"Sweet Melody" is a song by British girl group

Little Mix Little Mix are an English girl group that formed on the eighth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor.'' They are the first group and the only girl group to win the original UK series. The lineup consisted of Leigh-Anne Pin ...

, released through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on 23 October 2020, as the third single from the group's sixth studio album ''

Confetti Confetti are small pieces or streamers of paper, mylar or metallic material, usually thrown at celebrations, especially parades and weddings. The origins are from the Latin ''confectum'', with ''confetti'' the plural of Italian ''confetto'', ...

'' (2020). Little Mix worked with notable names and frequent collaborators

Tayla Parx Taylor Monét Parks, known as Tayla Parx, is an American singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and actress. A two-time Grammy nominee in the Album of the Year category, songs she has written and co-written have exceeded 16 billion streams on Spotify ...

, Morten Ristorp, Robin Frid, Brian Garcia, and

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (; born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK ( ; a gramogram of Emenike), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Award, and ha ...

, who co-written and co-produced the track. It has since been regarded as one of the group's best releases. "Sweet Melody" was met with widespread acclaim from music critics who described it as a girl group classic with some citing it as a stand out single amongst their previous releases and lead single material from the group's sixth album ''Confetti''. Furthermore, praise was given towards the song's production; describing it as "perfectly structured" with Billboard naming it as one of the best releases of 2020. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, in January 2021, becoming the group's fifth number one single in the UK and their first since "

Shout Out to My Ex "Shout Out to My Ex" is a song by British girl group Little Mix, released on 16 October 2016 through Syco Music and Columbia Records, as the lead single from the group's fourth studio album '' Glory Days'' (2016). A dance-pop song, it was co-wr ...

" was released in 2016. It reached the top ten in five other territories. An accompanying choreography-based music video was released and features individual and group shots of the members performing dance routines, filmed in an abandoned warehouse. It would mark the group's last music video with

Jesy Nelson Jessica Louise "Jesy" Nelson (born 14 June 1991) is an English singer. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix, who were formed during the The X Factor (British series 8), eighth series of ''The X Factor (British TV se ...

, who left the group in the same year. The video was later nominated for "Best Pop Video" at the 2021

UK Music Video Awards The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotiona ...

. To promote the song, the group performed the track at the

2020 MTV Europe Music Awards The 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards were held on 8 November 2020 at the Breakfast Television Centre in London. The ceremony was hosted by Little Mix, making them the first group ever to host; however, only three members -- Perrie Edwards, Leigh-An ...

, in which they co-hosted and performed it on

The Jonathan Ross Show ''The Jonathan Ross Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2011 and airs on Saturday evenings following the conclusion of Ross' BBC One chat show, ''Friday Night with Jona ...

, and Little Mix The Search.

Background and release

On 18 October 2020, the group posted a teaser video to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, hinting at a forthcoming announcement. The next day, they posted an official announcement and release date for the song along with a preview of the track. In November 2020, during an interview for ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ magazine established in 1984. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company began including content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

'' producer

revealed "Sweet Melody" was originally crafted for a

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

songwriting camp three years prior. It was later offered to

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

, JoJo,

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

and

Hailee Steinfeld Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She had her breakthrough with the western film ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' (2010), which earned her List of awards and nominations received by H ...

and eventually pitched to Little Mix. Thirlwall added that “Leigh-Anne and I were in LA, and did a few sessions with

, who played us this song, which she’d done with MNEK, who we have worked with a lot. The song tells a story a to me, and is like the big sister to "

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

Production and composition

Critics described "Sweet Melody" as a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

song with

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

drum beats, and elements of Latin Kpop and trap beats. It was written by frequent collaborators Brian Garcia, Robin Oliver Frid, Morten Ristorp,

, and produced by Tayla Parx, Oliver Frid, MNEK, Rissi, and Peoples. It lyrically addresses the ending of relationship and the deception that follows and runs for a 3 minutes and 33 seconds.

Critical reception

"Sweet Melody" was met with widespread acclaim from music critics. Jordan Robledo of ''

,'' said: "Sweet Melody is an empowering track that touches upon on the ending of relationships and the deception that follows. It is also showstopping stand out amongst their recent singles." Alexis Petrdis of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

,'' described the song as a standout single incorporating reggaeton beats. Elisa Bray from '' i-News'' said "the song boasts an infectious tune with feisty lyrics matching its Latin rhythm." Will Hodgekinson of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said "The lyrics 'He would lie, he would cheat over syncopated beats," shows the group singing of an unnamed boy band member on the Latin-tinged track that is Sweet Melody,". ''Billboard'', named the song as one of the best of 2020, stating "Sweet melody is a slick banger that sees the group delivering a sizzling takedown of some dude in a band who "would lie, would cheat, over syncopated beats." The song was also included on their list of best pop songs of 2020. In the same year it was named as favourite song of the year in a voting poll done by ''Billboard''. ''Attitude'' included the song #3 on their list of 32 greatest Little Mix singles of all time writing "Sweet Melody was an instant girl group classic. It’s one of those songs with little details in the production and vocals that open itself up to you more and more each time you listen."

