A dance-pop song, it was co-written by group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, and Jesy Nelson, with lyrics referencing the downfall of a relationship at the expense of a cheating ex.
"Shout Out To My Ex" received positive reviews from music critics, for its empowering message, for the song's production and the group vocal performance.
[2] After "Shout Out To My Ex" was released speculation had surfaced about the song's lyrics being inspired by the breakup of Perrie Edwards and Zayn Malik, whose relationship had ended in 2015.
The rumours were speculated even more after the music video features a scene with man who shares a similar resemblance to the singer.
The original lyrics to the song were also altered and shared references to who some believed were aimed at Gigi Hadid, who was in a relationship with him at the time.
On social media, some people had pointed out some similarities between both of the songs and the accusations resulted in a hashtag trending on twitter called "#ShoutOutToUglyHeart".
[5][6][7] "Shout Out To My Ex" was written by group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall, and Jesy Nelson, alongside Chris Dunn, Edvard Førre Erfjord, Camille Purcell, Iain James, Henrik Michelsen and produced by Electric.
[1] "Shout Out To My Ex" received positive reviews when released with Billboard describing it as "the ultimate girl-power anthem".
[8] Renowned for Sound's Michael Smith described it as a "dance pop track" and gave praise to their vocals and how the vocalising near the climax of the song was a highlight.
[2] Idolator's Rachel Sonis described the song as a "kiss-off anthem at its finest" and remarked that it felt like "a confident comeback for the group".
[10] Emilee Linder from Fuse said that the song was a "Taylor Swift–like move to play into the media's narrative", and praised Perrie's "husky vocals".
[11] Attitude ranked the song #9 on their list of 32 greatest Little Mix singles writing "although it has a very simple pop formula, the blissful chorus still works as that fist-pumping earworm.
"[12] Metro Weekly's Hugh McIntyre described the song as "pop perfection" and listed it as also one of the best tracks of the past decade.
It also reached number 30 on the Digital Songs chart, Little Mix's highest placing on that particular list to date.
The music video for "Shout Out To My Ex" was filmed at the Tabernas Desert in Spain, and was released at 12:00 BST on 20 October 2016 on Vevo.
They drive pass a hitch-hiker who some speculate shares a resemblance to Zayn Malik, who dated Perrie Edwards before their split in 2015.
[29][30] "Shout Out to My Ex" received its debut performance on the second results show of The X Factor in 2016,[31] in which the group started in a car outside its recording studios, flanked by female cheerleaders in T-shirts with the names of male and female exes on them,[31] which the cheerleaders removed towards the end of the song.