Their forthcoming studio release Glory Days is out on November 18 and it promises to be the group’s most honest and eclectic yet. Member Perrie Edwards was kind enough to speak with us about the therapeutic nature of songwriting, the evolution of the Little Mix sound, their forthcoming 2017 tour with Ariana Grande and why they decided — as a group! — to be so candid and revealing in their recent book Our World.

I know it was only two years between Salute and Get Weird but it felt like much longer. Thankfully, there’s a shorter wait for Glory Days since it’s out in November. Was the writing process easier this time around? What inspired you guys to put out an album more quickly than before?
I think with the Get Weird album, it was the hardest album we’ve ever made so we had no idea what sound we wanted to go for, we didn’t really know what we wanted to write about…and so it took a lot of time. But the Glory Days album literally just kind of fell into place. It was kind of like therapy for us, I think. We spoke about everything we’ve been through over the past year or even the past five years in our career. And it just felt like the easiest album to make. It’s just been incredible, and we’re so excited about it. That’s why we can’t wait to get it out.

So would you say Glory Days is more autobiographical than your past albums?
I think so. Honestly, I think we poured our hearts and souls into this album, so it’s a very kind of love and heartbreak album, but we’re just really passionate about it.

Your sound has evolved a lot since DNA. That album had more of a straight-up pop sound, Salute was more R&B, and then Get Weird incorporated more rock and ‘80s pop. So your sound has shifted a lot over the years, which is great because it keeps things from getting stagnant. Where would you say Glory Days falls, sound-wise?
The thing is with us is, we never want to be predictable. But at the same time we know what our fans love and we know what kind of sounds we want to get across to everyone. But this album is definitely more eclectic — it’s completely different to what we’ve done on our other albums. Take all the best things of our other albums and jam them into one. Our second single in particular that we love, it’s so cool — the sound production, the harmonies, the melodies — it’s very catchy tunes that people just want to listen to.

Where did the album title come from?
So Glory Days is, basically, we’ve been saying that these are the best days of our lives and we’re gonna look back on this when we’re really old and think “Wow, we had so much fun, we absolutely loved it and we had the best times of our lives.” I feel like we’re living our glory days now.

Let’s talk about the lead single, “Shout Out to My Ex.” Why do you think it’s so relatable as a concept…the idea of moving on from a toxic ex or a disaster ex?
I think when you go through a breakup, the first initial thing you do is put on music. I think everyone can relate to music. It doesn’t matter who you are in the world, where you are in the world. Your initial reaction is to listen to really sad songs and get upset and get emotional. But I feel like we’re kind of missing that anthemic, I don’t really care anymore song that makes you feel amazing and makes you feel empowered and it’s inspirational. And everybody in the world can relate to it, because everybody’s got an ex, and everybody needs a little pick me up I think, which is nice, so that’s why we did it. We want everybody to feel great about themselves.

MORE: Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards Talks ‘Glory Days’ [Exclusive]