Following the drama surrounding Little Mix and their former bandmate Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Perrie Edwards sat down with Stella for a candid interview. The trio addressed Nelson's blackfishing scandal for the first time, challenging Nelson's claims they never tried to discuss the situation with her when she was in the band.
"Capitalising on aspects of blackness without having to endure the daily realities of the Black experience is problematic and harmful to people of color," Thirlwall said. "We think it’s absolutely not OK to use harmful stereotypes. There’s so much to say on that subject that it’s hard to sum up in a sound bite."
"We don’t really want to dwell, because we have so much to celebrate as a three," Thirlwall continued. "We’ve dealt with it in the best way that we know how, and got each other through it. We don’t want to talk about the video, or be critical, but one thing we will clarify regarding the blackfishing situation is that Jesy was approached by the group in a very friendly, educational manner."
After she released her debut solo single 'Boyz,' Nelson faced backlash for appropriating Black culture in the accompanying video. She addressed the situation in statement shared with Variety. "I came out of [the band] and people all of a sudden were saying it," Nelson said of blackfishing allegations at the time. "I wasn’t on social media around that time, so I let my team [deal with it], because that was when I’d just left. But I mean, like, I love Black culture. I love Black music. That’s all I know; it’s what I grew up on."
For now, Little Mix still plans to move forward as a trio despite rumors they plan to split up. "We all very much had the same goal of being equal, and the constant acknowledgment of the bigger picture, rather than the smaller, petty things," Thirwall explained. "We’ve really worked hard and always had this underdog mentality. As a girl band coming from a show like The X Factor, it always felt like there was this point to constantly prove."
To celebrate their time together, as well as their many accomplishments, Little Mix announced they will release a special anniversary album. The album, titled Between Us, will include the biggest hits over their previous records, as well as five brand new songs.
“We can’t believe it has been 10 years. Time has flown, and when you look back we have done so much that we’re super proud of,” Perrie said in a statement. Jade chimed in, as well, saying it's going "to be great to have all our big hits as a band on one album for the first time, celebrating 10 massive years of Little Mix. The tracks also show how much we have grown as artists, from ‘Wings’ to ‘Heartbreak Anthem’.”
“We’re also really excited to release five brand new Little Mix songs that we’ve been creating," Leigh-Anne said of Between Us. We can’t wait for our fans to hear the new tracks we’ve been working on. We hope they love them as much as we do!”
Between Us drops on November 12.