''Get Weird'' is the third studio album released by British girl group
Little Mix, on 6 November 2015, 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. The group began work on a previous album before it was scrapped in 2014, with only a few tracks making it to the final cut. It was supported by four singles including the UK number-one single "
Black Magic
Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...
", "
Love Me Like You
"Love Me Like You" is a song by British girl group Little Mix. It was released through Syco Music and Columbia Records, as the second single from the group's third studio album, ''Get Weird'' (2015). It was produced by Steve Mac, who co-w ...
", "
Secret Love Song
"Secret Love Song" is a song released by British girl group Little Mix, featuring guest vocals from singer-songwriter Jason Derulo. It was released as the third single from the group's third studio album, ''Get Weird,'' by Syco Records and Co ...
" featuring American singer
Jason Derulo, and "
Hair" featuring Jamaican singer
Sean Paul. A deluxe edition was later released and features four new tracks, while the japanese edition of the album features a collaboration with Japanese girl group
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
.
Musically, ''Get Weird'' retains the group's previous
pop and
R&B sound of their debut and sophomore albums while incorporating elements of
synth pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s 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 ...
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements o ...
,
80s
Ribosomes are a large and complex molecular machine that catalyzes the synthesis of proteins, referred to as translation. The ribosome selects aminoacylated transfer RNAs (tRNAs) based on the sequence of a protein-encoding messenger RNA (mRN ...
, and
90s sounds. ''Get Weird'' was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who described it as their most consistently exciting album to date, with ''Rolling Stone'' listing it as one of the best pop albums of 2015. It's subject matters sees Little Mix, approach more mature themes with lyrics that addresses a variety of topics including
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
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 ...
,
sexual relationships
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving family, friends, or ...
,
breakups,
friendships
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague.
In some cultures, the concept of ...
, and
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
.
The album debuted and peaked at number two on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, breaking the record for the longest-charting girl group album there, spending 97 weeks on the charts. In 2019, it was listed as the eleventh biggest girl group album between 1994 and 2019.
It peaked at number one in Ireland, and reached the top ten in New Zealand, Netherlands and Australia. It also reached number thirteen in the States, making Little Mix the first girl group from the UK to have their first three albums debut within the top fifteen of the
US Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
. It has since received a triple platinum, three gold, and two platinum
music certifications.
Background
At the
2015 Brit Awards
Brit Awards 2015 was held on 25 February 2015. This was the 35th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London, presented by Ant & Dec. This was their second time ...
, Little Mix confirmed that their third album was completed, describing it as having a "whole new sound" and projecting the release for sometime in 2015.
In May 2015, having written over 100 songs for their third album, they released "
Black Magic
Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...
", the lead single from their third album. They also co-wrote
Britney Spears and
Iggy Azalea
Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea (), is an Australian rapper. At the age of 16, Azalea moved from Australia to the United States in order to pursue a career in music. Azalea earned public recognitio ...
's single "
Pretty Girls", which was released in May 2015. The group stated that the album had more of a pop sound than their previous album ''
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 ...
'', an R&B-style album, with the songs being very fun, colourful and personality driven.
On 15 July 2015, the group officially announced on Twitter that their third studio album would be titled ''Get Weird'', and would be available for pre-order the next day. According to Jade Thirlwall, the title was chosen because the girls wanted the album to "bring out the inner weirdness in everyone".
Shortly before the album's release, it was revealed that they were forced to change some of the lyrical content on some of their songs, namely "Love Me Like You" and "A.D.I.D.A.S.", both of which contain sexual themes.
Singles
In February 2015, Little Mix revealed that they had chosen the lead single from ''Get Weird''.
On 14 May 2015, they announced the song's name was "
Black Magic
Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...
", after the single's cover art surfaced on music identification service
Shazam. "Black Magic" was scheduled to premiere on 26 May but was later moved forward to 21 May, after the single leaked online on 20 May. The single was released digitally in the UK on 10 July 2015, and was number 1 on the UK charts for three weeks.
On 25 September 2015, the group released "
Love Me Like You
"Love Me Like You" is a song by British girl group Little Mix. It was released through Syco Music and Columbia Records, as the second single from the group's third studio album, ''Get Weird'' (2015). It was produced by Steve Mac, who co-w ...
" as the second single from the album. An official music video followed. On 5 December 2015, it was announced that "
Secret Love Song
"Secret Love Song" is a song released by British girl group Little Mix, featuring guest vocals from singer-songwriter Jason Derulo. It was released as the third single from the group's third studio album, ''Get Weird,'' by Syco Records and Co ...
" would be released as the third single from the album in the UK and Ireland. It was sent to UK radio on 7 December 2015. On 11 April 2016, the group announced that "Hair" would serve as the fourth single from ''Get Weird'', and would feature newly recorded guest vocals from
reggae pop
Reggae fusion is a genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin.
Origin
Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from ...
recording artist
Sean Paul. The single was released on 15 April 2016.
Promotional singles
''Get Weird,'' had three promotional singles in total. Hair was released as the album's first promotional single on 28 August 2015. The song charted at number thirty-five in the UK, and reached the charts in Ireland, Australia, and France.
