Ever since then they have been blasting hit after hit and appearing on the Billboard charts. Their breakout album "DNA"(2012) bowed at number 4 on the Billboard 200 charts. By which is the highest debut in history to be made by a British girl group, even surpassing Spice Girls' "Spice" which debuted at number six back in 1997.
Interviewer: How does it feel knowing that you have surpassed the Spice Girls on the American Charts?
LP: It's unimaginable-
PE: We grew up listening to the Spice Girls, that's the thing.
JN: Yeah, growing up we always saw them as our role models. I wouldn't think we're anywhere near their level-
LP: They managed to unite girls from all end of the planet, it was great!
JN: They're so influential to young girls everywhere!
JT: We like to see them as our inspirations, in that perspective.
Interviewer: It has been four years since winning the X Factor, you're third studio album has gone platinum, how do you do it?
PE: Honestly, we owe it to our mixers (their fans), they're always up for new music. After building such a great connection with our audience, they're now always are so excited for our new stuff.
Interviewer: Awwww, Mixers sounds so cute! I was wondering, what demographic does you music typically appeal to most?
JN: *giggles* anyone looking for a jam really
PE: I would assume we appeal mostly to the teenage demographic, especially the girls in high school
LP: Yeah, our tunes scream girl power. We were there once, and we know how it feels to be at that age and facing teenage troubles. Most of our music carries themes of empowerment. Like if you listen to songs like Wings, Grown and Little Me, we're sorta talking about our experiences and what we'd say to our little selfs.
Interviewer: Totally, I was just about to ask about that. I wanted to ask about what similarities you guys see in between the song Grown from your new album and Little Me from the last, and We Are Who We Are from your first album; they all have very different sounds, but to the audience, we get the same vibes off of the lyrics.
JT: Yeah, technically We Are Who We Are is a very pop-y song, and Grown is such a Motown-inspired song, whereas Little Me is a ballad. In Little Me and We Are Who We Are, we wanted to convey that if we went back and spoke to ourselves when we were the same ages that the majority of our fans are, we would tell ourselves to speak up. Gain a bit more self-confidence, ya know? With Grown, we sang about how now that we've grown up and matured we've managed to gain that confidence, and it's managed to be much more appealing to others.
PE: The common ground between the two songs are the underlying themes of confidence.
Interviewer: When it comes to writing lyrics for your music, how do you manipulate words to your benefit? I'm the worst writer in the world; I suck using words to express what I feel.
JN: Honestly, usually it comes naturally. We're all interested in language, and how to manipulate it to portray what's implied. When we write a particular song thoughts that I personally always keep in mind is "who's gonna listen to this? ", "how would they want to hear it?" and "what kind of language and structure should I use to translate these thoughts and emotions?".
PE: It depends on the intentions of a song, like when into the studio with the intention of writing a pop song, we wanna make it catchy and focus on rhyme schemes and alliteration. Like in Black Magic we used an alternate rhyme scheme. Whereas when we come to write an emotional, sad song, we're leaning more towards a ballade and the use of imagery and such.
LP: When I write a song, personally I like to focus on what would sit well with who I'm targeting. Our albums genuinely have a song for everyone. Like we have Salute and Little me for the empowerment, and Black Magic and Wings for the pop lovers, and then there are songs like Loverboy and Hair who are for the hipsters that are into throwback tracks, ya know with all the 80s influence. You really want to focus on the context of the song, the people who are gonna hear it and how you should structure it to benefit the song; especially when we want to make it relatable to the audience.
Interviewer: Woah! That so much more technical than you'd think. But even from the older fans like myself, I can relate to your words, and it makes me feel so powered up and secure. Honestly, it's great to jam out to you guys when I'm feeling quite low. So I guess all that initiative and technicality works!
JN: Babe, your too sweet!
PE: That's the best thing I've heard in years; honestly that makes me so happy!
LP: Genuinely that means loads, like empowering people, not just teenage girls either, but women, and even boys, just people, in general, are why we do what we do!
Interviewer: Feminism, girl power and everything in between have been some of the most talked about topics in the media right now, how do you feel your music has allowed you to contribute to it?
LP: Ah, everyone loves a Lil' bit of girl power! The good thing about Little Mix is that we embrace who we are wholeheartedly. We want to empower, not only our fans but ourselves too! DNA our first album, Salute our second, and now Get Weird are all about embracing ourselves. We don't think we would ever end up changing that because it's what are fans relate and connect to the most.
PE: And to be honest, no matter how much we want to include and unify women, you can tell that we never want to un-include boys and men. That's not the case; we have songs about loving ourselves and empowering ourselves that go both for girl and boys, and I just wanted to emphasize on that.
JN: Yeah, like as much as we write about girls, we also do write a cheeky amount of songs about love. All our songs are for the public; we don't have a certain age, sex, or racial that we only want to appeal to, it the exact opposite. Our music is out there for anyone who intends to listen to it. We never want to diss people or make people look bad in general to make a point. We fight for female empowerment, but we don't want to exclude the boys while doing so.
PE: Now that that's out there, I also wanna say we are very pro-feminism. Just as much as our music is for everyone, I wouldn't want to overshadow the whole girl power thing. We feel like women are a stronger force when they do unite; they are so much stronger, so why not?
Interviewer: Preach it! I just wanted to ask about how you girls feel about portraying past experiences in your music?
JT: Well in general when we do write, we write without hiding anything. It all comes from the heart and first-hand experiences.
LP: Whether we're writing about love and heartbreak, or confidence and girl power, we will always put our emotions into these tracks.
PE: It allows us to enjoy what we're writing, while also letting the mixers connect with what we're singing about in our songs.
JN: Yeah, we want to write about things that are relatable, so we include our real experiences, ya' know?
Interviewer: Girls, it's been great having you back on Billboard Magazine! You've given us great insight and all the more reason to love and support your music. Thank you so much, and we wish you the best with the next few months of touring, lots of love!
PE: Thanks guys
JN: It's been wonderful speaking with you!
JT: It's been great being back anyways!
LP: Love you guys!
2nd April 2016
Sources:
Little Mix Get All Righteous and Talk Getting Empowered for New Album Salute. Perf. Little Mix. Sugarscape, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_QXH5aD-4>.
"Little Mix." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"Little Mix Breaks Spice Girls' Chart Record." Billboard. N.p., 5 June 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
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