FEATURE:
Spotlight
Leigh-Anne
_________
KNOWN better…
as Leigh-Anne Pinnock, you will know her as a member Little Mix. The girl group achieved nineteen top-ten singles and five number-ones on the U.K. singles chart. They went on a hiatus in 2022. Many girl group members embark on solo careers (as do, obviously, boyband members). They have varying success. It can be hard stepping away from a group with a particular sound and dynamic and doing something alone. Fans might find it unusual and a bit of a transition. It is a little strange, I guess, isolating girl group members. Thinking Little Mix are best when harmonised, each member has extraordinary talent and unique promise. Leigh-Anne is someone I am tipping and highlighting as a solo artist. She (Pinnock) is noted for advocating for various racial issues and for racial equality. This has earned her a National Diversity and Visionary Honour Award. Her extraordinary 2021 documentary, Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power, was nominated for Best Authored Documentary at the 26th National Television Awards. Two extraordinary singles from Leigh-Anne, Don’t Say Love and My Love, mark her out as an incredible solo talent. The latter track found her hooking up with Ayra Starr. I am not sure when her debut solo album is coming out. Despite her previous success with Little Mix, I see Leigh-Anne as a brand-new solo venture – so she is someone more than worthy as being highlighted as a new artist and someone kind of starting with a blank canvas. Of course, Leigh-Anne will take that experience from Little Mix and bring it into her solo material. I am really looking forward to a solo E.P. or album from the wonderful artist. Someone loved by so many people already.
I am going to move to some interviews with Leigh-Anne. One from The Guardian this week particularly caught my eye. There are five different interviews I want to source from. I will keep it as brief as possible. There has been a lot of interest around Leigh-Anne post-Little Mix – if, indeed, they have called time and parted ways. One of the inspiring things I have seen is from this article from The Independent. As a Black artist, Leigh-Anne Pinnock has faced isolation and fewer opportunities compared to her peers. The majority of her creative team is Black:
“Leigh-Anne Pinnock has spoken out about her choice to make her solo creative team “60 per cent Black” after previous experiences of feeling isolated in the music industry.
The singer’s rise to fame came as part of her time in Little Mix, the 2011 X Factor-winning girl group that achieved five UK No 1 singles and won three Brit Awards.
After Jesy Nelson’s departure from the group in December 2020, Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall continued as a trio before going on an indeterminate hiatus in 2022. Pinnock released her debut solo single, “Don’t Say Love”, in June, and is slated to release her debut album next year.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone UK, Pinnock spoke about how her Blackness is a central part of her output as a solo artist, following years of being the “only Black person in the room”.
“Now I’m on my own, I have the control to make sure 60 per cent of my team is Black, ’cos why not?” she explained.
“Music is so heavily influenced by Black culture, so why are all the people at the top white? I can control these little things. I don’t have to be the only Black person in the room now, that just doesn’t have to be my reality.”
In 2021, Pinnock fronted the BBC Three documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power, in which she expressed her struggles as the only Black member of Little Mix.
Among discussions of industry colourism (the preference for lighter skin tones) and racism from fans of the group, Pinnock opened up about insecurities she felt when not seeing people who looked like her in powerful positions in the music business.
In the Rolling Stone UK interview, published online on Thursday (31 August), Pinnock also discussed how the group’s decision to take a break was the catalyst for her wanting to perform alone.
“It wasn’t really until we started having those conversations about bringing this to an end where I was like, ‘I can do this.’ I wasn’t ready to not sing,” she explained.
“And once upon a time, my dream was to be a solo pop star. I went into something else, and I had the best time of my life, and I don’t think I could have done it any other way. But I feel like I owe this to the younger me. I owe her more”.
