Little Mix in Kia Concert

Brace yourselves for the arrival of a young pop group of exceptionally talented singers, Little Mix. That UK foursome of beauty and talent will be performing at the KIA Theater in Cubao on May 20. This is part of its Get Weird Tour which covers Europe, Oceania and Asia and which has been receiving excellent reviews wherever the girls go.

Now we are already used to having the best and the biggest names in music visit these parts of the world. Think of the likes of Andrea Bocelli or perhaps Madonna. Still I want to single out Little Mix for the fact that those who will watch the unflagging high energy show will be treated to impressive dancing and costume changes and most of all fantastic singing by the girls.

I suggest that you prepare yourselves to thrill to intricate harmonies and a cappella arrangements that are almost second nature to them. Every one of the members of Little Mix is a soprano with a three-octave range. Count the octaves on a regular keyboard and I am sure that you, too, will be amazed about how high and how low those Little Mix voices can reach.

But of course, helping things along is the fact that all of the members of Little Mix have now become experts in music and performance. The group is made up of Perrie Edwards, 22 years old and the holder of a performing arts degree, who was once engaged to One Direction member-now-turned soloist Zayn Malik; Jesy Nelson, 24 who studied music and drama; Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 24, who is of mixed Barbadian and Jamaican parentage and was a Pizza Hut waitress; and Jade Thirlwall, 23, who is of Yemeni and Egyptian mix and studied performing arts.

They were all soloists dreaming of success when they auditioned for The X-Factor, the talent show on UK TV. Unfortunately, not one of them made the grade. Still, they so impressed the producers that it was decided to get them together into a group. Note that this was the same thing done to huge success with the boys that became the boy band One Direction. The girls even upped the guys better when won the grand prize in the X-Factor in 2011, the only group to do so.

The Little Mix members have since then released three Platinum-selling albums and sold over seven million records. These are their debut recording DNA with the single Wings four years ago;

Salute, two years later, where they showed off their R&B dance skills with the hit song Move; and last year’s Get Weird, an appealing package of catchy, commercial pop that has already produced two hit singles Black Magic and Love Me Like You.

I suppose it is safe to expect that Little Mix will be doing those big hits in the Kia show. Most likely to also be included in the set are: The Beginning, Weird People, I Won’t, How Ya Doin’, Little Me, OMG, Secret Love Song, Lightning, A.D.I.D.A.S., Hair, Change Your Life and Grown. Speaking of One Direction, the boys came in fifth in Billboard Magazine’s list of the top money-makers in music for 2015. Do not be surprised to find names that have not released a new recording in years. Given the fact that physical CD sales have gotten so low, it is almost non-existent and revenue from digital outlets like YouTube,

Spotify and others still have to be felt and a lot of music lovers still have to convert to shopping by downloads, the names in this list made their money by performing in tours.

Here are those who made it to the Top 20 led by current pop queen Taylor Swift with an incredible, $73.5M earned from album sales, streaming, music publishing and touring. The others are Kenny Chesney, $39.8M; The Rolling Stones, $39.6M; Billy Joel, $31.7M; One Direction, $24.2M; Grateful Dead/Dead & Company, $23.3M.

Luke Bryan, $23.1M; U2, $21.3M; Adele, $20.5M; Maroon 5, $19.2M; Jason Aldean, $18.9M; Shania Twain, $14.4M; Dave Matthews Band, $14.1M; Madonna, $12.7M; Elton John, $12.4M; Rush, $12M; Ed Sheeran, $11.6M; Juan Gabriel, $11.6M; Florida Georgia Line, $11.5M; and Fleetwood Mac, $11.3M.

Incidentally, plans are afoot to do a Philippine edition of Billboard

Magazine, which is often referred to as “the bible” of the music industry. When this happens, we will finally know how many copies of an album by a particular artist have been sold and how much he or she makes on tours. This should be very interesting.