Yahoo Finance Little Mix hail ‘new dawn’ for band in first cover interview as trio after Jesy Nelson’s departure
Little Mix have said the band is facing a “new dawn” in an interview with Glamour
(Aitken Jolly)Little Mix have said they are facing a “new dawn” as a band that will help them achieve an “even better and healthier relationship” as they gave their first cover interview as a trio.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 29, Jade Thirlwall, 28 and Perrie Edwards spoke to GLAMOUR in their first cover photoshoot and interview following Jesy Nelson’s departure from the band at the end of last year.
Nelson, 29, announced she was permanently leaving the band in December, saying being in the public eye had taken a “toll on her mental health.”
Speaking to the magazine ahead of its Women of the Year Awards next week, the group said taking a break due to Covid, as well as reecnt changes to the band, had given them a new perspective.
Thirlwall said: “I’m not saying that we’re codependent, but we do heavily rely on each other, so it’s been healthy to take a step back and think, ‘What do I want?’”
She added: “As we come together and work together this year, we’ll have an even better and healthier relationship with that perspective.
“This time’s taught me that I am still figuring out who I am, too... It’s beautiful that we’re still a group, but we want to help push each other to do our own thing, too.
“It’s like a new dawn of Little Mix.”
Edwards added: “That’s totally OK. We’re not going to know, individually. We’ve always had each other, it’s always Little Mix - it’s us.”
The band, who were formed on the X Factor and won the competition in 2011, are celebrating their tenth anniversary.
Thirwell said that, over their decade in showbusiness, they had learnt that “women standing together works, even with all the obstacles in our way.”
She added: “Right from the beginning, we were the dark horse on The X Factor, and no one expected us to do well.
“We grew and became adult women together. It’s impactful, to show others that you can have longevity, you can break barriers, win awards and break records on the back of sticking together and being a force of women.
“If I had a little girl, seeing that unfold before her, from being ten years to 20 years old, what a great thing to have in the pop industry as a message to young women.”
Pinnock also spoke about dealing with sexism in the industry.
“We’ve always had a voice as a four,” she said. “We’ve been a force and we’ve always been very, ‘we stick together on things’.
“But there have been times, like with [music] labels, [where they’ve] backed us into a corner and it is obviously mainly men; they see us as four women and don’t take us seriously. We’ve had that for our whole career. Even until recently. I’m asking, ‘Has much really changed?"
Edwards continued: “As girls in the industry, it’s hard enough as it is without saying something, slip up, and then it gets totally blown out of context. We were always just so terrified of that happening, we hated it. That’s why we would just scoot around things.”
The full GLAMOUR Women of the Year Awards 2021: The Gamechangers ceremony will be available to view on glamourmagazine.co.uk on Thursday 11th March at 7pm GMT.
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