Such a beautiful and inspiring artist, I think that all eyes should be on a Pop/R&B artist who is going to make changes and affect change – not just in her music and on the stage, behind the scenes and right across the industry. I will move to an interview from Rolling Stone from earlier this year. I guess, with Little Mix, Leigh-Anne Pinnock was unable to explore Black music and create something original and personal. Part of this bigger machine and organism, a solo career offers her room to breathe. By using her first name only, you can hear how important identity and distinction is to her:
“At the end of 2021, almost a decade after their debut album was released, Little Mix announced their hiatus. Nelson had left the group in 2020, and the remaining trio felt that it was time to pause, recharge and focus on solo projects. And so, for Pinnock, it was her time. “When I got in the group, that’s all I ever saw; I didn’t ever see beyond it, because I just wanted us to be massive, I wanted us to be huge,” she says of those early years. “It wasn’t really until we started having those conversations about bringing this to an end where I was like, ‘I can do this.’ I wasn’t ready to not sing. And once upon a time, my dream was to be a solo pop star. I went into something else, and I had the best time of my life, and I don’t think I could have done it any other way. But I feel like I owe this to the younger me. I owe her more.”
Of Jamaican and Bajan heritage, Pinnock grew up with parents who were incredibly supportive of her ambition, with her dad driving her to stage school at the weekends. “He really put his time into that for us,” she smiles. “He just wanted us to be able to do whatever we wanted to do.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Mariano Vivanco
Maybe this is why Pinnock has always been determined: she had been surrounded by people who encouraged her and told her there were no limits. Though she was shy as a kid and battled with her confidence, she never saw that as something that should hold her back.
British pop music is a notoriously difficult space for Black women, and it is only in the past few years that attention has been drawn to how disproportionately white and male the British music industry – and the pop world, especially – is, particularly at a senior level. In turn, that often impacts how young people of colour are treated in these spaces, with countless stories of artists being dropped by labels because the predominantly white teams just haven’t known what to do with them. Even with plenty of examples of singers who have had a few hit singles or a successful album, it is genuinely difficult to think of any Black and British female pop artists (especially darker-skinned women) who have achieved longevity in their music careers.
She asserts that much of the music she’s been working on is a celebration of her Caribbean roots – particularly her long-standing obsession with romantic reggae aka Lovers’ Rock, cemented by her cousin in Jamaica burning CDs for her when she was younger. When she decided she wanted to start working on her own material, Pinnock joined a song-writing camp in Jamaica, a country she affectionately describes as her second home. “My grandad lived there, so we used to go to see him every year,” she recalls. “It’s a part of me, it’s my favourite place in the world; it’s somewhere I can go and just breathe and be. So, the fact I got to make music there – and make music inspired by my culture – was just an amazing feeling.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Mariano Vivanco
Her celebration of her Blackness is not bound to the islands either. Aesthetically, this new era finds Pinnock experimenting with her hair. “Beautiful styles like braids and locs and up-dos, and whatever, hair is a massive thing for me,” she says, and this is displayed to full effect in her Rolling Stone UK shoot.
“I think it’s interesting how eclectic my upbringing has been in terms of music styles and where I’m gonna go with that,” says Pinnock. In a reflection of that, her songwriting team includes Tayla Parx, Khris Riddick-Tynes, Kassa, Abby Keen and Dyo (known respectively for their work with the likes of Ariana Grande, Rick Ross, Stormzy, Normani and Nao). “Musically, I think I just wanted to be able to explore Black music in a way that I’ve never been able to do in the group before,” she says. “It’s music that I love, that I love to listen to, and that is me. I want to create something that is unique to me.”
One of the tracks she’s most excited about is her effervescent, euphoric second single, ‘My Love’. Featuring Nigerian star Ayra Starr, it pays homage to Pinnock’s love of Afrobeats – she’s a particularly big fan of Asake, she notes. “I remember messaging my A&R being like, ‘We’re doing something insane in the studio right now, it’s folky with Afrobeats. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s so good!’ It just sounded so different – it was the first time I got this feeling that something really incredible was happening. Like, something clicked: ‘This is Leigh-Anne.’” Her love of the single was reaffirmed by her kids: “At the minute, the babies are loving ‘My Love’, and they keep saying ‘See mama dancing!’ and I have to keep playing the video for them. Honestly, they are obsessed, so that’s how I know this is the one, ’cos they just love it so much”.
