Little Mix-X Factor
Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson successfully auditioned as soloists for the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011,[3] but failed to make it past bootcamp's first challenge.[4] However, the judges decided to give them another chance to be part of the Groups category.[4] They were then put into separate ensembles by the judges during the group's bootcamp stage, with Edwards and Nelson in four-member group Faux Pas and Thirlwall and Pinnock in three-member group Orion.[5] However, both groups failed to make it through to the judges' houses. A later decision saw two members from each group being called back to form the four-piece group Rhythmix, this sending them through to the judges' houses.[6]
They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.[7] On 26 October 2011, Rhythmix announced that they would change their name following a dispute with a Brighton-based children's music charity of the same name, after the programme tried to trademark "Rhythmix".[8][9] A spokesman for The X Factor said, "At the request of the charity Rhythmix, the members of the girl group Rhythmix have decided to change their name, a decision which has the support of Syco and TalkbackTHAMES."[10] It was reported that the group decided to make the change, despite no legal reason to do so, to avoid any difficulties for the charity.[10] On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group's new name would be "Little Mix".[11] On 20 November 2011, Little Mix became the first girl group in the show's eight-year history to progress past the seventh live show. The previous longest-surviving girl groups were The Conway Sisters (series 2) and Hope (series 4), who had both lasted until live show 7.[12]
On 11 December, Little Mix were announced as the winners, making them the first ever group to win the show.[13] Their winner's single was a cover of Damien Rice's song "Cannonball", which was released via digital download on 11 December 2011, and on CD on 14 December 2011.[14][15] The Xtra Factor: The Winner's Story was shown on ITV2 on 17 December 2011.[16] Their debut single topped the UK Singles Chart on 18 December 2011.[17] They made the Christmas number one spot on the Irish Singles Chart, beating novelty songs by The Saw Doctors and Ryan Sheridan.[18