Little Mix
Those who know me well, know that I love girl groups. From Destiny’s Child to T.L.C. to the late G.R.L., some Nicole Scherzinger ft. the Pussycat Dolls and Danity Kane, and then back to Fifth Harmony. These girl groups have always reified two things for me:
- Pop music as a blessing and gift to the world of music. There isn’t anything like pop music to really make you feel like a pop star in your bedroom, dancing the choreo to Ariana Grande’s “Be Alright” about 20 times in front of the mirror.
- Femininity as a beautiful, brilliant source of home.
I wonder if this love for girl groups come from my own childhood, where all I really knew was my mom and my aunt. Coupled with me not knowing I was gay, but had a feeling I was gay, most of my friends were females and girls in a group. Something about that is comforting to me, like, I’m in the inner circle and I can share secrets. The opposite would be playing sports and talking about sports and weird, cult-like handshakes, stuff that didn’t interest a 9-year-old Jairus.
Lately, I’ve thought a lot about my trip to London to see Little Mix, a 10-year-old girl group created through The X-Factor, an expired singing competition that gave individuals and groups the opportunity to compete and become a musical star.
After really falling in love with their music 6 years ago, I realized the cultural impact that these girls had on music as a whole. When people think of Little Mix, they think about how they’re not making music together at the moment. They think about how a member left and went on to make their own music. They think that Little Mix adds to the larger narrative that girl groups don’t last forever and inevitably break up.
I think about that, too. Yet, what strikes me is the love that Little Mix have for each other. You can hear it in interviews and the way they don’t get all tense when they talk about what other girls in the group are doing. You see it in the comments they leave for each other on social media. It leaves me with a sense that they’ll always have each other, like real, actual sisters.
For me, it’s really easy to think that they should stay together, do more promo for their album Confetti, do a world tour, do more press, make more music together, all of that. But, girl…They’re mothers! They’ve grown up. They grew up in the industry for 10 years and are living out their lives with their kids and/or partners. I feel so strongly about how I need to let them grow up and live their lives because they’re more than Little Mix, you know?
That’s the part that gets me, honestly — they have given a big chunk of their lives to create music, connect with their fans, and having families. But, I would want the time to help grow my family without a girl group as my full-time job. If you want to talk about a full-time job, that’s a full-time job.
So, I say all of this to make the point that I love girl groups, and Little Mix, especially. They have so much love and I can feel it. I feel the promise that they will come back. And I know they will. And I can’t wait for that day. I really can’t.
Because best believe I’m flying out to London again to see them.
#manifest
