What a week to have been a Little Mix stan, huh?
I was walking around London yesterday, defiantly wearing my Leigh-Anne Pinnock sweatshirt, and as I hit play on Nothing Else Matters for the 385,774th time, I realised how outright sad it is that the friendship and solidarity between one of this country’s greatest pop acts seems to have frayed.
Hey, it happens: Nadine Coyle’s response to the Girls Aloud split still leaves me in a cold sweat, I get more triggered than a right-wing columnist huffing the word ‘woke’ whenever I see any Spice Girls disharmony, and as for One Direction… everyone recite this infamous Zayn tweet with me: ‘remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine?’
But Little Mix? It was obvious throughout their time as a quartet that they were so united and so close – much more than the majority of other groups who are thrown together. That clear bond makes any unrest all the more disheartening. And wow, in the aftermath of Jesy Nelson’s solo launch, it hasn’t half been a disheartening week.
This time last year, the events of this week – Jesy releasing her own song, some alleged leaked DMs from Leigh-Anne accusing Jesy of blackfishing, Nicki Minaj taking to an Instagram live to seemingly slam Leigh-Anne while Jesy giggled – would have been unthinkable.
To rewind, they were firing on all cylinders: in the midst of Little Mix: The Search on BBC One, announcing a new tour, and preparing for the release of their much-anticipated sixth album, Confetti. One of its best songs – Happiness – was released as a promo single exactly a year ago this weekend; and the now-iconic Sweet Melody followed seven days later. Off the back of the excellent singles Break Up Song and Holiday, it was shaping up to be one of their greatest eras yet.
But sadly, all was not necessarily well behind-the-scenes.
Jesy Nelson, fresh from her NTA-winning documentary on her own mental health battles (exacerbated by trolling and media scrutiny), had been struggling with returning to girlband life post-lockdown. Fans had long suspected that something was up, and when she took a leave of absence on medical grounds on the day of The Search finale, there were serious concerns for her wellbeing.
Although it was gutting a month later when she announced that her exit would be permanent, there was also a small sense of relief: she clearly wasn’t happy, and after nine years in the machine, she was doing what she needed to do for herself.
Crucially, it seemed she and the other girls were parting on good, respectful, loving terms. But cut to now, and it all feels much… stickier.
Jesy has released her debut solo single, Boyz, and although commercially it’s been successful (Top 5 on the midweek charts, 8million video views and 3.4million Spotify streams in its first five days), it has also sparked a lot of conversation around blackfishing, mixedfishing or – as writer Christiana Mbakwe-Medina has called it – ‘ethnic smudging’ (I strongly encourage anyone to read Natalie Morris’s excellent breakdown of what it is, and why it’s so damaging, on Metro.co.uk).
This isn’t the first time Jesy’s been called out on these grounds, but it certainly escalated considerably over the weekend – and now (unfairly, in my opinion) Leigh-Anne’s been dragged into it.
In screenshots of alleged private messages to an influencer on Instagram, Leigh-Anne can be seen claiming Jesy blocked all her ex-bandmates on the platform; and appears to agree with the idea that she has been blackfishing.
The authenticity of those messages has been hotly contested – but whether they’re real or not, on Monday night Jesy revealed in an Instagram Live with Nicki Minaj (who guest stars on Boyz) that Leigh-Anne broached the topic of blackfishing with her behind closed doors a whole year ago.
Nicki then appeared to accuse Leigh-Anne of only raising it when it benefited her, and as she proceeded to make fun of her and compare her to a clown, Jesy – in what has become one of the defining moments of this whole sorry affair – laughed along. She may have been uncomfortable on the inside, but she laughed along.
Now, there are likely several layers and nuances to the girls’ relationship that are not public knowledge, and – sure – every intense friendship will have its moments of discord. It can’t be all rosy, all the time.
But to see things take this ugly a turn, for this band in particular, has been truly gutting.
The best pop groups are the ones that have genuine, can’t-fake-it chemistry; who seem like a super-tight gang that you’d want to be a part of. Little Mix had that in spades (as a trio, they still do). They took on the music industry as one united pack and they won, taking us all along with them.
It feels like five minutes since fans lovingly sent old album track Always Be Together to the top of the iTunes chart after Jesy’s departure, furiously against attempts in the press or on social media to paint the parting-of-the-ways as anything salacious or rooted in inter-personal drama. When Jesy got a shout-out in their Brits acceptance speech (from Leigh-Anne, no less), it just felt right.
So now, seeing drama-hungry gossip-mongers given all the ammunition they need to paint them as just another squabbling pop act is horrible; and it’s especially horrible when it seems that Leigh-Anne is being slated for no real reason.
To many, attacks on her over these last few days have felt like attacks on a friend – and it’s especially depressing to know that they’re happening because of apparent difficulties with Jesy.
It’s not just fans who have been crushed. Singer-songwriter Kamille, who helped create several iconic Little Mix songs, tweeted: ‘This is all just so sad to watch, after 10yrs of fship.’
Hopefully, this won’t be an ongoing row that reaches Gallagher proportions. Jesy recently told Glamour that ‘hopefully at some point in the future we can all come back together’; and I really hope that that’s true – provided she is able to humbly listen to the concerns being voiced, and accept where folks are coming from. She’s a huge talent, after all, and it would be a shame for this to overshadow her solo potential.
In the meantime, sad as this all is, does it dampen Little Mix’s legacy? I really don’t think so.
They still have the hits. They still have the performances, memes and funny moments. They still have the fact that they overcame so much snobbery, misogyny and cynicism in order to become one of the greatest UK music acts of the 21st Century.
And anyway, they’re not done yet: Leigh-Anne, Perrie and Jade release their first retrospective album Between Us in November, and will finally tour thereafter. Maybe they’ll slow down a little after that, or maybe even go on hiatus. Maybe (hopefully) they won’t.
In any case, sad as this row is, they remain one of the most powerful forces in British music over the last decade.
Rifts between Girls Aloud, Spice Girls and One Direction didn’t change what they achieved together; and it won’t in this case either.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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MORE : What is ‘mixedfishing’ – and why is it so damaging?