Little Mix

I’m at that age. It’s official. I’ve reached the time in my life when young girls working in charity book shops give me amused (and rather surprised) glances when they catch me whistling a tune that’s in the current Official UK Top 40.

The song I refer to is Touch by Little Mix and I guess that I kinda know why I got that glance. Little Mix are a band for teenage girls and I am not part of that select demographic. Not by a long chalk.

The fact that this catchy little tune took me a good deal of effort to master apparently stands for nothing. Truth is, the off beat, syncopated rhythm of ‘just the touch of your love is enough to knock me off my feet all week’ required a great deal of practice before I had it off pat. Don’t believe it’s that hard? Just try it for yourself – you’ll see what I mean.

Can I make a confession here? I love Little Mix. No, no, it’s nothing to do with their looks – I actually find the faces of at least two of them to be a little … strange to be honest. And it’s not all to do with the way they shake their booty on stage and video, although they do seem to be rather good at that sort of thing. No – it’s more to do with their songs.

If you listen to them, you’ll know what I mean – they are inventive and catchy and packed full of hooks. The bass line on Touch is sublime, the ending to Power, not to mention the beginning and middle, is … well, powerful, the lyrics to Shout Out To My Ex, despite being about a breakup, are, frankly, extremely uplifting and supportive – and that’s just scratching the surface of a back catalogue packed full of smash hits.

I’m not at all sure why these songs resonate with me so much – I mean, there are other girl-bands out there that are just as successful, and I’ve actually never been especially into this kind of music, having leant more towards the goth / post-punk / indie / madchester / ska / glam-rock end of the spectrum in the past.

Perhaps they have found a place in my heart because these songs and their singers seem to celebrate life at a time when I feel that this trait is increasingly important – not just to me, but to the entire world. It may be a cliché, but love really is what makes the world go around. These songs are sugar-coated by sweet love and glittery life, and anything that adds this to our collective existence has my vote. Little Mix for President!

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(Thanks to Clare, who inspired me to write about Little Mix by doing this: https://clarestandish.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/little-mix/)