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.

Described as an R&B and Bubblegum pop track, the song's production is mixed with bombastic brass that was inspired by Christina Aguilera's album Back to Basics.

[1] "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.

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.

[8][9] 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.'

'"[10] However, when production team TMS played them a backing track of "Wings",[8] Nelson recalled, "my hairs stood up on my arms and I was like 'Oh my god!

'"[9] 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.

[14] 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.

[9] 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.

[18] 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".

[26] Other instruments include guitar, keyboards, as well as woodwind and brass types: alto, baritone and tenor saxophones, trombone and trumpet.

[22] 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.

[26] 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.[26] A breakdown occurs after the second double chorus, where "hey" is chanted repeatedly at the end of each line in a call and response.

[24][29][31] 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.

[35][36] 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.

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.

[54] 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".

[55] BBC Music's Al Fox called the song "addictive",[56] while Mikael Wood, writing in the Los Angeles Times, complimented the "big chorus" and the "chewy production touch" of its bass synthesizer.

[28] The Independent's 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.

[59] 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.

[94] The group then dance separately in front of brightly-coloured backdrops that represent each member's personal icon; a flower (Perrie Edwards), a bow-tie (Thirlwall), a cap (Leigh-Anne Pinnock), and boombox (Nelson).

[95] Near the end of the video, the group are accompanied by male backing dancers for a hip hop and chair dance routine in front of a backdrop resembling the Union Jack.

[93][94] MTV's Sam Lansky found the music video dazzling and cited the chair dancing as his favourite since that of "Stronger" by Britney Spears, and said, "Who needs to be high-concept when you have this much attitude?

[99] Little Mix performed the song on British children's entertainment television programme Friday Download on 13 July 2012,[100] This Morning on 20 August 2012,[101] and on Red or Black?

[115] For their 2014 Salute Tour, the band performed "Wings" as the closing encore wearing Grecian-themed, matching black dresses and ended their renditions with confetti showers.

[120] For 2017's The Glory Days Tour, the group performed "Wings" wearing showgirl outfits with feather boas; during the song, golden butterflies were fired into the audience.

[11] Candice Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb gave a live rendition of the song during the quarter-final of the twelfth series of American Idol on 1 May 2013.

[128] Alan Bersten, Brittany Cherry, Jenna Johnson and Paul Karmiryan samba-danced to "Wings" on the tenth US series of So You Think You Can Dance on 18 June 2013.

[132] Patrick Robinson and Anya Garnis performed the salsa to the track during week five of the eleventh series of Strictly Come Dancing on 26 October 2013.

[135] Mollie King and AJ Pritchard performed the Charleston to "Wings" during week nine of the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing on 18 November 2017.