source: Little Mix's Facebook page

It's been a long time since a girl group has sounded the way I remember girl groups sounding when I was a teenager -- that is: fun, exciting and inspiring all in one. Most of the girl groups I've come across in the past ten or so years (and there haven't been all too many) have gone down the club-dance route, which can come across as somewhat heartless, processed, robotic.

To me, the reason I loved girl groups back when I was an adolescent is because they carried a feel-good feeling, and always made me a little jealous I wasn't up on the stage with them, having the time of my life. The past ten years have brought oversexualized girl groups who more often than not abuse the technologies of the recording studio and look like they're trying to look sexy and like they're not having fun when performing. But, at last, I've found a girl group who seems to be breaking through that mold.

Little Mix is yet another creation of the United Kingdom, and specifically "The X Factor" from the UK. They were the first-ever group to win "The X Factor UK," the year following the season on which One Direction appeared. The group's four members, too, auditioned as solo artists but were put together at Boot Camp.

Nevermind how they got there ... their music is a delightful mix of bubblegum, urban, dance and inspirational that the UK's next most popular girl groups of the past decade (The Saturdays, Girls Aloud) haven't been able to achieve. Plus, all four girls can sing. Little Mix's lyrics err on the side of "Mama told me not to waste my life / she said 'spread your wings, my little butterfly'" rather than something like The Saturdays' "we make the party naughty / dancing on the bar / dancing on the bar / we're all animal."

There's something about Little Mix that reminds me of the Spice Girls and of pop music in the late '90s and early '00s (girl groups like Dream, PYT). While I don't think anyone will ever quite be the Spice Girls, it's nice to see that girl groups might again be flowing in the direction of empowerment rather than power garnered from one's sexuality. I guess only time will tell ...