‘No one wants to be the main star; no one wants to outdo the others’: Pop princesses Little Mix talk breakups, shakeups and world domination
With a recent engagement (plus another one famously called off) and a new album, it’s been a whirlwind year for LITTLE MIX. The feisty four tell Kerry Potter about boys, their close bond and hitching a lift on Taylor Swift’s private jet
‘We just clicked instantly,’ said Jesy Nelson of her Little Mix bandmates (pictured from clockwise: Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jesy and Jade Thirlwall)
Like all well-trained manufactured pop bands, Little Mix enjoy banging on about how much they love each other and how they’ll be best mates for ever and ever, but the proof is in their body language.
The four girls are sprawled across two sofas in a London photography studio, absent-mindedly grooming each other like a family of chimps: stroking each other’s hair and wiping away make-up smudges from each other’s faces.
Feet are plonked into random laps. If anyone talks over anyone else, they apologise and let their bandmate speak – there’s no Geri Halliwell-style loudmouth here.
They properly listen to each other, relaxed and smiley in their tracksuit bottoms and vest tops. There is genuinely a lot of love in the room.
‘We just clicked instantly,’ says Jesy Nelson, 24, with her strong Essex twang and warm smile.
‘We’re really lucky – it could have been a disaster and we could have ended up hating each other. I think that’s why a lot of girl bands don’t work – you get that clash of personalities.’
Perrie wears DRESS, Hervé Léger, HEELS, Chelsea Paris; Leigh-Anne wears DRESS, Hervé Léger, HEELS, Office; Jade wears PLAYSUIT, Asos, HEELS, Giuseppe Zanotti; Jesy wears dress, Hervé Léger, HEELS, Giuseppe Zanotti
Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 24, chips in: ‘No one wants to be the main star; no one wants to outdo the others. We don’t have that one person who is the b***h or egotistical. We all just get on.’
Certainly, if cracks were going to show in Little Mix, now would be the time. It has been four years since Jesy and Leigh-Anne, plus Perrie and Jade, were thrown together as a band on The X Factor after entering the show as solo singers.
They went on to win and immediately jumped aboard the recording/promo/touring treadmill that is the life of a modern pop band.
They’ve made three albums (Salute, DNA and the imminent Get Weird), cracked America (no mean feat), travelled the world (the Japanese and the Australians also love them), accrued seven million Twitter followers who track their every move and racked up eight million album and singles sales combined.
All of which means countless 20-hour working days while living in each other’s pockets. Don’t they get sick of the sight of one another?
Name Perrie Edwards, 22, from South Shields. Instagram followers 2.6m. Which one is she? The tabloid favourite, formerly engaged to Zayn Malik of One Direction fame. According to her bandmates ‘She’s the baby of the group – the jolly, crazy, happy one.’ FYI She has such a fondness for takeaway curries that her bank manager recently flagged up how much she spends on them: ‘I thought, “Oh my God, if she’s noticed, it’s bad (wearing: TOP, Clio Peppiatt; SKIRT, Kim West)
‘Nooooo!’ they trill in unison, eyes wide with horror at the very thought of such a thing.
‘We love each other’s company,’ says Perrie in her sing-song Geordie accent.
‘It’s lonely being on the road all the time by yourself, so it’ll be, “Who wants to come to my [hotel] room tonight for a sleepover?” It makes you feel at home.’
Little Mix claim that the new album is called Get Weird because ‘we’re weirdos’; however, they seem anything but.
They’re nice, polite, pretty girls (but not inaccessibly so) who struck it insanely lucky and are now diligently making hay while the sun shines. They’re careful not to moan about their schedules or jet lag, mindful of sounding bratty, and instead emphasise how ‘blessed’ they are.
Today’s studio is cramped, freezing and has only one bathroom, but they are all smiles as they wait to be photographed, sitting together in comfortable silence, painted nails tapping away on their phones, taking it in turns to obediently trot off into hair and make-up.
Every now and then one of them breaks into a little shimmy and harmonises along to the Destiny’s Child album playing in the background.
Interviewing pop bands usually involves a palpable tension in the room – someone’s annoyed with someone, someone is trying to assert themselves as the top dog, someone’s got the dress on that someone else wants to wear – but there’s none of that here.
Name Jade Thirlwall, 22, from South Shields. Instagram followers 1.3m. Which one is she? The quieter Geordie. According to her bandmates ‘She doesn’t talk for the sake of it and she keeps us in order.’ FYI She fancies Paul Hollywood from The Great British Bake Off: ‘Don’t you think he’s really hot for an older man? Those eyes!’ (wearing: TOP and SKIRT, both Bambah Boutique; RING, Tessa Metcalfe)
The nearest we come to any diva-like behaviour is when they send someone out to Nando’s for lunch when the salads provided don’t pass muster.
We can’t continue without addressing the elephant (more a love rat/elephant hybrid, really) in the room.
