''Salute'' is the second studio album released by British girl group
Little Mix
Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...
, on 8 November 2013 through
Syco Music
Syco Music is a defunct division of Syco Entertainment founded by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. Originally founded as S Records, the label launched while Cowell was still employed by BMG, the label oversaw music relea ...
and
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. The album was mostly co-written by Little Mix, who stated that they were more involved in the development of this album compared to their debut album ''
DNA''. The album was preceded by the lead single "
Move
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
", an additional two singles "
Little Me", and "
Salute
A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...
". It is also one of the two studio albums by the group to not feature any collaborations.
Musically, the album sees Little Mix approach a more R&B-influenced sound while retaining their previous
pop sound of their debut album. ''Salute'' also sees the quartet experiment more with 90s production sound with elements of hip-hop, teen-pop, and electronic dance music influences from the 2000s. The album contains lyrics focused around themes such as
girl power
Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called ''Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power'' in 1 ...
, mental health,
self-love
Self-love, defined as "love of self" or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage", has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness, synonymous with amour-propre, conceitedness, eg ...
,
breakups, insecurity, and
female empowerment
Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...
.
The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with some praising the group for their vocal harmonies. Commercially, ''Salute'' charted in nineteen music markets including reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, and America. It was named as one of the best selling girl group albums in the UK, between 1994 and 2019.
Background
In an interview with ''
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
'' in March 2013, Little Mix stated that they wanted their second album to have a more
R&B sound.
Group member
Jesy Nelson
Jessica Louise Nelson (born 14 June 1991) is an English singer who rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix from 2011 to 2020, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. With Little Mix, she released six studio albums and ...
added: "I personally want to put a lot more
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
y 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
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
sound, but more R&B – a bit like
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
and
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...
's "
Let Me Blow Ya Mind
"Let Me Blow Ya Mind" is a song by American rapper Eve, featuring American singer Gwen Stefani. It was released on April 2, 2001, as the second and final single from Eve's second album, ''Scorpion'' (2001). It became Eve's highest-charting single ...
". 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
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
" would be premiered on radio on 23 September. 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
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
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
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
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.
They sang "
Move
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
" for the first time live on 9 October at Big Gig 2013 for the
Girlguiding
Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...
organisation at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
. On 20 October Little Mix travelled to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, where they performed the singles "
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
", "
DNA" and "
Change Your Life" in an autograph signing. Little Mix performed "Move" on ''
The X Factor Australia
''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...
'' on 21 October 2013 and on the morning show ''
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
''. They also sang it on ''
The X Factor UK
''The X Factor'' is a British reality television music competition, created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's Thames and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulc ...
'' on 3 November 2013. They also performed it on ''
The X Factor USA
''The X Factor'' is an American reality television music competition show created by Simon Cowell and produced by FremantleMedia North America and SYCOtv, a partnership between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment, which aired on Fox. Based on t ...
'' on 5 December 2013 and ''
The Wendy Williams Show
''The Wendy Williams Show'' (often shortened to ''Wendy'') is an American syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show is distributed by Debmar-Me ...
'' on 6 February 2014 as well as the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
''. In December 2013 the group announced their second headlining concert tour,
The Salute Tour, in support of the album.
The album's lead single, "
Move
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
", made its radio premiere on 23 September 2013 and was released on 3 November 2013. It charted at number three on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and number five on the
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...
. Follow-up singles "
Little Me" and
the title track peaked at number 14 and 6 respectively in the UK. To promote the album, Little Mix embarked on their second headlining concert tour, entitled
The Salute Tour between May and July 2014. A North American extension of this tour was scheduled for September and October, but was later cancelled due to the process of recording their
next album
''Next Album'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, his first to be released on the Milestone Records, Milestone label, featuring performances by Rollins with George Cables, Jack DeJohnette, Bob Cranshaw and Arthur Jenkins (percussionist) ...
.
On 21 August 2020, two new versions of the album were made available for download and streaming: an expanded edition of the album, which replaced the deluxe edition on Spotify and other streaming platforms, and one that only contained rarities and remixes of songs from the album.
Singles
On 23 September 2013, "
Move
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
" was premiered on
BBC Radio One
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
. 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 had decided to release it as the second single because it held a lot of 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
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educati ...
'' in March 2014, Little Mix announced on 5 April 2014 that the title track "
Salute
A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...
" would 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 peaked at number 6 in the UK, number 5 in Scotland and number 12 in Ireland.
Promotional singles
The album was supported by five promotional singers. On 9 January 2014 the first two promotional singles released from ''Salute'' were "These Four Walls" which peaked at number fifty-seven on the
UK Singles Charts
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, and "Nothing Feels Like You".
On 21 January 2014, the third, fourth, and fifth promotional singles released were "Towers", "Stand Down" and "See Me Now". ''Towers'' was included in the 2021,
After We Fell
''After We Fell'' is a 2021 American romantic drama film directed by Castille Landon, from a screenplay by Sharon Soboil. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Anna Todd, it serves as a sequel to '' After We Collided'' (2020), and is the t ...
movie soundtrack.
Critical reception
''Salute'' received generally positive reviews from
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 66, based on five reviews, which indicates "generally favourable reviews".
Lewis Corner of
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
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
Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...
.
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
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' compared the album to
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
of the
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...
, 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. ''
Renowned for Sound
''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine
An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...
'' commented that on the album, the group's vocals "are on top form and still gelling nicely together, even sounding better and more technical in many areas".
''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' included the album in their "20 Best Pop Albums of 2013" year-end list.
Commercial performance
In the UK, ''Salute'' charted at number four, becoming the group's second consecutive top five album in the country. It was named as one of the biggest selling albums in the UK between 2013 and 2014 and as of May 2022, it has sold over 429,000 copies. It has been ranked as one of the biggest-selling girl group albums between 1994 and 2019.
On the US
''Billboard'' 200, Salute debut at number six, selling over 43,000 copies in its first week, becoming Little Mix second consecutive top ten studio album after
DNA (2012).
The album also reached the top ten on the Canadian, Australian, Irish and Scottish album charts. Salute reached the music markets in additional thirteen other countries including reaching the top twenty in Croatia, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain.
Track listing
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2013 albums
Syco Music albums
Little Mix albums
Albums produced by MNEK
Albums produced by Ash Howes
Albums produced by Richard Stannard (songwriter)
Albums produced by TMS (production team)