"Wings" is a song by British girl group Little Mix. It was released 24 August 2012, through Syco Music and Columbia Records as the lead single from their debut studio album DNA (2012). The song was written by group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards, with the production team TMS and songwriters Iain James, Erika Nuri, Michelle Lewis, Mischke Butler and Heidi Rojas. The song was lyrically inspired by the hardships they had experienced while contestants on The X Factor UK. Described as a bubblegum pop and R&B track, the song's production is mixed with bombastic brass that was inspired by Christina Aguilera's album Back to Basics.
"Wings" was acclaimed by music critics who found it catchy, complimented its double chorus, the group's vocal performance and considered it one of the best introductions to a band that would go on to re-define what a girl-group can do, act and sound like. Wings has been credited with helping to shape the Little Mix brand with messages of girl power and feminism. It has also been cited for helping the girl band renaissance in the UK during the late 00s and into the early 10s. The song peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart, selling over 106,000 copies in its first week and later becoming the group's second number-one in the UK. It also made them only the third winners from The X Factor UK to follow up their winner's single with a second number-one single.
The single was also a success in other countries. It topped the Irish Singles Charts and reached the top ten in Australia and Japan, and charted in nine other countries including South Korea, Canada, and France. It reached number seventy-nine on the US Billboard Hot 100. A Japanese and Korean version of the track was later released. Little Mix performed "Wings" at the One Love Manchester, following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. It has been performed on all seven of the group's tours, the most recent being The Confetti Tour in 2022.
Writing and inspiration
Little Mix wanted their first original single after winning the eighth UK series of The X Factor to be instantly recognisable when it was played on the radio and believed that without their own input, the track would misrepresent their sound. After working with producers for around a month and being new to group writing, the band struggled to find a song they liked. Group member Jesy Nelson said, "We were like, 'We want our sound to be Nicki Minaj, mixed with Missy Elliott with a bit of En Vogue put in a blender.' I think everyone got so confused. We'd hear some of the songs and were like, 'Oh my God, we're never going to get it.'" However, when production team TMS played them a backing track of "Wings", Nelson recalled, "my hairs stood up on my arms and I was like 'Oh my god!', and I looked at the girls and I went 'That's our first single.'"
The band wrote most of "Wings" with TMS and songwriter Iain James in February 2012 but writing continued until they felt the song was complete. Michelle Lewis, Erika Nuri, Mischke Butler and Heidi Rojas are also credited as songwriters. It was important to Little Mix for "Wings" to showcase their vocals individually, and have complex harmonies and melodies. Eschewing dance music popular at the time, it was composed as a retro-style pop and R&B song, influenced by music by Beyoncé and Michael Jackson. Jade Thirlwall from the band said, "It was really important for us to bring something fresh and different to the table".
The lyrics were inspired by doubt and negativity Little Mix experienced as a girl band during The X Factor, and being the favourites for elimination during the first week of live shows. They were disheartened by odds overheard in the show's green room and paparazzi predicting their elimination interview on British daytime television programme This Morning the following Monday. "Wings" was also written as an uplifting message for the group's fans to relate to. The band, however, did not want the song to sound "cheesy" or as though they were preaching; instead, they wrote it with a theme of maternal advice using the line "Mama told me not to waste my time". The track was recorded at The Music Shed in London.
Composition Composed in E minor with a time signature of , "Wings" is a bubblegum pop and R&B song with a tempo of 112 beats per minute. The music comprises syncopated, double-timed handclaps, and a varying kick and snare drum arrangement. Other instruments include guitar, keyboards, as well as woodwind and brass types: alto, baritone and tenor saxophones, trombone and trumpet. Brief use of wobbly bass synthesizer during the verses add a contrasting dubstep element. Little Mix's vocal range spans from B3 to E5. Journalist Alfred Soto writes that the song "never stops for a breath."
The song opens with a brief brass introduction that ends with a B7 chord. An Em chord then introduces the four-on-the-floor arrangement and first chanted chorus, backed by sparse drums and rhythmic ad-libs. During the verses, a bass synthesizer creates an interval between each member's solo, on the preceding member's last line. The pre-chorus has a chord progression of Am7–Bm7–Cmaj–D, while the double chorus has a sequence of Em–G6–Dsus2–C–Dsus2–E–G–D–C6–Dsus2–E. Unusually among double choruses in pop music, "Wings" has a key change to E major halfway on the harmonised lyric "fly", sustaining the song's momentum. This is built up by transition effects and a brief return to the four on the floor kick drum sequence. The group's vocals then become more sustained and use melisma as the stereo widens and pitch increases.
