Break Up Song

Album: Confetti (2020)
Charted: 9
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Break Up Song" is a defiant synth-pop anthem about getting over a relationship. The Little Mix girls celebrate their independence from their deadbeat exes during a night out alone.

    I'll be good all by myself
    Yeah, I'll find a way to dance without you
    In the middle of the crowd
    I'll forget all of the pain inside


    The girls are intent on leaving their heartbreak in the dust.
  • "Break Up Song" is Little Mix's lead single from their first album released by RCA UK and Columbia after leaving Syco. Some of the song's lyrics may be the girls throwing shade at their old label, as well as addressing their exes.

    So tonight, I'll sing another, another break-up song
    So turn it up, let it play on and on and on and on
    For all of the times they screwed us over


    Little Mix has alleged that Syco took away a lot of opportunities from them.
  • Little Mix's Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall wrote the empowering song with their frequent collaborator Camille Purcell and the Goldfingers production duo. Purcell and Goldfingers also penned the quartet's single "Think About Us."
  • Edwards told the BBC this was one of six or seven songs they penned during a profitable day in the studio with Purcell. "It was very basic at the time," she said. "The beat was all over the place and it was really, really rough - but it just had something about it."

    When the girls played the rough demo to RCA, telling them they believed it should be the lead single, the label was unsure as it was so incomplete. However, once they put together a proper demo, everybody came on board.
  • Wondering why Jesy Nelson is the only Little Mix band member without a writing credit on the song? Turns out she was ill on the day it was penned. "That was one of the days we were with Kamille, who's our favorite writer, and I wasn't well, so I was gutted I didn't write on it," she explained to The Sun. "But they did so well with it."
  • The song's music video is a combination of animation and footage shot by the four girls while self-isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little Mix were due to shoot the clip just before the lockdown, which forced them to be creative.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Danny Kortchmar

Danny KortchmarSongwriter Interviews

Danny played guitar on Sweet Baby James, Tapestry, and Running On Empty. He also co-wrote many hit songs, including "Dirty Laundry," "Sunset Grill" and "Tender Is The Night."

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"They're Playing My Song

It wasn't her biggest hit as a songwriter (that would be "Bette Davis Eyes"), but "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" had a family connection for Jackie.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.