On Dec. 14, 2020, music fans around the world were left in shock when Jesy Nelson announced she was leaving the British girl group Little Mix. She recently broke her silence with her first post-Little Mix interview with Cosmopolitan UK.
The news of Nelson’s departure was even more shocking seeing as the third single “Sweet Melody” from their sixth studio album Confetti was dropped in October before the full album was released in November.
“[The ‘Sweet Melody’ music video] was the breaking point. We’d been in lockdown, and [that had been] the first time I could have a break and be at home around people that I love,” Nelson told Cosmopolitan UK. “It was the happiest I’d ever felt, and I didn’t realize that until I went back to work. I immediately became a different person.”
Nelson talks about how the way she viewed herself completely declined after she was put into the band alongside Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jade Thirlwall during the eighth series of the UK’s The X Factor.
“When I got in the band, my confidence was zero,” she said. “Once I got older and I learned not to care as much, I probably got to a 4.5. And then I’d say now I’ve left, I’m a solid 8.5.”
After their win on The X Factor, Little Mix became an international sensation, especially in European countries. They have had five number-one singles on UK charts and three albums go triple platinum.
Despite their success, Nelson suffered from mental health issues by being compared to Edwards, Pinnock, and Thirlwall. After she left the group, she says she finally realized her happiness.
“I didn’t know that I could be this happy. I thought when I was in the group that it was just normal to feel that way,” she said. “And because I’d felt like that for 10 years, I just thought, ‘This is life.’ Since I’ve left, I feel free. I don’t wake up with anxiety, thinking, ‘I’ve got to do a music video today, I need to starve myself.’ Or, ‘I need to go on an extreme diet so I can look like the other three.’ That was consuming me.”
When Nelson came to the personal realization of needing to put herself above her career with the girl group, she realized her focus should have been on her health the whole time.
“For so long, I worried about others and letting people down,” she said. “The only person I should have been trying to make happy was myself, and I wasn’t doing that.”
Nelson’s interview may have surprised Mixers – fans of the girl group – as she announced she is already in the studio working on solo music.
“I’m in the studio just having fun. I loved the music I made with Little Mix, but it wasn’t the kind of music I listen to,” Nelson revealed. “I never said when I put out my statement that I was coming out of the band to never be in the public eye or perform again or do music. I said I was coming out of the band because I genuinely couldn’t deal with the pressure of being in a girl band.”
Her former bandmates have continued on as a threesome and just released their first post-Jesy single, “Confetti.” They re-recorded the song that originally had Nelson’s vocals on it and added a feature by Saweetie. Pinnock also just announced her pregnancy on Instagram – a post that Nelson has noticeably not liked.
However, Nelson is fully focusing on the future and ends her interview with good advice.
“I need to do things that make me happy now, and people might think that’s selfish, but sometimes in life you have to put yourself first, you have to love yourself, and do what makes you happy.”
What do you think of Nelson’s first interview after her Little Mix exit? Comment below or tweet us at @celebsecrets.
