In his review for Clash magazine, Ghostpoet dismissed the song as "utter tripe" and "like being tied to a chair in a white-painted room with multi-coloured shit being thrown at you from every direction." NME 's Jamie Fullerton derided it as an inferior version of Elliott's 1998 single " Beep Me 911" and " Jamiroquai fronting the house band on Britain's Got Talent". Even if most of it was open-mouthed incredulousness." He wrote that the collaboration was "clearly the end product of a record label meeting gone awry". On the other hand, Kieran Yates of The Guardian believed Elliott upstaged Little Mix and demonstrated "the power of a good rap cameo to garner a reaction. Sargent compared its sound to "Act Like You Know" by Fat Larry's Band, and music by girl groups Destiny's Child and 702, and called Elliott's feature "an inspired choice". Jordan Sargent of Spin wrote that the track "effortlessly bursts", describing it as "glossy and in-your-face but grounded by soulful vocals". Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood complimented the song's "up-for-anything spirit", deeming it "effervescent", and "utterly irrepressible". Billboard magazine's Jason Lipshutz commented that the band "shine most when letting some sass bleed in, like on the giddy kiss-off 'How Ya Doin'?'". Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, writing that it "finds the group finally settling into their groove." Alim Kheraj from the same website referred to it as one of Little Mix's "most accomplished" singles and "a nostalgic song that bubbles with modernity". "How Ya Doin'?" received generally favorable reviews from music critics upon release.
Problems playing this file? See media help. Critical reception Ī 19 second sample of Little Mix's "How Ya Doin'?", featuring its chorus. It was scheduled to be released on, but was brought forward to a mid-week date of 15 April 2013. The single version premiered on Capital FM on 27 March 2013 and was made available to pre-order on 5 April 2013. She recalled, "As soon as we thought there might be a chance she'd appear on the track we did literally everything we could to make sure it happened." Nelson, who frequently cited Elliott as her "dream collaboration" in press interviews, revealed that she "cried her eyes out" when the rapper agreed to featuring on the track. The band's A&R management arranged the collaboration with Elliott who recorded her verse separately in Los Angeles. For its single release, the song was remixed to include newly recorded vocals by the group and a verse by American rapper Missy Elliott.
Little Mix announced "How Ya Doin'?" as the fourth and final single from DNA during an interview for Digital Spy on 11 March 2013. However, he became hesitant about the collaboration and withdrew before the album's release. When the track listing for the group's debut album DNA was announced in September 2012, it was revealed that British rapper Slick Rick would feature on "How Ya Doin'?". The song was recorded at The Sampling Factory in London. Regarding the writing process, Jesy Nelson said, "We loved the whole old-school sound and wanted to bring it up to date." The band also liked the track because their parents recognised the samples, and they wanted their music to appeal to an older audience. He recalled, "The girls' mantra from the start has been about referencing harmonies of bands like En Vogue the idea of answering machines felt knowingly throwback." The chorus was based on the "Name and Number" sample, and the verses were written by Shaznay Lewis and the members of Little Mix. The sampling concept stemmed from Guy Langley, an artists and repertoire manager at Little Mix's then-record label Syco Music, who heard "Name and Number" at a house party. "How Ya Doin'?" contains samples from The Whatnauts' "Help Is on the Way", composed by James Carter, and Curiosity Killed the Cat's " Name and Number", written by Glenn Skinner, Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot, Nicholas Thorp, Julian Brookhouse and Miguel Drummond. It has been certified Silver in the United Kingdom and gold in Australia. It went onto to chart in Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Australia, and France where it remains the group highest-charting single there. The track reached number 16 in Scotland and peaked at number 16 on the Official UK Singles Chart. The single peaked at number three in Hungary. Both samples were also used in " Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" by De La Soul in almost the same manner. The song's chorus is taken from Curiosity Killed the Cat's 1989 single " Name and Number", while the bassline and beat coming from The Whatnauts 1981 funk song "Help Is on the Way". It was released on 15 April 2013 as the fourth and final single from Little Mix's debut studio album, DNA (2012).
" How Ya Doin'?" is a song by British girl group Little Mix, featuring American rapper Missy Elliott.