Since their formation during X Factor back in 2011, Little Mix has become one of the most popular girl groups of the decade. Having topped several charts around the world, produced award-winning albums, and have won the hearts of many a fan along the way, Little Mix have had a beautiful journey through their music career? But which song started it all?
Little Mix’s first-ever released song was titled ‘Cannonball,’ which was released as a non-album single back in 2011. Originally written by Damien Rice, Little Mix covered the track, which immediately topped at the number one spot in the UK’s Singles Chart.
To find out more on where Little Mix came from, their story up to the release of their first track, and some juicy details about the band, scroll down!
The Start of Something Beautiful
Little Mix is the name of a UK girl band that consists of singers Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. The girls all auditioned as solo artists on the 8th series of the UK X-Factor television music competition and managed to get through the first rounds.
However, tragedy struck when the girls didn’t make it through the ‘boot camp’ stage of the auditions, but all contestants who were out were given another chance if they wanted to be placed into two separate groups who sung together.
The Little Mix cast was split. Edwards and Nelson were placed in one group named Faux Pas, whereas Pinnock and Thirlwall were in the three-girl group Orion. Yet still, neither group made it through to the next round.
Fast forward a few weeks, and the judges made the decision to get two members from each group back, putting them together, which formed the Rhythmix group, and they were sent off to the judge’s house section of the competition. No prizes for guess who the four girls called back were.
Mentored by judge Tulisa, the group went through to the live stages of the show and sung a cover of Nikki Minaj’s Super Bass track, in which judge Gary Barlow quoted ‘…the best girl band that’s ever been on The X Factor’.
In October 2011, the band changed their name from Rhythmix since there was a children’s charity based in Brighton that went by the same name, and Little Mix was born.
Fast forward a month, and Little Mix became the first girl group to ever make it past the 7th live show. They performed hit tracks like If I Were a Boy (Beyonce) and You Keep Me Hangin’ On (The Supremes). A month later, on the grand finals on 11th December 2011, they were crowned the overall winners of the competition with their first track, Cannonball.
They were the girl group to ever win the UK version of The X Factor, and the second girl group to ever win it worldwide. This was the fantastic Cannonball performance that got them to first place and started them on their journey into musical fame and fortune.
The Incredible Little Mix Journey
The Cannonball track from the final X Factor show was released to the public and debuted at the number one spot, but this was just the start of what Little Mix had to offer.
Their first studio album came a year later in 2012, titled DNA, and included hot tracks like Wings, and DNA, both of which took the number one and number three spots of the UK chart respectively.
Over the next few years, they released multiple albums, included Salute, Get Weird, Glory Days, LM5, and Confetti, all of which have secured top five spots in the UK Album Charts. The group also worked alongside artists like Missy Elliott, Jason Derulo, and Charlie Puth, to name a few.
Along the way, they have even won plenty of awards for their content, including the Best Group 2019, Best British Group 2018, and the Embrace Your Uniqueness award of 2015, and have featured television shows, including Little Mix: The Search and Celebrity Gogglebox.
Little Mix Changing the World
It’s beautiful to see that Little Mix is using their newfound stardom to make some positive changes in the world.
In 2011 (the year they won the X-Factor), the group teamed up with previous X Factor winners, including JLS and One Direction, to cover ‘Wishing on a Star,’ a 1978 song originally by Rose Royce, raising money for the Together for Short Lives children’s charity. They performed on the Children in Need show in 2012, which helped to also raise over £26 million for more children’s charities.
Back in 2014, Little Mix then started working with the BeatBullying campaign, which is famed for being the largest anti-bullying charity in Europe, and have worked on several projects with the charity ever since, as well as working on other projects, like Sports Relief.
It’s amazing to see how far the Little Mix girls have come and how much of a positive difference they’ve made in the world. We’ve all got our fingers crossed to see what exciting projects they’re going to be working on next.