When I pictured myself interviewing a woman who was once one-quarter of the world’s biggest girl group, I wasn’t expecting her to dial in to the call while sitting on the carpet of her dressing room. But that’s exactly where Leigh-Anne Pinnock joins me for our 10 cover interview, looking the picture of zen: grey sweatshirt on, skin and hair glowing (she’s yet to buy a stool for her dresser, she tells me).
Immediately, I’m struck by how relatable and down to earth Pinnock, 32, is, especially considering the trophy cabinet’s worth of achievements she earned as a member of Little Mix. Together, the band scored five UK number one singles, became the first girl group to win the Brit for Best British Group and ignited another wave of pop-fronted feminine power. “I think people forget how long we were in a group for,” she says of the band’s 11-year tenure, which began with a fresh-faced X Factor win and ended in 2022 with a hiatus to allow Leigh-Anne, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards to pursue solo projects (fourth member Jesy Nelson left the group in 2020). “I had the time of my life and it’s the reason I’m here. But we’ve all got things we want to say and we all have our own music tastes and styles.”
Whether it’s the nostalgic garage of her debut single ‘Don’t Say Love’, the sunny Afropop of her Ayra Starr collaboration ‘My Love’ or the reggae and R&B flourishes on her debut solo EP No Hard Feelings, Pinnock has made her musical point of view abundantly clear in the last year: the Black-originated genres she grew up listening to are finally at the forefront of her sound. But not without some understandable trepidation. “I was a little scared going from such a massive pop sensation to moving into music that is very different and has all these diverse references,” she admits, stating she’s “always been an R&B girl”. “There was an element of, ‘Are people going to understand this from me?’ But it’s been so exciting to watch my fanbase grow and see the fans that have come along with me eat it up.”
Pinnock didn’t pull any punches when it came to enlisting big names to help with the creation of No Hard Feelings, which came out in May. The six-song project, which she describes as “very late ’90s, early ’00s”, brags production credits from hitmakers including Danja, Khris Riddick- Tynes and Ian Kirkpatrick. Vulnerable in some moments (“Tell you that I’m hurtin’, then you go and twist the knife,” she sings on Stealin’ Love) and sultry in others (“Gotta hit it right, got a female appetite,” she demands on recent single OMG), you get a sense that Pinnock has been waiting a lifetime to introduce this part of herself to the world. “To be able to express myself creatively and make music that I’m so personally passionate about is honestly such an amazing feeling,” she says, beaming.
Her EP isn’t the only place where you can feel this newfound confidence, either. She exuded it on stage at Rock in Rio Lisboa in June, in her Balmain red-carpet looks and on Instagram, where she sometimes shares snippets of life with her husband, footballer Andre Gray, and their twin girls, who turned two in August. I ask how it felt to embark on not just a solo career but motherhood at the same time as bandmate Edwards (they gave birth within weeks of each other) and she describes it as “incredible”. “We’ve always been close, but it brought us even closer. This is a bond that only me and her share – it’s really special.”
The biggest catalyst for her unbridled self-assurance, though? Letting go of the past. She was born to a half-Bajan mum and a half-Jamaican dad in Buckinghamshire, with both her award-winning 2021 BBC documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop and Power and last year’s memoir Believe shining lights on her experiences of being ignored, undervalued and pigeonholed as the only Black member of the band – both at the hands of the music industry and fans alike. “I let those experiences really beat me down. There was a period where I lost so much self-confidence. I lost my self-belief and my worth,” she says. “It consumed me, but it’s not there now. I refuse to be in that place anymore.” Not only did speaking up help Pinnock to process that egregious mistreatment, it also raised further awareness of racism in the pop sphere and earned her a National Diversity Award.
“I can finally just be me,” she continues, as a relieved smile grows across her face. Now in the driver’s seat when it comes to her image and sound, Pinnock tells me she feels able to celebrate – and revel in – her Blackness. It runs through everything from the references in her music to the team she surrounds herself with and how she styles her hair, which she took a conscious approach towards when entering this new era of her career. The time afforded to experiment with styles was limited as a member of the band, so now, she says, it’s a central part of her aesthetic: from wearing different types of braids to creating elaborate hair structures. It’s a far cry from The X Factor days when the show’s stylists shaved and dyed her hair red to imitate Rihanna’s look at the time. “It was very much like, ‘Let’s not give you a proper identity of your own’,” she recalls.
Throughout history, hordes of former pop stars have struggled to solidify their identities as solo artists, but in Pinnock’s case, it’s clear that the reality is the total opposite. I’m curious to know, then, how does it feel to be a woman in popular music at a time when so many – Charli XCX, Raye and her Little Mix sisters, to name just a few – are thriving? “It’s an exciting time,” she says, not just because of the success of her peers, but also due to the changing dynamic of the industry and the unpredictability of what makes a hit. “It allows artists to follow their guts more. People can see through things, so if a song or a concept means something to you, and you stand behind it, that holds a lot more weight. It’s completely changed since I was in the group – it feels like a much freer time to be in the industry.” The biggest takeaway from the time I share with Pinnock is that she is uninhibited – mentally and creatively. She knows who she is as a Black British artist in her thirties and isn’t letting her experiences growing up in the industry prevent her from being her true self any more. Before she leaves the studio to record her next single (the details of which she guards very tightly), I ask her one final question. Where does she want to be in five years? The answer is, well, quite a few places. When she’s not focusing on family, she wants to spend more time in America, release an album and bring her tightly choreographed shows to arenas around the world. But most importantly, she wants to be happy. “For me, over everything, happiness has to be number one,” she says. “I’ve learned that through my experience in Little Mix and my years working in the industry. If you’re not happy, what’s the point?”
Taken from Issue 73 of 10 Magazine – RISING, RENEW, RENAISSANCE – is on newsstands September 18. Pre-order your copy here.
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN: LOVING LEIGH-ANNE
Photographer ROB RUSLING
Fashion Editor SOPHIA NEOPHITOU
Talent LEIGH-ANNE
Hair MOLECIA SEASAY
Make-up HILA KARMAND at Arch the Agency Manicurist Sasha Goddard at Saint Luke Artists
Digital assistant BRADLEY POLKINGHORNE
Lighting assistants OLLIE WEBB and JENNA SMITH
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS, SONYA MAZURYK, YASMINE CARIAGA and GRACIE COLLINS
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU
Special thanks to DAN COMRIE
Shoes and accessories throughout by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, clothing throughout by CHOPOVA LOWENA