Little Mix – Confetti (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

In 2018, a few days before the release of Little Mix’s last album, the quartet announced their split from Simon Cowell’s Syco company, which had shepherded their career since they won The X Factor in 2011. You didn’t have to delve too deeply to understand that the split was not terribly amicable. Cowell took to the tabloids, protesting the band’s lack of due deference. “Why do artists think they’re more important than staff members? They’re not,” he wailed, indicating precisely why artists might not want to hang around Syco too long.

Freed from pop’s dark overlord, Little Mix proceeded to launch their own TV talent show, The Search, a direct competitor to Cowell’s ailing X Factor. The ratings suggested the public might be sick of TV talent shows regardless of who’s on the judging panel, but you couldn’t knock it as an act of aggression – the light entertainment equivalent of tanks on the lawn. Now their first post-Cowell album arrives, heralded by a single that snaps: “I don’t do what Simon says.” “Be a puppet on a string,” runs Not a Pop Song; “Works for you, but not for me.” The chorus, meanwhile, is designed to be bellowed along to en masse in arenas illuminated by frantically waved glow sticks and rent with screams: “Anything is better than another pop song about falling in love, but if you wanna sing along, say, ‘I don’t give a what’.”

Following the empowered pop feminism of 2018’s LM5, Britain’s Little Mix return with their sixth studio album, 2020’s effusive and fun Confetti. Once again showcasing the vocal skills of Little Mix bandmates Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson, the record is a dance-oriented production that balances sugary club hooks with lyrics about romance and relationships. Helping them achieve this sweetly attenuated balance are a handful of in-demand pop producers/songwriters, including Camille Purcell (aka Kamille), the Swedish duo Goldfingers, Raphaella, MNEK, and others. On LM5, Little Mix took a page out of Beyoncé’s playbook, imbuing their songs with strong messages about women and society. On Confetti, while still striking a fierce and confident stance, they seem to take an intentionally lighter, more relaxed approach, with songs that favor good-time pop dazzle over any explicit feminist messaging. It’s a balanced tone they strike with wry playfulness on the funky, minor-key title track, singing “We wanna celebrate like we in the club every day/Got all my friends here with me/And I don’t need ya, I don’t need ya/Got this dress up on me/So I don’t need your stress up on me.” Equally engaging are cuts like the opening “Break Up Song” and the sparkling “Holiday,” both club-ready anthems that bring to mind a deft combination of Robyn and Rihanna. We also get the reggaeton-infused “Sweet Melody,” the kinetic, early-2000s hip-hop groove of “Gloves Up,” and the electronic pop of “Nothing But My Feelings.” As the title implies, Confetti is an album of brightly colored feel-good songs, meant to light your way to the dancefloor. – Matt Collar

Tracklist

1. Little Mix – Break Up Song
2. Little Mix – Holiday
3. Little Mix – Sweet Melody
4. Little Mix – Confetti
5. Little Mix – Happiness
6. Little Mix – Not a Pop Song
7. Little Mix – Nothing But My Feelings
8. Little Mix – Gloves Up
9. Little Mix – A Mess (Happy 4 U)
10. Little Mix – My Love Won’t Let You Down
11. Little Mix – Rendezvous
12. Little Mix – If You Want My Love
13. Little Mix – Breathe

Download:

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