Music video

On 21 October 2020, Little Mix started teasing the release date of their music video by sharing snippets of the music video on their social media pages. A day later, they announced via

that the music video would be released on 23 October where it was uploaded to YouTube. On 20 November, an official lyric video created by a fan was released. On 27 November, a vertical video version was uploaded to their YouTube channel. "Sweet Melody" was directed by KC Locke and filmed at an abandoned warehouse. It begins with the girls stood against a flaming backdrop, with Jade wearing a black bra underneath a sheer black long-sleeved top, with trousers attached to her suspenders and her hair in braided locks. Perrie is dressed in a black bra with matching trousers and a cropped jacket. Jesy is seen dressed wearing a black and white bodysuit and a pair of thigh high boots, while Leigh-Anne sports a strappy black crop top which she pairs with black trousers. The video features different segments with individual shots of all four members performing their own choreography with back up dancers and coming together for a group routine. The music video for "Sweet Melody" was the last one to feature former member

, who left the group in December 2020. In 2021, she revealed that the shooting of the video caused her to experience panic attacks while on set, recalling that she was also rushed to the hospital following symptoms stemming from an eating disorder she was dealing with at the time. The incident was particularly worsened by the label's demands during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, after which her mother and the remaining three members advised that she should leave Little Mix to focus on her mental health.

Live performances

The debut performance of "Sweet Melody" was on the first live show of '' Little Mix The Search''. Group member

Jade Thirlwall Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer. Her music career began at the age of 15, when she auditioned for ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK'' on three occasions before rising to prominence as a member ...

was absent on the day of the performance as she was

self-isolating In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers ...

as a precaution at the time, after several members of the production crew had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

a week prior. On 8 November, Little Mix performed "Sweet Melody" at the

, which they also hosted. On 21 November, Little Mix performed the song on ''

''. Jesy Nelson was absent from both of these performances. The song was added as the final number to the setlist of

the Confetti Tour The Confetti Tour was the seventh concert tour held by British girl group Little Mix, in support of their sixth studio album, Confetti (Little Mix album), ''Confetti'' (2020). It is the group's first tour without former member Jesy Nelson, who d ...

, Little Mix's last concert tour before going on a hiatus.

Commercial performance

"Sweet Melody" entered at number eight on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending 5 November 2020, becoming their 16th top ten hit on the chart. It also became their highest charting single since Woman Like Me (2018). "Sweet Melody" reached the top of the UK Singles Chart in the week ending 14 January 2021, becoming Little Mix's fifth number one on the chart, and their first since "

" in October 2016. This moved Little Mix to joint 11th on the list of artists with most number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart. It was the group's first chart-topper since the departure of founding member

, although her vocals are on the song. It later surpassed

and

, becoming the group's longest-reigning Top 5 single. It spent a total of thirteen weeks inside the top 10 of the UK Charts, becoming their longest running Top 10 single there. Outside of the United Kingdom "Sweet Melody" also topped the charts in North Macedonia, Scotland, and the Official Big Top 40 charts, breaking the record for the group with the most number-ones. The song reached the top ten in four other music markets including Ireland, becoming the band's tenth top ten single in the country. It later reached a new peak of number seven, and was their first top ten hit in Ireland since " Woman Like Me" which peaked at number three on the Irish Singles Chart in 2018. "Sweet Melody" charted in thirteen other territories including Lithuania, Portugal and Switzerland.

Track listing

Digital download and streaming # "Sweet Melody" – 3:33 Digital download and streaming – PS1 remix # "Sweet Melody" – 3:30 Digital download and streaming – Alle Farben remix # "Sweet Melody" – 3:21 Digital download and streaming – karaoke # "Sweet Melody" – 3:30

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Accolades

Rankings

Industry awards

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * * {{Little Mix 2020 singles Little Mix songs Number-one singles in Scotland UK singles chart number-one singles Songs about heartache Songs written by MNEK Songs written by Morten Ristorp Songs written by Tayla Parx 2020 songs reggaeton songs dance-pop songs