In an interview last week, Glamour chatted with Leigh-Anne. Even though she misses the sisterhood and camaraderie of Little Mix, this is very much her time now. Someone ready to step out and put her own stamp on the music industry. It is going to be a huge deal when her solo album does come out:
“Leigh-Anne’s excitement is palpable, a giddy enthusiasm often seen when artists step out on their own after years as a cog in the pop-band machine. Understandable, given that her solo venture is backed by the same record label behind Dua Lipa and Cher, and producers such as Hit-Boy, who works with Beyoncé and Rihanna.
“I’m putting out work that I’m so proud of and that I’m so happy with. I absolutely loved the music we made in the band, but there was always that little thing inside of me that was trying to get out but couldn’t; that was held back. But now she’s unleashed, you’re getting the full Leigh-Anne experience,” she laughs.
It’s difficult to disagree with her. In her new music, beneath her characteristically honeyed vocals, is a diversity of musical textures woven with catchy tempos that perhaps wouldn’t have been embraced by the bubblegum-pop group powers-that-be. “I’m bringing in all those genres that make me me – reggae, R&B, we’ve had a bit of garage as well,” Leigh-Anne explains. Then there’s My Love, an anthemic Afrobeats-inspired track featuring Nigeria’s up-and-comer Ayra Starr. The video was filmed on the bustling streets of Lagos with a cast of (mostly female) local dancers and actors. Was it important to Leigh-Anne to pay homage to Black culture and talent?
PHOTO CREDIT: Rasharn Agyemang
“Definitely. I think not being able to explore my culture fully in the group has made me…” she pauses, considering her words carefully. “I want to show people who I really am. A lot of my fans might not realise how beautiful that side of the world is, so it was important to me to show that. I’m so grateful for the old [Little Mix] fans who have come along, but with the type of artists I’m going to be working with and the type of music I’ll be releasing, I think it will lend itself to a new fan base,” she says. “I’m excited to gain a bigger Black fan base, because it wasn’t something we really had in the group.” In the white- and male-dominated mid-2010s UK music industry, Leigh-Anne tells me she became used to being one of the only Black faces in the room.
While Leigh-Anne and I discuss her time in the band in relation to the music industry and everything she endured as a result, it’s easy to forget that at the heart of Little Mix were four – later three (more on Jesy Nelson’s departure coming up) – young women whose undeniably close bond resonated with and brought great comfort to millions of girls around the world. The band announced their hiatus in December 2021, with Leigh-Anne signing to Warner Records in February 2022. I wonder if she’s missing anything about being in the group?
“We did so well; it was definitely a security blanket,” she muses. “Going from that to now being on my own… If I get No.1s or I’m high on the charts, then great. But at the same time, I’m a new artist, and I’m OK with just releasing good music and being proud of what I’m doing. It’s a hard transition and I definitely miss the security of it. But this is my time now.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Rasharn Agyemang
And does she miss the girls? “Of course, I miss them, Jade and Perrie are my sisters,” Leigh-Anne smiles affectionately. “There is something to be said about being in a group and just laughing all the time. Doing it on your own can be quite a lonely thing. We always felt so lucky to have each other and go through it together. No matter what, you always felt supported because you had each other. I’m able to express more of who I am now, but at the same time, I do still miss that sisterhood.”
Before the Leigh-Perrie-Jade trio, the Little Mix sisterhood was a quartet. I’m sure almost all GLAMOUR readers will remember Jesy Nelson’s shock departure in December 2020, citing the toll that being in the band had had on her mental health.
