, the remix was announced and released in August 2017. The remix became CNCO's first and only single to chart in the UK, peaking at #5. It was Little Mix's 12th Top 10 single, and was once again a massive seller for them, going 2x Platinum for sales of over 1.2 million copies. It is their sixth biggest single to date.

The video looks like it was shot on a budget of $20 and despite both groups being on set, there's barely any physical interaction between them. Everyone's serving looks I suppose but it's a bit whatever.

The televised performance on X Factor is thankfully much better. It was performed as part of a 2-part performance that also featured "Power", and the performance overall is absolutely phenomenal.

We'll get into the "Power" portion of it later, but the "Reggaetón Lento" portion is fire. The girls kill it as usual, and I have to say, it makes me happy to see CNCO performing choreography - obviously my eyes are fully stuck on the girls nn but I appreciate that they rose to the occasion and actually danced, after years of being subjected to One Direction performances where the group would do absolutely NOTHING but jump on stage and somehow still get praised to the ends of the earth, while Little Mix were putting blood, sweat, and tears into their performances and not receiving the same accolades.

As for the song itself - MEGABOP. Sometimes there's nothing else to say but that. It's a huge, massive banger and sometimes that's good enough!

@YourLeadSinger gives this full marks and says "So many good memories with song, it was a wild time. Both groups sound so good! I still want to know why this happened, it’s not like CNCO capitalized on this and it’s not like Little Mix focused on the Latin market? I’m glad it happened anyways."

From what I understand, CNCO was also a group that was put together on a talent show produced by Simon Cowell, so I guess this was his way of ensuring a quick hit for them in Europe. Honestly I stan - it was such an easy summer smash for both groups!

And our last words go to 11-giver @Sprockrooster: "Quite frankly the best summer jam by a girl group since Pure Shores. And in time I - dare I say it - see it overtaking Pure Shores as the best girl group summer jam of all time."






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25

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MONSTER IN ME

AVERAGE: 8.341
HIGHEST SCORE: 11 x1 (@Florencia.), 10 x8 (@Joe., @boombazookajoe, @Dijah., @Sally_Harper, @GimmeWork, @RMK, @Music Is Death, @Serg.)
LOWEST SCORE: 5 x2 (@Sprockrooster, @Xander)
MY SCORE: 8
2019 RATE: 12/83

This is the first elimination post where more than one song has received an 11, and coincidentally both songs received the same amount of 10s!

"Monster In Me" is a ballad on LM5 that speaks to the connection you feel with someone where you know it's not healthy but you can't break it off. Sometimes this subject matter is painted as being a kind of irresistible love, whereas on this song, it's painful, and the narrator realizes it's their own flaws that are keeping them connected to that person.

This is a gorgeous song. The production is soft and beautiful and feels a bit wintry as well if that makes sense, I can picture this being a perfect winter single like "Secret Love Song". I love Perrie's adlibs, and the lyrics are written really well as well (another Kamille co-write!).

It's hard to imagine a singles run where this wasn't picked as a single. It's high-up on the tracklist for one thing but it's just a beautiful ballad and would've probably done really well.

I think the only thing that might've prevented that from happening (aside from, y'know, the label switch that corrupted the album campaign) is that the girls themselves may not be huge fans of it... I can't seem to find a source for this but I swear it happened, I think it was Jesy who said that they didn't care for this one all that much? And even if I did accidentally make that up nn, the fact that it wasn't on the tour setlist kind of says something when it's one of the album's biggest highlights. Tragic!​
 
V3RYP05H

V3RYP05H

As I mentioned previously, I don’t get why “Reggaeton Lento (Remix)” exists but I love it. The original was everywhere in Latinomerica so I was very familiar when it was announced. My friend loved CNCO and followed them from the beginning and I ended up going with her to their concert. It was hilarious being around all these little mega fans and then me getting absolute life when the boys had Little Mix pop up on screen for the middle-8 of the remix (the only part they included) and being the only person singing along to their lyrics ddd.

Don’t know why the team surrounding the boys didn’t capitalize on the UK hit especially since Simon said he was impressed with them after the performance.
 
V3RYP05H

V3RYP05H

“Wasabi” as a lead would’ve been such a move and should’ve happened. Little Mix’s AR should’ve missed the “Woman Like Me” demo.
 
