Salute (Little Mix album)

Background

In March 2013, Little Mix began their first promotional campaign in the US. In multiple interviews with various websites and radio interviewers the girls said that they would begin working on their then untitled second album in April. The group began work writing and recording the album in April and concluded in September. Throughout the recording process, Little Mix worked with several producers, including TMS, Future Cut, Fred Ball, Duvall and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album was largely co-written by Little Mix, who stated that they were more involved in the development of this album than with their debut.

In an interview with Digital Spy in March 2013, Little Mix stated that they wanted their second album to have a more R&B sound. Band member Jesy Nelson added: "I personally want to put a lot more dancey stuff in there. As in, one of the songs that comes on in a club that makes you want to dance. Not that David Guetta sound, but more R&B – a bit like Eve and Gwen Stefani's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". They also revealed that they would be starting to write material for the new album in the coming months. On 19 September Little Mix held a livestream to announce that they had finished recording their second album and it was going to be sent to be mixed. In the same livestream the girls announced that the first single "Move" would be premiered on radio on September 23. They also sang an acapella of a song that would become "Little Me". On 4 October, Little Mix uploaded a video to their official YouTube page, announcing that their second album would be called Salute and would be available for pre-order on 7 October. The album was released in the UK on 11 November 2013 and released in the US on 4 February 2014.

Release and promotion

On 4 October 2013, Little Mix uploaded a video to their official YouTube page, announcing that their second album would be called Salute and would be available for pre-order on 7 October. The album was released on 11 November 2013 in the United Kingdom and was released in the United States 4 February 2014.

Little Mix performed "Move" on The X Factor Australia on 21 October 2013. They also sang it on The X Factor UK on 3 November 2013. They also performed it on The X Factor USA on 5 December 2013 and the The Wendy Williams Show on 6 February 2014 as well as the The David Letterman Show. In December 2013 the group announced their second headlining concert tour, The Salute Tour, in support of the album.

Singles

On 23 September 2013, "Move" was premiered on BBC Radio One. For the single, Little Mix worked with Nathan Duvall, an up-and-coming R&B producer and Maegan Cottone the girls vocal coach. "Move" was released on 7 October in Australia and New Zealand. It was later released in the UK and Ireland on 3 November. It was sent to Mainstream Radio in the US on 18 February 2014 and reached number 38 on that chart. The song peaked at number three in the UK, number 5 in Ireland, number 19 in Japan and number 12 in New Zealand. The single also charted in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovakia. Since then, "Move" has been certified gold in Australia and the UK for sales of 35,000 and 400,000 respectively.

"Little Me" was selected as the album's second single from the album. The song was co-written by TMS and Iain James, and produced by TMS. On 21 November 2013, Little Mix revealed via a YouTube video message that they decided to release it as the second single because it held a lot meaning to them and was written with their fans in mind. The song reached number fourteen in the UK, number three in Armenia, number fifteen in Iceland and number 16 in the Netherlands. It also charted in Australia, Ireland and Lebanon.

After releasing a cover of "Word Up!" as the charity single for Sport Relief in March 2014, Little Mix announced on 5 April 2014 that the title track "Salute" will be released as the album's third single. It was sent to UK radio on 28 April 2014. The official music video premiered on 2 May and received over one million views within 24 hours. It was released on 1 June. The song has peaked at number 6 in the UK, number 5 in Scotland and number 12 in Ireland.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Salute received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on five reviews, which indicates "generally favourable reviews".

Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the album five out of five stars, noting an improvement over DNA (2012), stating, "the group have grown both musically and in confidence, paving the way for them to step out on to that world stage once again and really make their mark", while drawing comparisons to American girl group Destiny's Child. Jon OBrien of Yahoo! wrote that the album cemented Little Mix's status as music's premier girlband while characterising the album as "impressively mature yet still utterly infectious". Harriet Gibsone from The Guardian compared the album to pop music of the 1990s, awarding the album four out of five stars. New. Fresh. Hype. praises this album for the tight vocal harmonies and writing, scoring them 9. They also praised the production of this album, making them sound stronger and slicker. New. Fresh. Hype. scored the overall album 8.2. MSN gave the album five stars out of five recommending the tracks "Salute", "Move", "Boy", "Good Enough" and the rest of the album.

Spin included the album in their "20 Best Pop Albums of 2013" year-end list.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Salute.