“It felt like a breakup, to be honest. It was really, really sad,” Leigh-Anne says. “I think that was normal, after us all being in the group together for so long. It was definitely something that took a lot of getting used to. It was a really hard time,” she says with a matter-of-factness that surprises me. Leigh-Anne is normally extremely reticent about her strained relationship with Jesy after a widely publicised feud in 2021. Leaked Instagram messages allegedly from Leigh-Anne accused Jesy of blackfishing in her solo music video for Boyz, which resulted in Jesy partaking in a scathing Instagram Live with collaborator Nicki Minaj, who seemingly accused Leigh-Anne of only speaking out at that time because Jesy was no longer helping Little Mix make money, and repeatedly referring to her – albeit without naming her directly – as a ‘f*cking clown’”.
Two more interviews before I round off. British Vogue spoke with Leigh-Anne in the summer. In addition to discussing motherhood, she revealed her confidence and desire to forge this meaningful solo career. It is clear that love, community, visibility and acceptance drives her. That sense of control that she did not have in a girl group. Making a difference in the music industry. Reaching as many fans as possible with her solo work:
“The pop industry is very white, we did have a predominately white fan base. It took me so long to understand why I was feeling so undervalued. I just blamed myself. My family would be like, ‘Oh, Leigh, you’re getting the same money. It’s fine.’ I just couldn’t accept that.” A tour stop in Brazil, where Black fans told her how big an impact she had had on them, changed her life. “Fans were chanting my name – I’ve never had a response like that and we’d been in the group for nine years,” she says.
This new record – which mixes R&B, amapiano, garage, and afrobeats into pop – gets into rediscovering her confidence, solo. One song, “I Did That”, reflects on her accomplishments. “I had these incredible girls around me, holding me and even though sometimes they might not have understood, they still had me,” she says, her voice wobbling as she tears up. “Oh, here she goes again getting upset, I knew it was going to happen!” The album will also discuss the trials and tribulation of motherhood and her relationship with Andre Gray. “Things aren’t perfect, and I get a bit deep with that.” But, building this family has grounded her. “It puts it all into perspective and changes you. Things don’t phase me as much, in a good way,” she smiles. “Now I feel so resilient.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Yiğit Eken
Your first three singles are about love. What do I need to know about them?
The first single, “Don’t Say Love” is about wanting to be loved wholeheartedly, [like] the love that I have for myself. If it’s not that, then I don’t want it. That’s a journey, getting there. Within the group and in my career, I really felt like a lot of the time I was overlooked and undervalued. I really wanted to get that emotion across in the video: frustration, sadness, anger. I wanted to get that across in my first single, so I could just leave that girl and that feeling in the past. “My Love” is a celebration of every type of love: owning who I am and stepping into my solo career and this new being, who gained all of her confidence back and knows who the fuck she is.
What about “Stealing Love”?
With the album, I really wanted to be as honest as possible with everything: motherhood, the highs, the lows, my relationship. Everything on Instagram looks perfect and nothing is. I wanted to show that in my relationship. It’s about somebody stealing love away from you – you give so much and they’re taking it and not giving enough in return. There’s stuff that I’m going to be unveiling about our relationship that’s scary. I’m getting married, he’s the love of my life, but we’ve been through shit. Fully showing something for what it is is a really vulnerable thing to do and that does petrify me, but at the same time, it’s life. Relationships are frickin’ hard work. If something is good enough to fight for then that’s the main thing.
PHOTO CREDIT: Yiğit Eken
Is it nerve-wracking to start again, without that security blanket or safety net?
Yes! Yes! It’s so nerve-wracking. [When I did a] release with them, I had their hands to hold, we all were in it together. If it didn’t get number one, it was okay because we were going through it together. But as I said before, I’m so confident with the music. I’m proud and happy, so I’ve already won in that sense – that’s what I have to keep reminding myself of. Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure on it when there’s so many voices that want it to be a success and it’s all on me to make that happen. And nobody knows what a hit is anymore, it can be anything. But I think as long as you have the passion behind it, confidence, you work hard and persistence, anything’s possible in this industry.
What are your dreams for your solo career?