The second verse starts with eighth note delay taps on the first lyric "I'm", which gradually becomes louder until properly sung, using an A–B pitch change which increases harmonic momentum by implying a return to the cadential D chord in the chorus, instead of a continuation of the tonic E. A breakdown occurs after the second double chorus, where "hey" is chanted repeatedly at the end of each line in a call and response. Following a third double chorus, the song ends with an outro in which the members sing accompanied by the introduction of a drum pattern reminiscent of that of a military band.
According to Nelson, the lyrics have a message of "not taking any crap from anyone and believing in yourself," "being individual and not being afraid to be who you want to be and if you have a dream, you should follow it." Thirlwall said "Wings" is about the group "ever being put down and just saying, 'You know what, we don't care, we're doing our thing'."
Release Little Mix first announced the single's release on Twitter on 30 May 2012. The following day, its cover art was revealed on Facebook, featuring a new group logo and signature icons for each member. On 1 June 2012, the single was made available for pre-order from the iTunes Store and a short excerpt was played during the group's appearance on the British television show Alan Carr: Chatty Man.
On 2 July 2012, "Wings" premiered on BBC Radio 1's The Greg James Show and a lyric video was shared on Vevo. To promote the single, Little Mix embarked on a radio tour in July 2012; they visited over 20 UK radio stations and did meet and greets as part of a social media competition for their fans. The "Wings" release, however, was then postponed twice, resulting in purchasers of initial pre-orders having to pre-order the single again. The release was to coincide with their performance on British television game show Red or Black?, but was postponed because the episode aired later due to filming issues with a contestant on the show. Syco Music first released the single as a digital extended play (EP) in Ireland on 24 August 2012. In the UK, the song was released two days later in digital EP and CD single formats.
In Australia, the single was released as a digital EP and CD single on 5 and 30 October 2012, respectively. The same month, the group travelled to Australia to promote the track in a series of radio and television appearances. On 5 February 2013, Columbia Records released "Wings" as Little Mix's debut single in the US. It was sent to contemporary hit radio playlists there two weeks later. To promote the single in the US, they embarked on a radio tour and met fans at shopping malls in March and April 2013.
Critical reception
"Wings" was generally well received by music critics. Robert Copsey from Digital Spy gave the track four stars out of five and said it resoundingly lived up to expectations and was a very promising first original single for the group. Joe Rivers of No Ripcord gave "Wings" a rating of nine out of ten, calling it "vivacious, fun, brash and confident" and noting its "absolute belter of a chorus". BBC Music's Al Fox called the song "addictive", while Mikael Wood, writing in the Los Angeles Times, complimented the "big chorus" and the "chewy production touch" of its bass synthesizer.
The Independents reviewer regarded the song as "somewhat Christina Aguilera-ish" and wrote, "Yes that's right: X Factor winners in quite good, non-cover single shocker." Tim Lee from musicOMH noted similarities with Aguilera's 2006 single "Ain't No Other Man", and called it "an absolutely stomping pop song" and "possibly the best mass market pop song since Girls Aloud's heyday". In The Times, Lisa Verrico wrote that "'Wings' rivalled primetime Girls Aloud for its inventiveness and energy." Fiona Shepherd of The Scotsman was impressed by the strength of the song's melody and delivery. Michael Cragg of The Guardian said "Wings" had "everything you'd want to hear in a pop song in 2012" and likened Little Mix's "ridiculous vocal runs" to those of Aguilera.
In The Irish Times, Eoin Butler gave the song three stars out of five, calling it a "a stomper ... in the vein of Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies'. Just not as good, obviously." On the other hand, NMEs Matt Wilkinson dismissed it as "every bit as pain-inducing as you thought it would be". In his review for DIY magazine, Eddie Argos said the track sounds "like shopping in New Look". Argos added, "It's obviously the best song in the country, because they won The X Factor. The public have decided." In 2012, "Wings" placed at number 35 on No Ripcords year-end list and was shortlisted for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. At the 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards, it was nominated for Best Song to Dance To.
Chart performance In September 2012, "Wings" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 106,766 copies, becoming Little Mix's second consecutive number-one single in the UK. They became the third winner of The X Factor (UK) after Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke to follow up their winner's single with a second number-one single. It also made them the final winners from the show to sell over a 100,000 copies in its opening week with their debut single. The track dropped to number four in its second week, selling 59,355 copies. It spent 25 weeks on the chart and placed at number 40 in the 2012 year-end chart, and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). According to the Official Charts Company, "Wings" has sold over a million copies as of 2022. It has racked up 549,000 downloads, 112 million streams, and ranks as the group's eighth-best-selling single in the UK.