Holly Something

Holly Something

Is Your Love Enough? - 7.7 - Undoubtedly a bop, but not top tier for me. Likely would have smashed though.
Boy - 8.6 - Love the intro! The rest of the song gives me "Are You That Somebody" vibes.
Reggaeton Lenton; Remix - 7.2 - I'm glad they had another massive hit for this era but I very rarely go back to it.
Monster In Me - 9.7 - Beautiful ballad, should've been the winter single.
 
V3RYP05H

V3RYP05H

LPMA said:
All Saints' first era!
Click to expand...
Literally facepalmed. AND they did it without a re-release (technically, since the original version was exclusive to Japan). Though, I guess one could argue that that was only 5 singles due to the double A.
 
RainOnFire

RainOnFire

Staff member
24

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SHOUT OUT TO MY EX

AVERAGE: 8.435
HIGHEST SCORE: 11 x1 (@Mvnl), 10 x11 (@tomba, @Sally_Harper, @Sprockrooster, @GimmeWork, @TwistedInnocence, @cleggar, @Robsolete, @Florencia., @Robert, @TéléDex, @Remorque)
LOWEST SCORE: 5.5 x1 (@RainOnFire)
MY SCORE: 5.5
2019 RATE: 29/83

Ah... a moment in history.

"Shout Out to My Ex" was released as the lead single of Glory Days on October 16, 2016. It was released on a Sunday, which I remember led to fears of how it might chart, but turns out it didn't matter!

The song sailed into the #1 position and stayed there for 3 weeks, becoming the only female-led #1 single of 2016 (how dark). It is their biggest selling single to date, with sales of over 2 million units - it was their first single to be certified 2x Platinum and later 3x Platinum. It's their second most-viewed video after "Black Magic" on YouTube with 462 million views (somehow "Hair" is right on its tail at 461 million?! I didn't notice till now nn). It's the most streamed song by a girl group in the UK, and the second biggest single by any girl group only behind "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. Whew!

It really was a perfect storm of events, with the Get Weird hits laying the foundation for this to completely bulldoze everything in its path. It also won the girls their very first BRIT for British Single of the Year, which led to them getting hammered and giving us one of my favourite YouTube compilations ever, linked below (Jesy constantly being like "these are my best friends ever"... sigh).

The video is basically an Instagram filter in music video form. Lots of fun colours, dancing in the desert, glittery makeup. It's a simple but very effective video.

Now for the song itself...

Immediately there was a bit of controversy because the song's chorus is very similar to "Ugly Heart" by G.R.L., which led to the G.R.L. members and their fans tweeting the hashtag #ShoutOutToUglyHeart. Things took a very nasty turn though when someone tweeted the hashtag from deceased member Simone Battle's account, which I still can't believe someone had the audacity to do.

The fact is that the chorus is very similar to "Ugly Heart" in the sense that it has that strummy, chanting, fists-in-the-air energy. But I think the song has a lot more issues than that, in my very personal opinion.

It's just an odd one to me. The verses and chorus are so different and the song feels disjointed as a result. The production on the verses is just weird to me in general. And something about the way their vocals were produced on the chorus makes it sound way too Radio Disney/childish, which is not something that "Ugly Heart" suffers from.

I just... don't like this all that much. But hey, it's their biggest single ever (for a multitude of reasons of course), but the stats don't lie and people love this, including 11 people in this rate who gave it a 10! But I do think it says something that their biggest smash is leaving at #24 in our rate and isn't somewhere in the Top 10, where most commercially successful artists' biggest song would be.

Anyway, like "Wings" and "Black Magic" before it, "Shout Out to My Ex" is a constant on every setlist. It also received two milestone performances on TV. The first was the debut of the song, on the X Factor. I think it was a very special moment for a lot of people, because you could just feel that it was the beginning of them becoming untouchable. I think the girls themselves sensed this - they've never looked happier and more at ease on stage. They knew this performance was the start of their imperial phase.

The second major performance is also the second of three legendary performances at the BRITs. The production value alone, whew. Lights! Pyrotechnics! Men in their undies covered in body paint! 700 dancers in the same outfits! It's absolutely insane and one of their best. Going back to my criticisms of the song though, it's whiplash-inducing to say the least for the performance to have THAT intro which makes you think they're about to launch into an ice-cold banger like "Touch" (or in an alternate reality, "Sweet Melody"), and then it goes into... well, that nn. But whatever! It's still spectacular!





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