Little Mix churns out another album with pop bops: Confetti Review
Little Mix is probably one of the biggest girl groups in the world right now, especially in the UK and European markets. After first forming during the eighth series of the UK’s X Factor, Little Mix has taken the world by storm. Although they are not exactly the biggest group here in the United States, it is high time that the American market starts to pay more attention to this empowering pop girl group. I personally think that they are a lot better than a lot of pop artists in the United States.
Last Friday, Little Mix released their follow up to LM5, with this sixth album titled Confetti. This 13 track album takes listeners through an empowering pop journey encouraging people to celebrate themselves. I love that they called upon writers and producers like Tayla Parx, MNEK, KAMILLE, and many other names that really brought this album to life. Tayla Parx has written for artists like Ariana Grande, Panic! At the Disco, Normani, and Khalid. MNEK’s songwriting and production credits include Madonna, Christina Augilera, Dua Lipa, and even Beyoncé, while KAMILLE’s credits include Dua Lipa, Mabel, and Jax Jones.
The album kicks off with “Break Up Song”, which is a cute song about getting over someone. This was not their strongest opening, but this does not mean it was a bad song. I personally felt like this song worked best as a closer, thinking about the album as a whole. Then, it takes us through their next two singles, “Holiday” and “Sweet Melody”, both of which are great pop songs, although “Sweet Melody” is the clear favorite. This is because, although the first minute leaves listeners hesitating about where the song is going, the big relief comes with a beat drop in the chorus which sets the mood for a club-thumping song about someone coming to their senses that a relationship was nothing but sweet nothings.
There were a couple of forgettable songs, like “Happiness” and “Nothing But My Feelings”. The production captures your attention for a split second, before they lose you entirely and leave you bored. The lyricism is not at all bad, but fans have seen better from Little Mix. “Breathe” was not a forgettable song, but a very weak closing for the album. As mentioned before, “Break Up Song” felt like a more appropriate closing track since “Breathe” feels too slow and a sour note to end on in an album about celebrating yourself and being independent.
Aside from those songs, there were definitely some standouts. In “Rendezvous”, Little Mix dips back into their LM5 era and it was a pleasant surprise to hear that kind of sensual vibe, especially since they sang in a deeper register for the most part. “Confetti”, the title track, is probably the best song on the album, since it throws listeners back to the late 2000’s while adding a 2020 Little Mix twist to it. I honestly was thrown back to Cassie’s “Me & U” (2006) which made me love the song even more. The one ballad on this album, “My Love Won’t Let You Down”, is another standout, which could be biased since I am a sucker for a good piano driven ballad. To me, the piano pauses during the chorus amplified this tension of trying to get a person to understand the love that the members of the group are trying to give, along with them just letting their vocal chops stand out.
Overall, this is a solid pop album, but I did have one general critique about the album. The production on many of the songs seemed to veer into the generic and not at all interesting. This is not to say that the production was bad in any way, just not the best. Their last album, LM5, was a bit more experimental or at least interesting with the production, which is why I had this expectation going in that they would push and evolve in terms of their sound. For now, it seems like Little Mix has plateaued, although they seem more than comfortable and happy with it. At the end of the day, Confetti is a resounding success rather than a forgettable album.
Track-by-Track Rating (A ★ indicates an album highlight):
Break Up Song - 8/10 ★
Holiday - 8/10
Sweet Melody - 8.5/10 ★
Confetti - 10/10 ★
Happiness - 6/10
Not a Pop Song - 7.5/10
Nothing But My Feelings - 6/10
Gloves Up - 8.5/10 ★
A Mess (Happy 4 U) - 8/10
My Love Won’t Let You Down - 10/10 ★
Rendezvous - 9/10 ★
If You Want My Love - 8/10
Breathe - 7/10