November 5, 2020 at PST
Confetti
“We wrote it with a bottle of wine and we just had fun,” Leigh-Anne Pinnock tells Apple Music of Little Mix’s sixth album Confetti, titled as such because Britain’s biggest girl band wanted the record to “feel like a celebration.” Written during sessions between London and LA before 2020’s global lockdown, the songs include self-love anthems (the irresistible “Happiness”), feminist clapbacks (“Not a Pop Song,” on which Little Mix brilliantly rallies against being called a “guilty pleasure”), and breakup smashes (the ’80s-inspired and rather on-the-nose “Break Up Song”). But if those subjects were tackled overtly on 2018’s LM5, here, Little Mix—also made up of Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall, and Jesy Nelson—has a little more fun with it. That came, they say, from the confidence of being six albums deep and feeling emboldened to speak out—in their music and beyond—about sexism, misogyny, and the things they’ve endured as four young women in the public eye. But it was a product, too, of a collective decision to rid themselves of pressure and just see where those sessions might lead them. “We were in a headspace of ‘Let’s just write and see if we get an album, and if we don’t, we don’t,'” says Edwards. Read on as Little Mix guides us through each track of Confetti.
Break Up Song
Perrie Edwards: “We wrote this with [UK singer, songwriter, and producer] KAMILLE and some others. We had a two-day writing session where we wrote around seven songs, and the majority of them made it to the album. It was just a good session. Champagne was popping. ‘Break Up Song’ is just that '80s feel-good pop fun. It’s very nostalgic.”
Leigh-Anne Pinnock: “This song reminds me a bit of ‘Black Magic,’ but cooler. It’s just that ’80s synth that makes you feel good. We always love a great introduction to the album as well. When we released this song [in March 2020], everyone just needed a bit of a pick-me-up and a bit of a boost.”
Holiday
PE: “We get a lot of inspiration when we go through breakups and personal stuff. And it’s always the easiest thing to write about. We write with the heart and about how you’re feeling emotionally. But for this one, we were just like, ‘Why don’t we write instead about being happy and how a boy can make you feel amazing when he’s the one?’ And it just went from there.”
Sweet Melody
Jade Thirlwall: “There are a few songs on this album that are quite bass-heavy. For this one, Leigh-Anne and I, when we were in LA, did a few sessions with [US singer-songwriter] Tayla Parx, who did ‘7 rings’ with Ariana Grande and some massive bangers in the US. She played us this, which she’d done with [British singer, songwriter, and producer] MNEK, who we work with a lot, and we were singing it for days after. The song tells a story as well—to me, it’s like the big sister to ‘Touch.’”
LP: “With that beat dropping in the chorus, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m sold. This is it!’ It’s a banger!”
Confetti
PE: “‘Confetti’ is sexy. It's very understated but cool. And we just feel cool listening to it. As soon as we had this song, we just knew this would be what the album would be called. It was fun, cool, and you could do so much with it.”
JT: “We always think of video ideas and gender reversals. You know when you see rappers in the club with girls dancing? Imagine if that was switched round.”
Happiness
PE: “The melodies take you somewhere—my boyfriend absolutely loves this one because of them. The concept of this song and the lyrics are really nice, too. I think the song is relatable to everybody. People, especially in the world we’re living in right now, are very dependent on other people for their happiness. I’m a bit like that: My emotions are based on how somebody else makes me feel. And I think this song is amazing—the message is that you don’t need somebody to make you feel good. You should just be happy within yourself.”
JT: “I think it’s very empowering. It’s like, ‘I was searching for happiness. I thought it was with you, but actually it's just with myself.’ It's the anti-codependent bop of 2020!”
Not a Pop Song
LP: “We did this with Tayla Parx, too. It was about the crummy year we had. Basically, it's a bit of tea, that song, isn't it? We were sipping a bit of tea when we wrote it. A lot of people in the past have said that we're puppets just because we’re in a pop girl group and that we’re a guilty pleasure. 'We don’t do what Simon says' is the lyric.”
JT: “There's so much to us. We deserve credibility and respect.”
Nothing But My Feelings
JT: “We wrote this song in LA. I think it's quite empowering actually for women to write about getting a booty call, and being like, ‘Yeah, do you know what? Sometimes, I just want to have sex. And I'll give you a call and I'll let you know when you can come around. I've got nowt on.’ We tried to make the chorus a bit nursery rhyme-y so it was quite innocent. But when you hear the lyrics, they’re a bit filth. To me, the big chorus is like two people having a one-night stand, and then the gospel choir is like, ‘Yeah, well done!’ That bit will be good on tour as well.”
Gloves Up
PE: “This was done with [songwriter] Maegan Cottone, who we wrote ‘Salute’ with, as well as other songs. We absolutely love Meg. I feel like she just gets us so well. It’s a very anthemic song, and the chorus is quite Ciara-ish. We just had fun with it.”
LP: “‘Gloves Up’ takes me back a little bit within Little Mix, but I don’t mind that. I feel like this one will be a fan favorite. We had it in mind when we wrote this song that it would maybe be a tour opener.”
A Mess (Happy 4 U)
LP: “The lyrics in this song, to me, are kind of Robyn-esque. It’s sad—it’s about seeing your ex with somebody else. And it’s like, ‘Look, if you're happy, I'm happy.’ Even though you're not. It sounds quite cutesy and happy, but it's actually really freaking sad. You’re actually dying. We love a happy sad song.”
My Love Won’t Let You Down
PE: “I think, for me, the thing that makes me so emotional when I hear this song is the space in it. It's not like a flowing, typical ballad. There's so much space and the piano just drops out—it just really gets me every time. And it's like we're singing it to each other. You can interpret it in so many different ways, but it is nice to think that we're singing it to each other, like we've got each other's backs.”
Rendezvous
JT: “This song is quite dark, sexy, and low, which we don't all do that often. Everyone's kind of down there on this one. It’s exactly about owning your sexuality. Like, ‘How do you feel about a rendezvous?’”
LP: “It’s quite stripped back as well. I feel like we're used to throwing bells and whistles at songs, so it was quite nice to hold it back a little bit and just do just something really cool and sultry.”
If You Want My Love
JT: “The meaning of ‘If You Want My Love’ is like, I'm sick of your shit. If you want my love, work for it. Put the effort in. We're very busy girls, you see? We’re very successful! And you’re putting in some half-arsed effort. Just work for it.”
Breathe
LP: “It's nice to be vulnerable every now and again. This song reminds me of ‘No Air’ [by Jordin Sparks, featuring Chris Brown]. It’s got that vibe. This is probably the closest to R&B I feel like we've got with our music, and I feel like we needed an R&B feature. The lyric is ‘I can’t breathe when you’re not with me.’ You do feel like that after a breakup sometimes. Even though it's not true—you can survive without him. But that’s the feeling you’ve got at the time.”
13 Tracks
