British girl band Little Mix is back with its third album, “Get Weird,” which was released Nov. 6. Though this album is full of fierce vocals, it isn’t as impressive as the group’s previous record. The girls have yet to find their individual style and lack originality.
“Black Magic,” the opener of the album, is a modern pop song and the catchiness anthem. This number is different from the others since they have more of a ’90s vibe. A prime example of this is the eighth track, “OMG,” one of the weaker songs in this collection. The introduction of the song sounds like something out of Britney Spears’ old tune “Oops!… I Did It Again” with lyrics such as “Oh my gosh/ I did it again.” Similar to this track, many of the up–tempo songs vary in instrumentation and have an old-school and modern melody, which makes transitioning from each song difficult.
This album excels in its slower songs. “Secret Love Song,” featuring Jason Derulo, and “Love Me Or Leave Me” are both notable slow tunes on this album that deserve a listen. The girls’ — Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall — beautiful voices blend seamlessly with Derulo’s voice on “Secret Love Song.” Little Mix shows that it is far more successful with its down–tempo songs rather than its upbeat ones.
“Lightning” is a track that listeners are either going to love or hate. The beginning of the track sounds like something out of a Disney film with the noise of rain and a twinkle effect. While this is a gorgeous song filled with stunning vocals, there are moments when some of the instrumentation shouldn’t be there. The beat-driven song has an unexpected electronic sound during bits of it, which makes “Lightning” sound odd at times. This electronic-dance-music quality within the track is definitely something new that Little Mix is experimenting with, but there are too many sounds on the song. Going from a calming sound in the beginning to powerful beats toward the middle and end is disorienting.
Little Mix is still trying to find its true sound. With its previous record being heavily rhythm and blues, “Get Weird” is brimming with fun pop songs and heartfelt tunes but is still all over the place in terms of sound. Little Mix’s vocals are strong on this album but fall short in the end, which is an unfortunate disappointment.