Perrie has had a rough few weeks after her high-profile engagement to fellow X Factor alumnus Zayn Malik, 22 (formerly of One Direction), was abruptly called off this summer, amid persistent rumours of his cheating.
It has been claimed Zayn finished the three-year relationship via text message. Little Mix were in the U.S. working when it happened, and poor Perrie broke down in tears on stage during a live performance.
A month on, however, she no longer looks like a woman on the verge.
‘It was a hard time,’ she says carefully. ‘But we’re having so much fun as a band and I’ve got my three girls. I’m so thankful I’ve got this lot. I didn’t think our love could get any stronger.
'That sounds so cheesy, but we are like sisters – I can tell them anything. I can cry on their shoulders whenever.
'It could be four o’clock in the morning and I can ring them and go to their room.’
‘It sounds ridiculous but when someone’s hurting in the group, when someone’s in a bad situation, you feel it as much as they do,’ says Jesy. ‘It’s awful.’
Name Jesy Nelson, 24, from Romford. Instagram followers 1.1m. Which one is she? She’s engaged to Jake Roche, the Rixton frontman and son of Coleen Nolan and Shane Richie. According to her bandmates ‘She’s the most mature one. She instantly makes you feel better if you’re down.’ FYI Recently had roast dinner at Simon Cowell’s London house. ‘He didn’t make it himself – can you imagine Simon Cowell making a roast dinner?’ (wearing: DRESS, Hervé Léger)
With the band’s millions of social media followers come millions of opinions on their love lives.
Whenever Perrie posts anything, followers – who probably should be doing their homework – share their thoughts, declaring their allegiance either to ‘Team Perrie’ or ‘Team Zayn’.
‘Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. People are going to talk and comment, but at the end of the day they don’t know the ins and outs of my life,’ she says politely but firmly.
Is there anything she wants to set straight?
‘No, not really. Everyone is going to talk, but nobody knows what went on behind closed doors and that’s the way it is.’
Perrie is clearly looking forward rather than back: ‘I’m single and ready to mingle!’ she purrs mischievously, while her bandmates whoop and clap.
‘These two are always trying to set us up,’ smiles Jade, also single, pointing to Leigh-Anne and Jesy, both of whom have steady boyfriends.
‘We’ve got a few in the pipeline!’ grins Jesy. Would Perrie and Jade try Tinder?
‘I would do if I wasn’t famous,’ says Jade.
‘I’ve been on dates when we’ve sat there and the first thing they’ve asked me is “What’s it like being in Little Mix?” I’m, like [sighs], “Game over”. It’s hard to find someone in it for the right reasons.’
Jade, who is initially reserved but warms up into the funniest, sharpest member of the band, admits that a certain hobby of hers may be off-putting for suitors.
Name Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 24, from High Wycombe. Instagram followers 1.2m. Which one is she? Big hair, feline eyes. According to her bandmates ‘She’s the prankster. She just doesn’t get embarrassed, ever. If you said, “Go over there now and gyrate up against the wall”, she’d do it.’ FYI She still lives with her mum: ‘I’m saving up to buy – I’ve still got a way to go’ (wearing: DRESS, Kim West; CLAW RING, Tessa Metcalfe; EARRINGS, Chanel, from susancaplan.co.uk)
‘I’m obsessed with Disney and I have a little shrine in my flat, a bookshelf full of DVDs and little figures,’ she says sheepishly.
‘That’s probably why I’m still looking for a boyfriend! I’d be too embarrassed to bring someone to my place.’
‘Instagram is good for dating,’ says Perrie.
Jesy agrees: ‘You can make friends and then send each other private messages. It’s not how I first met Jake but it’s how we got talking.’
She’s referring to her fiancé, 23-year-old Jake Roche, singer in the band Rixton, and son of Coleen Nolan and her ex-husband Shane Richie (Roche is Richie’s real surname).
He proposed to her in July, while Little Mix were sound-checking on stage in Manchester, with Jake’s friend Ed Sheeran providing a serenade.
Jesy cried, and her bandmates did too: ‘I felt like [I] was getting engaged, it was amazing,’ says Jade.
‘We were like the three little sisters in the corner, going, “Aaaaah!”’ smiles Leigh-Anne.
‘He’s a great boy,’ enthuses Perrie, all smiles.
‘It was a hard time. But we’re having so much fun as a band and I’ve got my three girls. I’m so thankful I’ve got this lot,' said Perrie whose high-profile engagement Zayn Malik was abruptly called off this summer
Jesy’s engagement happened just days before news broke of Perrie’s split with Zayn, but if Perrie has found it difficult, there’s no suggestion of that today.
Jesy and Jake have yet to set a date, but she confirms the other three girls will be bridesmaids. And how does she feel about having Coleen Nolan – the straight-talking, over-sharing Loose Woman – as a mother-in-law?
‘What I love about her is that what you see is what you get; she’s very honest.
'There’s no fakeness about the family at all – they’re so down to earth. I honestly couldn’t ask for a better mother-in-law.’
