Little Mix
‘Black Magic’
21 May 2015
All the way back in May, X Factor alumni Little Mix released their now omni-present song ‘Black Magic’ and despite this historical event being three months ago, the song is still haunting both radio stations and my eardrums. I actually don’t mind Little Mix that much. Their songs may not be lyrically genius, but they’re normally harmless fun, with a catchy hook and positive message, like believing in yourself and all that.
The same is true of ‘Black Magic’. The girl band’s latest single talks about how Zayn Malik’s ex-fiancé and her gang of less notable songstresses snag men through the dark rituals of voodoo and other occult-style stuff. So far, so cliché. However, the song is seriously annoying. The chorus is repeated about 56 times throughout the 3 minute song and references ‘putting your boy on his knees and repeating after me’ which just reminds me of Fresher’s initiations that I’d rather forget. I’ve got to give it to Little Mix though, the song is super catchy and very radio-friendly. It’s just being overplayed far, far too much for a song with such an irritating hook.
“The music video is a shocking exercise in how to teach young girls to hate themselves, because they’re not doing that enough already”
However, my main grievance with Perrie Edwards and Friends (nee Little Mix, nee Rhythmix) is the song’s truly awful and damaging video, which is not the harmless fun that their videos normally are. The visual accompaniment to the track is a shocking exercise in how to teach young girls to hate themselves, because they’re not doing that enough already obvs. The video features the girls as ‘ugly’ and thus rejected by any guys in their lives. However, thanks to a bit of ‘black magic’ (waheyy) they manage to transform into conventionally attractive girls and suddenly are appreciated by men. The video is essentially Little Mix teaching their young, impressionable audience that boys will only like you if you’re attractive. While I’m all for a bit of voodoo and witchcraft, that’s one spell that I’d definitely like Little Mix to undo.
