Wider Asian market maybe but none of these groups have had any significant chart appearances in the US or U.K. or Euro market or any significant popular culture impact apart from clearly being completely manufactured.

The only group to have made any impact is BabyMetal, largely for the novelty value.

So first you said these groups had made little impact outside Japan and Korea and now you're saying the Asian market (which is massive). Japan alone is the second biggest music market in the world.

I don't see how Little Mix are that different to Girls Generation. Little Mix were manufactured like Girls Generation, except on a TV show. They're both big sellers in one major music market (UK and Japan respectively) and have so far failed to sell a significant number of records in the major markets of France, Germany and the US. As for cultural impact, Girls Generation have often been cited as one of the main reasons that KPop has become popular outside Asia.

Bollywood plays to a huge market and is a huge industry, it has little impact outside the sub-Continent. You get the idea?



Impact isn't just about big sales. Pop music is part of pop culture. Little Mix are a manufactured group but they are part of a UK/US music culture that has a long history and is respected around the world. Japan/Korean pop music doesn't have that kind of history. Language is part of it but not all of it. It may change over time. K Pop has made little impact on U.K. pop for example. I would expect K Pop to make more of an impact in the US partcularly because of the large second and third generation Asian American population on the West coast. You tell me.

I'm not making big claims for Little Mix but they have made a huge impact on the UK pop scene and that's important because along with the US those for me are the most important pop music cultures. You don't have to agree with that.

And yet, despite your rationalisation and trying to tie the UK and US scenes together (which sometimes they are, but in this case aren't), they haven't even hit the Top 40 in the US.

I'm pretty sure if you asked the average American what they thought of Little Mix, they'd reply "Little Mick's what?"

If you bother to check back I compared LM to Girls Aloud and Sugababes, that would be my view of their success/impact levels. They have had 2 top 10 albums in the US but little single impact, plus they cancelled a tour there, not a strategy designed to engage your potential audience.

And by the way I'm tying together the cultural aspects of US/UK pop music which are inextricably and historically linked whether to agree or not.

That's not a fair comparison. Girls Generation have sold records and done arena and stadium tours in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. That's not a sub-continent like India and Pakistan. Yes, let's agree to disagree, but I do think the Asian market is more important to record labels than you think.

The language barrier is a big reason why JPop and KPop haven't taken off in the West. Not only are the songs not in English (and so some radio stations won't play them no matter how good the song is), but the acts can't promote themselves properly as they can't do interviews without a translator. They're at a huge disadvantage and don't get the support from their American labels.

Yes, the UK has a rich music history, but it hasn't been relevant in Asia for some time. For example, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith's albums have only had moderate sales there compared to the likes of Adele and even Ariana Grande. The only British act I can think of who's been really popular in Asia for some time is One Direction.


I agree about Girls Aloud, but while the Sugababes never made it in the US, they actually had 4 top 10 hits in Germany and 2 in France; the 4th and 5th biggest music markets in the world. Little Mix hasn't achieved a top 10 hit in those countries yet, nor have Fifth Harmony.

There's no point having a top 10 album in a country if it drops down the charts like a stone after the first week sales and doesn't end up being certified.

Anyway, as I said let's agree to disagree about the importance of different music markets. I'm probably a little biased as I used to live in Japan and go back there several times a year.

Little Mix the biggest girl band in the world, really?!! They're huge over here in the U.K. yes, but if you asked people in the U.S I reckon they'd reply with "Little Mix who?" They haven't even had a big hit in the U.S. Just had a look at their European success too and they've barely made a dent. They're big in the UK but that's it.

There is no denying that Spice Girls were a phenomenon. They wasn't any pop group (yet alone girl group) like them up until 1996.

In the UK it all about Brit Pop whilst across Europe there was still heavy demand for Eurodance and Europop.

When Wannabe was released, it was so instant the first 5 seconds alone grabbed your attention. I think one of the key ingredients though to Spice Girls early success was that they sounded American. I've posted this before but the first time I heard Wannabe on Key 103, I thought it was Salt N' Pepa with a new song until it got to the chorus, then I was flummoxed.

I know there are people who can't stand Spice Girls but there's no denying the impact they had with Wannabe. It was edgy but cute, it really was completely different to anything else that had been in the charts in the first half of 1996.

As for Little Mix, I would've thought Black Magic or Secret Love Song would've made some impact in Europe but it just hasn't happened. Whatever the reason, they're just not making enough of an impact to appeal to the European music market.

Meh, it's not up to me to tell teenage girls what to like.

"Little Mix are now unstoppable". So is cooties but we're trying our best to avoid ; )

I liked them but their new single is EMBARRASSING.

Truly one of the shittest girlband songs I've ever heard.

They've had a couple of catchy pop singles but this latest hit is pure shite.

The fanboy OP needs to get a grip.

I think 'Shout Out to My Ex' is a great tongue in cheek restatement of Girl Power.

Sadly Girl Power was awful the first time round and was already dated and laughable by 2000. This confused (I didn't love you/you left me heartbroken) dirge is just feeble.

It makes a clear break with all these earnest young guys moaning about lost love over their recording desks. And those tracks most often really are dirges.

Black Magic? It's not even Milk Tray!

I'd still rate The Saturdays above Little Mix

I'd rate the sodding Shaggs above Little Mix!

Had to look them up and came across the following comment:

The band is primarily notable today for their perceived ineptitude at playing conventional rock music; the band was described in one Rolling Stone article as "sounding like lobotomized Trapp Family singers.

Joking aside, I actually quite like that song I linked! ("Philosophy of the World") It works in its own strange way- not just "so bad it's good", but in that its flaws actually make it *more* interesting (#) and it's a half-decent song whose beginners' innocence can't help but be charming.

Some of their other stuff *does* admittedly veer closer to just being plain bad, and I wouldn't listen to the album all in one go(!), but you really can't hate The Shaggs.

So, yeah, I didn't intend that tongue-in-cheek comment to sound too much like I was slagging them off.

(#) Like how the drums *are* in time, but a completely different time to the music(!)- which is almost too good(!!), like they were recorded in isolation with only hand signals for "fill required"- to be fitted into the nearest bar- to guide them.

I watched a couple of their videos and am inclined to agree. My view was probably more based on photographs of what they were wearing for some live appearances, much circulated by the press and maybe not that representative of a general trend. Their promos definitely aren't anywhere near the Rihanna / Beyoncé / Mariah Carey level of sexploitation at all.

Little Mix are trash and not even that popular.

Twenty One Pilots, Florence & The Machine, The 1975 and Fall Out Boy are all bigger than Little Mix.

They are trashy girls who think they are sexy because they wear thigh high Primark boots.

The day they get a number 1 album in America let me know... LOL.

Little Mix were on Radio 2's Graham Norton Show. They played an excellent album track No More Sad Songs. They seem to have more fans than when they won X Factor. Apart possibly from Olly Murs, no other X Factor performer has been so successful 5 years after taking part in the series.

Why are they trashy?

Unstoppable in what context?