Tom: The album version does not feature Stormzy. That’s because when the album came out Stormzy — while he was well established in his genre — hadn’t hit the mainstream yet. What better way to liven up a fourth single?
Tim: I can think of a number of ways, to be honest, but sure, let’s go with it.
Tom: Incidentally, I just realised that’s a cameo from their mums in the video (and in the thumbnail), and that’s just lovely.
Tom: Putting “Girl Power” on the side of that van in the start of the video can only be a deliberate Spice Girls reference.
Tim: And a good one – “yes, you’ve done this, now we’re here to keep it going”.
Tom: I know we’re normally extremely skeptical of guest-rap-middle-eights, but this is good. That’s partly because it kills off one of those godawful “motorbike-motorbike-bike-bike-bike” bits, and partly because, yes, Stormzy is that good.
Tim: For the most part, yes, and I had less trouble with it than I normally would. “All them dirty secrets that we share, I’ll clear the browsers” stuck out a bit, mind, though it was soon redeemed by “as long as I’m alive, then I’ll be sponsorin’ your pride / you know there’s power in a couple, let me compliment your vibe” – I like that a lot.
Tom: One of Little Mix’s strengths are their incredible voices, so it’s always a little disappointing when they’re hidden behind layers of vocoders — or when one of them tries to do a Nicki Minaj, as here. But leaving aside those points: this is a hell of a track. Fourth singles from fourth albums aren’t meant to be this good.
Tim: No, and to be honest I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did – when the first post-chorus breakdown came along I was a bit “aargh, no, DON’T LIKE THIS”, but somehow the second didn’t seem so bad. A grower, but a quick grower.
Tom: It’s fair to say that Little Mix are this generation’s Spice Girls: but the Spice Girls only managed three albums.