I just want to make music that people are inspired by and people are empowered by and to continue to use my voice and platform. Because I just think, why am I here otherwise? I would love to have my own tour. I don’t care if it’s two people in the audience – knowing that they are there because they love and value me and love what I do, I will be happy with that. I’m excited to have my babies there as well to witness it. They’ll be at an age where they understand it. That’ll set me right off”.
I am going to round off now. Actually, and apologies, there are two more. I know this will be an epic and very long feature. Such is the status that Leigh-Anne already has, this is a more detailed Spotlight than normal! Chatting with Matthew Whitehouse for THE FACE podcast (which I have included above), Leigh-Anne talked about life after Little Mix:
“OP: What has it been like being in the studio on your own and without being in a band? How have you found that?
LP: It just was a compromise, as I say. Just being able to write about my feelings and my experience is just very liberating. Yeah, so I did a big camp in, my first camp was in London actually, in Portobello.
MW: And a camp, for listeners at home, you’re not literally going camping, just to clear it up for the listeners at home.
LP: Yeah, so a camp is I guess, at a writing camp, you can gather as many or as little writers and producers as you want. Then you just all make music, but it’s good because it’s not forced. The creative juices just flow and people can go into different rooms, and everyone’s hanging out and relaxed. It’s better than having a one-off studio session because everyone is just chilled and getting on. Yeah, I prefer them to doing one-offs.
PHOTO CREDIT: Hugo Comte
MW: And what a liberating experience, I bet, as you say, after so many years in the group, to be doing this for your own project and for yourself. It must’ve felt absolutely incredible.
LP: It really does and this is why I still feel like I’m still on this cloud, because I’m promoting my song and it’s just, to me, it’s like my mind is just blown. I don’t know, I guess that comes from literally being in something for so long and now stepping into something that is so different, like this is my world now and my creation and it’s all on me as well. Before, if a song didn’t do well in the group or whatever, we’d have each other to lean on or it wouldn’t really matter as much, if that makes sense, because we’re going through it together. But I think that’s the hardest thing to deal with, knowing that it literally is just me. As much as they’re on the other end of the phone, it’s just different.
MW: How much have you kind of shared with them about what you’re working on and how much have you wanted to keep for yourself?
LP: I feel like we’ve all kept things close to our chest just because we’re all perfectionists – I think that’s why anyway. We are, we knit-pick everything, so I think we probably wanted to save it until it was done. I actually played Jade stuff on my hen-do for the first time”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Hugo Comte
OP: Yeah, given you also did your documentary Race, Pop & Power and you had Keisha Buchanan on it and people like Raye. Do you feel like the industry has actually changed since that moment that so many people were putting out these promises? And do you feel like you have the power, now that you’re a soloist, to be more vocal about those situations?
LP: Do I think anything has changed… I definitely think that there is more awareness, for sure. But I don’t think enough has changed, no. Even after the documentary, I remember when we were doing some of our videos and I was still walking into just all white rooms. I’m like “Why?” Like, I’ve spoken about this, I literally like said to everybody involved this has to happen, it has to be diverse. There is no reason as to why it wouldn’t be, so just do it. And for the couple of videos after, it just wasn’t. It was just so infuriating, because it was just like… it’s just frustrating. I guess it got better towards the end. I think it’s going to be interesting just navigating it on my own and seeing the changes, and seeing what still needs to be done.
MW: And presumably now, as Olive said, as a solo artist you can now kind of shape your career in that light, and surround yourself with the people that you want to surround yourself with.
LP: Yeah, definitely. I do call the shots now. I have the ability to be able to make sure that a certain percentage of my team is Black. Even for me, I wonder how I would’ve felt in the group if I would’ve had more Black people to turn to, if that makes sense? Because how could I go for so long not understanding why I felt the way that I did. Like, it was just like how could it be so long and I just don’t know. It was really rare for me to be around other Black creatives. It wasn’t [there in] spaces that we would ever be in. But I found so much comfort when I was in that space, just because I could relate and we could talk about experiences. I guess that’s why in the documentary, with all the artists in the room, Keisha and Alex[andra Burke] et cetera, that was so important because I would’ve never been able to do that before. I wasn’t ever in a situation to do that. But I took a lot of comfort from it, I guess”.
