The sophomore full-length album from
Little Mix, 2013's
Salute, showcases the British all-girl group's bright, high-energy pop music. The album follows up the former X Factor champions' 2012 debut,
DNA. Once again, this album features the vocal talents of
Little Mix members Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jade Thirlwall. Surrounded by a sea of similarly inclined girl group acts like
Fifth Harmony and
the Saturdays,
Little Mix do a nice job of standing out from the crowd here. This is not so much due to any reinvention of the pop wheel (although they do sound a lot more Americanized than their British contemporaries); what separates them is great songwriting and production, and on that score
Salute is a big win for
Little Mix. This time around,
Little Mix worked with a handful of big-name producers including Future Cut (
Lily Allen,
Shakira),
MNEK (
Rudimental, Misha B), TMS (
Emeli Sandé,
Olly Murs), and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (
Janet Jackson,
Mariah Carey). The result is that they have a heavier, more R&B and hip-hop-influenced sound on
Salute than they did on
DNA. In that sense,
Little Mix are more in line with acts like
Rihanna,
Miley Cyrus, and
Beyoncé. Twenty years on from the days when
En Vogue and
TLC reigned as R&B divas, their distinctive '90s production sound is back in vogue and
Little Mix are clearly enamored with it. Cuts like "About the Boy," "Mr. Loverboy," and "Move" have a strong '90s club aesthetic that smartly bridges the gap between vintage house music and contemporary electronic dance music of the 2000s. Ultimately, while
Salute retains all of
Little Mix's infectious, teen-friendly ingredients, it reveals a new recipe for fans whose palates have matured right along with the band. [A Deluxe Edition added four bonus tracks.] ~ Matt Collar