"Sweet Melody" is a song 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 ...

, released through

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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 which are usually thrown at celebrations, especially parades and weddings. The origins are from the Latin ''confectum'', with ''confetti'' the plural of Italian ''con ...

'' (2020). The song was co written and produced by

Tayla Parx Taylor is a unisex given name mainly in use in English-speaking countries, including England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The name Taylor also has been well used for characters on American and now some Australi ...

Morten Ristorp Morten Ristorp Jensen (born 3 April 1986), known professionally as "Rissi", is a Danish producer, composer, songwriter and musician, as well as co-founder and previous member of Future Animals. Personal life Morten Ristorp Jensen was born in 1 ...

, Robin Frid, Brian Garcia, and

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

. Described as a

dance pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre 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 radio. Developing from a ...

and pop song, incorporating bouncy

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

drum beats, it lyrically addresses the ending of relationship and the deception that follows. It was the group's last music video as a quartet before

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 ...

left the group in the same year. "Sweet Melody" was met with acclaim from critics, with some citing it as a stand out song amongst their recent singles, with Billboard naming it as one of the Best Songs of 2020. The single was a commercial success, peaking at number-one 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 ...

in January 2021, and becoming the group's fifth number-one single on the charts. It also became their first number-one single in the UK since "

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

" was released in 2016. It charted in twenty other music markets, including reaching the top ten in five other territories. It has been certified platinum by the British Phographic Industry (BPI), certified platinum by Pro-Música Brasil (PMB), and certified gold by the Polish Phonographic Industry. 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 ...

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 Jonatha ...

, and

Little Mix The Search ''Little Mix The Search'' is a British reality television music competition that was announced in October 2019, and began airing on BBC One on 26 September 2020, concluding with the final on 7 November 2020. The series was judged by British gi ...

Background

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

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, 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 ''

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'' producer

revealed "Sweet Melody" was originally crafted for a

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992), known as Demi Lovato, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence for pl ...

songwriting camp three years prior. It was later offered to

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

JoJo Jojo, JoJo or Jo Jo is a given name, surname, nickname or stage name used by several people and fictional characters, including: People with the given name, nickname or stage name Musicians *JoJo (singer) (born 1990), American R&B singer, songwri ...

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...

and

Hailee Steinfeld Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...

before eventually being pitched to Little Mix.

Critical reception

"Sweet Melody" was met with 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 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 ...

,'' described the song as a standout single incorporating reggaeton beats. Elisa Bray from ''

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'' said "the song boasts an infectious tune with feisty lyrics matching its Latin rhythm." Will Hodgekinson of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 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."

Year-end lists

Music video

The band teased the music video of the song with posts to social media on 21 October 2020, stating that it was coming soon. A day later, Little Mix 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 made by a fan was released to the group's

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 ...

channel. On 27 November, the official vertical video version was uploaded to their YouTube channel. This is the last music video as a

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

left the group in December 2020.

Live performances

The debut performance of "Sweet Melody" was on the first live show of ''

''. Group member

Jade Thirlwall Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence in the 2010s as a member of Little Mix, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. With Little Mix, she released six studio albums and ach ...

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 a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 ''

''.

Commercial performance

"Sweet Melody" entered at number eight on the

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 "Woman Like Me" is a song by British girl group Little Mix featuring rapper Nicki Minaj. It was released on 12 October 2018, by Syco Music, as the lead single from the group's fifth studio album '' LM5''. The song was co written by Jess Glynne ...

(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

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

, 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 "

" 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

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