And Jesy insists that the fact that she’s currently more successful than her betrothed isn’t a problem: ‘We’re not competitive. That’s one of the reasons I love him so much – he’s so supportive.’
For now, the focus is on launching their third album.
According to Jade, Get Weird is ‘more pop than the last one, with lots of personality to it. We’ve always said, “Put the four of us in a room together and have a big chinwag about boys and stuff we’re going through”, and that’s what’s on the album. Girls can really relate to it lyrically.’
The band is, indeed, catnip to young girls. Do they feel the pressure of being role models?
‘We never asked to be role models. We’re young girls – we’re going to make mistakes,’ sighs Perrie, with the air of someone who’s fed up of having her every move monitored.
Jesy is more measured: ‘We’re very lucky because when we started in this industry we never got told what to wear or how to be. It’s all very natural.
'I think that’s why a lot of girls can relate to us. We’re just four normal girls.’
‘We’re not competitive. That’s one of the reasons I love him so much – he’s so supportive,' said Jesy of her fiance Jake Roche, son of Coleen Nolan and her ex-husband Shane Richie (Roche is Richie’s real surname)
Normal they may be, but they live their lives under the social media microscope. Do they ever share too much?
‘We try to find a balance,’ says Perrie. ‘We are genuine and we want people to see the ins and out of our lives. But at the same time you’re a human and you want some privacy.
'We’re willing to give a lot but there are some things we want to hold back.’
I ask how they feel about the scrutiny of their appearance and bodies – they do, after all, post multiple selfies, showcasing different hair, make-up and fashion looks. Perrie gets cross.
‘Not in a disrespectful way, but I’m so f***ing bored of this conversation! Every single girl in the industry now [is scrutinised]. Why can’t people get over it?’
She complains about her 15-year-old sister posting photos of gorgeous models on Instagram that she captions, ‘Why can’t I look like that?’
‘It’s so annoying – my sister is gorgeous, she’s perfect. You need to find out who you are as a person first, embrace that and then go ahead. Don’t look at someone else and think you’ve got to be like them.’
Jesy, who’s no stranger to comments about her appearance (specifically her curves and subsequent weight loss), slickly calms things down: ‘Our message is that you don’t have to be stick thin and beautiful to feel amazing.
'Our fans can listen to our music and if they’re feeling a bit rubbish about themselves, it makes them feel better. They know the four of us are going through the same thing.’
Jake proposed to Jesy in July, while Little Mix were sound-checking on stage in Manchester, with Jake’s friend Ed Sheeran providing a serenade. Jesy cried, and her bandmates did too
As for the future, Little Mix would love to act, citing – ahem – Spiceworld: The Movie as something to aspire to (to be fair, they were only just starting primary school when the Spice Girls movie came out in 1997 so probably didn’t click how awful it was).
They regularly post improvised comedy skits on YouTube, and while not exactly Oscar-bait, they do show a certain flair for funny faces and silly accents.
Apparently their label boss Simon Cowell thinks they should have a Catherine Tate-style TV sketch show – and of course, what Simon wants, he tends to get.
They loyally refuse to enter into discussion as to who’s the most likely to do a Robbie Williams and go solo (my money’s on Perrie), with Jade declaring: ‘We’ve got at least five years in us yet.’
Besides, they tell me with a knowing wink, they all want to buy nice big houses first.
Recently they appeared on stage with Taylor Swift in the US, singing their hit ‘Black Magic’ (80 million views of its video and counting) and afterwards Taylor gave them a lift on her private jet.
‘She had towels with “T” on them. What we’d do to fly around like that,’ says Leigh-Anne wistfully. Little Mix don’t have a private jet?
‘We wish! We don’t even have a bus with our name on,’ giggles Perrie.
Are they part of Swift’s famous ‘squad’ now?
‘We’re very lucky because when we started in this industry we never got told what to wear or how to be. It’s all very natural. I think that’s why a lot of girls can relate to us. We’re just four normal girls,' said Jesy
‘We’d like to think so. She’s so lovely,’ says Perrie.
‘She’s one of the biggest artists in the world and has everything her heart desires – and I’m not saying if you’ve got all that you have to be a d***head – but she’s so, so nice.’
They may be in awe, but it’s clear they’ve got Taylor’s world domination in their sights, when they detail their own masterplans: Jesy: ‘Mine is to sell out Madison Square Garden.’
Perrie: ‘To become household names.’
Jade: ‘You’ve got to strive for something all the time. I’d love it, in 50 years, if one of our tracks was still a favourite choice for karaoke.’
Leigh-Anne: ‘We’re still not where we want to be yet – we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve always wanted bigger and better. We’re getting there but we’re still on this journey.’
Ah, the ‘journey’. They wouldn’t be former X Factor contestants if this wasn’t in their DNA.
But, with Little Mix’s ambition, there’s no doubt that to arrive will be as good as to travel.
The album Get Weird will be released on Friday
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