As we await news of a solo debut album release date and future plans, enjoy the music Leigh-Anne has already dropped. Grace Medford, writing for The Guardian, spoke with Leigh-Anne this week (the interview was published yesterday). It takes us right up to date. An artist going solo, she is looking ahead to the next stage in her career:
“Today, Pinnock is in a new phase of life, personally and professionally. In 2021 she and her then fiance, footballer Andre Gray, welcomed twins – the couple were married in Jamaica this past summer. After Nelson left the band in 2020, the three remaining members of Little Mix went on indefinite hiatus after wrapping up a sold-out arena tour in the summer of 2022. Earlier this year, Pinnock signalled a new musical direction by launching her solo career, with the garage-influenced Don’t Say Love.
Like many pop group members who have struck out on their own, Pinnock is relishing the fact that she no longer has to compromise with other people. “Five years ago we had no plans to go solo. We loved the group, we thought we were going to be in Little Mix for ever,” she says. “But after so long, you do start to wonder what it would be like to do something of your own, I guess. I can write whatever I want to and do whatever I want to do.”
Understandably, Pinnock is now keen for fans to hear “different sides” of her artistry. She is immensely proud of her latest release, My Love, a dynamic, Afro-pop anthem produced by PRGRSHN and frequent Ariana Grande collaborator, Khris Riddick-Tynes. The song also features Nigerian artist du jour – and Little Mix fan – Ayra Starr.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lucy and Lydia
“I was listening to the radio the other day and [My Love] really does stand out. I feel like I’m carving something out here,” says Pinnock. The video for the track, shot in Lagos, Nigeria, is a riot of colour and movement with Black people front and centre throughout – a marked difference from Pinnock’s time in Little Mix, where she was often the only Black person in the room. “I went through so much of my career not being able to be around other Black creatives, not being able to offload or relate,” she says. “I felt like I was alone a lot of the time. That’s why it’s so important to me now.”
Although she has made great effort to re-establish her roots, Pinnock is now struggling with a new kind of disconnection. She recently learned that decision-makers at a major UK radio station had deemed her solo efforts “too pop”, and declined to add her single to their playlists.
@leighannepinnock For anyone who needs to hear this right now 👏🏽 #blackgirlmagic ♬ original sound - Let’s Goal Up
Once again, she finds herself adrift. “Where do I sit now?” Pinnock asks. “I’m still a pop girl at heart, but I want to explore the music that I love – music I grew up listening to, that is a part of me – and incorporate that into my work. I want the Black community to know me, and I want to be accepted in those spaces, without being put in a box.” Her story is a vivid illustration of the unavoidable race trap – how it limits and constrains Black people, and our society at large. “I want to be able to speak about it because it needs to be spoken about, but I don’t know if we’re gonna see a change in our lifetime. That’s what’s tiring about it,” Pinnock says.
Fortunately, everything Pinnock has endured so far has set her in good stead to face the future. The confused young woman who contorted herself into impossible shapes, trying to fit into the mould, is far more inclined to break it these days than agonise over why it doesn’t accommodate her. “I know that not everyone is going to love me, or buy into me as an artist and that’s fine, because I’m so proud of what I’m doing,” she says. “I feel like I’m owning who I am more than ever. I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now if I wasn’t”.
Someone who warrants a lot of respect and airplay, I know future singles and tracks that will form her debut solo album are going to cross into different sonic territory. Maybe more R&B edge and swagger. It is a shame some major stations deem her ‘too Pop’. I feel that Leigh-Anne is tremendous and distinct. She is walking her own path. That needs to be respected! When the Leigh-Anne solo album arrives, the results are going to be…
SIMPLY extraordinary.
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