Leigh-Anne Pinnock admits she felt ‘undervalued’ in Little Mix due to ‘living in very white world’-Aisha Nozari-Entertainment – Metro

Leigh-Anne Pinnock has opened up about the downsides of her time in Little Mix (Picture: PA)

Leigh-Anne Pinnock has admitted she felt ‘undervalued’ in Little Mix and spoke candidly about the effect the band’s ‘predominately white fan base’ had on her.

The 31-year-old pop star shot to fame in the girl group – formed on The X Factor in 2011 -and is now embracing a new chapter as she embarks on a solo career.

Speaking about her debut single, Don’t Say Love, doting mum Leigh-Anne revealed the track channels the ‘frustration, sadness and anger’ she felt about being ‘overlooked and undervalued’ with a ‘predominately white’ fanbase and pop world.

‘The pop industry is very white; we did have a predominately white fan base,’ the hitmaker explained.

‘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,’ she added to Vogue.

The 31-year-old pop star shot to fame in the girl group – formed on The X Factor in 2011 (Picture: Getty)

One place Leigh-Anne – who was joined by Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall, and formerly Jesy Nelson in Little Mix before the group disbanded in 2022 – did feel appreciated was Brazil.

She recalled: ‘Fans were chanting my name – I’ve never had a response like that, and we’d been in the group for nine years.’

Her deeply honest upcoming debut studio album is all about the highs and lows in Little Mix, her relationship with footballer husband Andre Gray – with whom she has young twins born in August 2021 – and motherhood.

Her debut studio album is all about the highs and lows in Little Mix, her relationship with footballer husband Andre Gray and motherhood (Picture: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

Leigh-Anne – who has dropped her surname for her solo releases – explained: ‘The first single, Don’t Say Love, is about wanting to be loved wholeheartedly, [like] the love that I have for myself.’

The star added: ‘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.’

The crooner candidly added: ‘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.’

Don’t Say Love is out on Friday, June 16.

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