Consistency is the ideal Mix

THERE’S a reason why Little Mix are still on top after a decade and it’s a simple one: they keep on delivering the goods. Nine years, six tours, five albums, four voices, none of them ever anything less than solid. Now here’s album number six, their first since they wriggled out from under the thumb of Simon Cowell and his Syco label, although you wouldn’t guess from hearing it that much has changed.

Confetti is a typically sturdy set. They’ve never been a great albums band but they’re a consistent one. Any given Little Mix album consists of a dozen or so songs, around a third of which really grab you (and will probably have been hit singles). Another third allow the girls a little experimental leeway and the remainder are well-crafted filler.

If Confetti initially feels a tad below par, it’s because the hits with which it’s front-loaded don’t have that rush of immediacy we’ve come to expect. It’s become a rule that a Little Mix lead single should pretty much smack you upside the head. Break Up Song is more of a slow burner; ditto the lubricious Holiday (which never does quite catch fire) and Sweet Melody, with its light, Latin/reggae pulse and dark narrative of betrayal and implied coercive control. If that suggests a veiled swipe at their former label boss, they aim a direct punch with Not A Pop Song, and justly also target the notion of bubblegum pop as a guilty pleasure rather than the pure one it is.