"Weird People" was released as the albums second promotional single on October 16, 2015. It reached number seventy-eight in the UK and reached the charts in Australia. On 30 October 2015, "Grown" was released as the album's third and final promotional single. The song charted at number seventy-two on the UK Singles Chart.
Other songs to make appearances on the charts was "Secret Love Song Pt. II" which has been
certified
Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...
Silver in the UK by the
British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...
(BPI). "Love Me Or Leave Me" was featured in 2020 as part of the
After We Collided soundtrack. It has also been certified Silver in the UK.
Promotion
Little Mix performed "Black Magic" at
Capital's
Summertime Ball
Capital's Summertime Ball is a mini-festival in London, held on either first or second Saturday or Sunday of June by the radio station Capital. The first ball was at Emirates Stadium in 2009, and it has since been held at Wembley Stadium. The ...
in
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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
on 6 June 2015. They performed the song on the eighteenth series of wish-granting television show ''
Surprise Surprise''. The group performed "Black Magic" at the
2015 Teen Choice Awards
The 2015 Teen Choice Awards ceremony was held on August 16, 2015, at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. The awards celebrate the year's achievements in music, film, television, sports, fashion, comedy, video games, and the Internet, and ...
on 16 August 2015. They also performed acoustic versions of the single.
Tour
The Get Weird Tour was officially announced on 17 July 2015 through the band's Twitter. It began on 13 March 2016 in
Cardiff, Wales at the
Motorpoint Arena and continued throughout the UK, Asia, Australia and Europe, concluding with a rearranged gig in Belfast on 2 July. The UK gigs were extended from 31 March, and the gig in Cologne was moved to the Palladium from the
Live Music Hall, both due to demand. On 13 October 2015, it was announced that the tour would also include dates in Australia, making it Little Mix's first headline tour outside of the UK and Ireland. The tour grossed $22.1 million and as of January 2018 was the eighth-highest-grossing tour by a girl group.
Critical reception
''Get Weird'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, which indicates "generally favourable reviews", based on 5 reviews.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
described the album as "ear-poppingly catchy" and said, "There's a kinetic energy to many of the tracks on ''Get Weird'' that brings to mind the arty '80s dance-pop of bands like
Yello
Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983.
Their sound is often charac ...
crossed with the crisp, bluesy soulfulness of
Robert Palmer", and concluded that "ultimately, Little Mix's stylish, decade-blending synergy works, and ''Get Weird'' ends up being a lot of fun".
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' noted that "the group's personality and powerhouse vocals light up ''Get Weird'', a hook-filled and witty collection of unapologetic pop. With the exception of a moody trap ballad called 'Lightning', this consistently impressive third album is never as inventive as, say,
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...
in their pomp, but its tune count isn't far behind... It might not be that weird, but by this point, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Little Mix are cooler than you gave them credit for."
''
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 ...
'' stated that Little Mix "spend much of their third album skipping through the cute corridors of 90s tween pop rather than angling for austere adulthood" which the reviewer found to be initially disappointing, but concluding that "business is largely buoyant".
''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' had mixed feelings, saying "there are lots of little things to like about Little Mix's third album... balanced, of course, by plenty of irritations".
''Get Weird'' was ranked number 14 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s list of the 20 Best Pop Albums of 2015, which described the album as Little Mix's "most consistently exciting and delightful album to date".
Year-end lists
Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, ''Get Weird'' was a contender for the number one spot. It later peaked at number two on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
with sales of 60,053 in its first week; being their highest peaking album before being surpassed by
Glory Days (2016). In 2015, it ranked at number eleven for the year's best-selling albums in the UK with sales of 389,000. In August 2016 the album was certified double platinum in the UK for shipping over 600,000 total units, and was the fifteenth-biggest selling album of the year.
In January 2018, it became the longest-charting album by a girl group, beating a previous record jointly held by
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 ...
and the
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...
. In the same year it was ranked as the sixth-longest charting girl group album inside the Official Albums Chart Top 40, spending a total of 55 weeks there. In 2019, it was named as the eleventh biggest girl group album between 1994 and 2019 and included on the list of biggest albums by female artists between 2010 and 2019.
''Get Weird'' was then listed as the 70th biggest album of the 2010s in the United Kingdom.
The album reached number one in Ireland, becoming the group's first number-one in the country. It reached number two in Australia, and the top ten in Scotland, New Zealand, and Netherlands. It also reached the top twenty in ten other music markets including the United States, where it debuted at number 13 on the
''Billboard'' 200, with 21,853 copies sold in its debut week becoming the ninth best selling album of that week. It made Little Mix the only girl group from the UK to have their first three albums debut in the top fifteen of the ''Billboard'' 200.
''Get Weird'' charted in a further seven other countries, and has been certified triple platinum in the United Kingdom, platinum in Brazil and Denmark, and gold in Mexico, Australia, Denmark, and Singapore. In 2017, the album had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
In 2019, it had surpassed over one billion streams on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
.
Track listing
;Notes
*
signifies an additional producer.
*"A.D.I.D.A.S." contains elements from "
Hold On, We're Going Home
"Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake, featuring the R&B duo Majid Jordan. The song was produced by Noah "40" Shebib, OVO Sound's Majid Jordan and Nineteen85, and it is the second single from his third studio album, ''No ...
" by
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2015 albums
Syco Music albums
Little Mix albums
Albums produced by TMS (production team)