After 11 years with Little Mix, Leigh-Anne is embarking on a solo journey of raw honesty and self-discovery, stripping away layers to reveal her most authentic self.

Words: Ali Shutler.
Photos: Lou Jasmine, Adama Jalloh.

"To be at the beginning of something new is just so exciting," beams Leigh-Anne. After spending 11 years in one of the best girl bands to ever do it, the past 12 months have seen her start over as a solo artist.

"It's such a different world to being in Little Mix," she admits. At first, she found it overwhelming not being part of a group and having to trust her own gut, but the more she's done it, the more confident she's become. "I've really just settled into myself and my tastes," she continues. "I have so much creative control now. I can express exactly what I want to express, and talk about what I need to talk about. Yes, everything is different, but it feels freeing," Leigh-Anne says. "Now I get to carve out who I am as an artist and show what I can offer people."

As soon as Leigh-Anne announced herself as a solo artist last June with the absolutely massive, open-hearted 'Don't Say Love', she started teasing a debut album. "I thought I'd release three singles and go straight into dropping it," she admits. "As the process went on, though, I just felt like I wasn't ready for the album." Instead, she's gearing up to release a smaller collection of songs.

Thanks to the success of Little Mix and the devotion they inspired from fans worldwide, Leigh-Anne knows she's not exactly starting her solo career from scratch, "but I am essentially a new artist who is at the start of building something," she offers. "I'm still growing, I'm still finding my feet, and I'm still experimenting, all of which is normal for a new project." She goes on to say she's still working on her debut album. "I definitely feel like it's there, and I'm excited for it to finally come out. The pressure has been taken off a little bit now, though, and I feel a lot more comfortable about it."

Part of that comfort has come from blocking out social media noise. "It's easy to get sucked into worrying about what other people think I should be doing or achieving, especially because Little Mix were so huge. There are obviously going to be expectations, but I'm just really focused on doing my own thing, which is putting out music that I think is brilliant,"

"I absolutely loved what we did in the group, but what I'm doing right now is completely different," she says. If it wasn't different, what would be the point of leaving the safety of the group in the first place?

After big, pop-infused songs like 'Don't Say Love' and 'My Love', that upcoming body of work sees Leigh-Anne shimmy away from polished spectacle and lean into creating something more intimate. "It's definitely the most raw I've been," she explains. "Those early singles and the massive videos were such amazing moments, but this record is me stripping some of those layers away and just being open about my story. It's scary, but I hope it allows people to come into my world more."