Long before Britney Spears cruised around the Valley with her alien BFF Iggy Azalea in the neon-splashed “Pretty Girls” video, the song was claimed by a different dream team way across the pond: Little Mix.

Earlier this week, the girl group told British newspaper The Sun that they originally co-wrote the track for their upcoming album, but ultimately decided to hand it off because they didn’t feel it was right for them.

"We've been away a while because we wrote an album, sat with the record label and we thought, 'Nope, it's not good enough,'" Jesy Nelson said. "We recorded a whole album but we're perfectionists and knew we could do better. So we scrapped it and started again.”

Some people thought their insistence that it wasn’t “good enough” was a shady insult directed at Brit, but the girls have clarified their comments in a new interview with Capital FM.

“As we were writing the song, we realized that it sounded more like it should be for somebody else rather than us,” they told the radio station. “We absolutely think that it’s perfect for Britney. She’s absolutely smashing it.”

Clearly, everything worked out smashingly for all parties involved, because Little Mix’s new single “Black Magic” is an absolute JAM, while Britney and Iggy’s version of “Pretty Girls” is a bona fide summer smash.

But we’re admittedly still curious about what Jesy, Perrie, Jade, and Leigh-Anne would’ve sounded like while dissing guys who “buzz around them like flies.” Thankfully, the girls gave us a little taste when they busted out the chorus of “Pretty Girls” during a karaoke challenge.

While their rendition doesn’t sound drastically different from Britney and Iggy’s, it does have the added intrigue of group vocals, giving off some major Spice Girls vibes. During their interview, the girls also revealed that Nicki Minaj is their dream collaborator, which makes us wonder if they would’ve tried to recruit her instead of Iggy for the song’s rap verse. Hmm… the possibilities…

So now it’s time for the ultimate question: Who sings “Pretty Girls” better, Little Mix or Britney and Iggy? Cast your vote below!