FEATURE:
Women Like Me
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
Can Little Mix: The Search Revitalise the Music Talent Show?
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I have not held back my feelings regarding…
IN THIS IMAGE: Little Mix release their new album, Confetti, on 6th November
music talent shows in the past. I am a purist who believes that artists should earn their way, and that T.V. shows like The Voice are cheats and, worse, exploit contestants and are pretty uncomfortable to watch. The pressure that the singers feel to prove themselves; the disappointment they must feel when they are turned away, to me, should not really be allowed. I like the old-fashioned idea of a battle of the bands-type contest, where there is a more fun and relaxed vibe, and the artists can play and perform their own songs. It has been a while since there has been a more light-hearted and kinder talent show for artists. As we have seen so many music talent shows in various guises through the years, another one might seem redundant and completely pointless. Little Mix have introduced a Pop show, Little Mix: The Search that, at least, seems to offer some form of positivity - as the BBC report here:
“UK pop stars Little Mix began their search for the next big thing this weekend.
The girl band, who made their name on ex-manager Simon Cowell's show, The X Factor, are looking to find and create their own arena-filling pop group on their new BBC One show, The Search.
The programme received positive reviews and was praised for modernising and freshening up the age-old format.
Despite that, it also received relatively low early viewing figures.
Around 1.9m people tuned into episode one on Saturday night, giving the show an 11.6% share of the TV viewing audience at that point. On Sunday, that figure was 1.8m - an 11.3% share.
'A kinder approach'
The task for Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall is to create six bands from thousands of wannabes - a boy band, girl vocal, girl dance group, mixed, vocal and instrument, and rap and R&B.
The winners will support the band on their next tour (which could be a while off sadly, due to Covid-19)”.
There have been some positive reviews for Little Mix: The Search. I would not usually consider it, but the fact they are searching for girl and boybands intrigues me. Also, the broadness to include a mixed group, vocal and instrument, and Rap and R&B means that there it is not just about Pop or the same as what other talent shows promise. It is sad these kind of groups – especially girlbands – have sorted waned since the 1990s and first decade of the twenty-first century. It has been a while since the likes of TLC, Destiny’s Child, and Spice Girls ruled, and I was sort of partial to a few of the songs from boybands like *NSYNC, and Boyz II Men. The classic eras for girlbands, I think, were during the 1990s, though some classic groups from the 1960s and 1970s (such as Diana Ross and The Supremes) are pretty close. The boybands have never had the same appeal and variety as their female rivals, but that might change with this new talent show.
Also, at a time where we need to see equality and diversity in music, we could discover a girlband who can mix it with the icons of the past. A vocal and instrument group interests me, and there is plenty of scope to discover a potential festival headliner. When The Independent reviewed the opening episode of Little Mix: The Search last week, they had this to say
“Just when you thought the final nail had been struck in the singing contest coffin, Little Mix arrive with The Search (BBC One). Hoping to find “the next big act” to support the group on their Confetti tour in 2021, it casts band members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall as both judges and mentors to a new generation of wannabe stars.
While this is definitely not a rival to Simon Cowell’s X Factor (which Little Mix won in 2011), it also definitely is. The group split from Cowell’s label Syco in 2018, with both parties hinting at issues over the direction Little Mix were taking. Little Mix told me in an interview last year that their show would take a kinder approach than “other ones out there”. They’ve stuck to that promise. It helps that these women are the right age to remember the era of “peak pop band” – from Blue to Boyzone, Steps to S Club 7 – and identify those pop group-sized gaps in the music industry today.
The first episode tackles boybands. A lot of the boys seem to have auditioned for the sole purpose of flirting with the members of Little Mix; one hopeful winks at them so much, I worry he’s having some kind of seizure. When another contestant reveals he doesn’t know who NSYNC are, they all reel. “Oh my god, that makes us feel so old,” Jesy announces. The boyband finalists are then plonked in front of a live audience to test their mettle, after which Little Mix choose their favourites for the ultimate boyband”.
I do think that, as more positivity is coming into Pop and there is a mini Disco revival – with the likes of Dua Lipa, Jessie Ware, and Róisín Murphy -, we might see a new wave of Pop that puts big choruses above something more introspective or processed. Maybe the winners of Little Mix: The Search might not equal the very best girl and boybands we have seen, it would be good to see some fresh blood in these markets. I do think that there is a saturation of talent shows that look for solo singers and, as these shows have been running for years and the formula has become increasingly tired and predictable, we will never an artist come through these shows that can match the best in the industry at the moment. Looking around, and apart from Little Mix, BTS, and a few other examples, there are not that many girl of boybands. I am optimistic but, if we can find a group who has a bit of panache and can perform Pop/R&B anthems with very little vocal processing and heavy-handed production, then it will be worth it. I think the break away from four-on-a-panel format is a good thing, as it is done by every talent show – whether it is music, dancing or cooking -, and I think Little Mix can help revitalise and move forward the music talent show. It is a bit hard at the moment with COVID-19 restrictions and it is not the best time for a potential new band to launch into the market, but Little Mix: The Search has legs – let’s hope a great group or two can come out of the other end that is less a commercial product and more of an authentic and unique act (as much as that is possible when we talk about a T.V. talent quest). Talent shows have become alarmingly irrelevant and poor the past few years but, with a different and more promising competitor coming forth, it is nice to have this BBC show…
IN the mix.