INTERVIEW: Little Mix
Perrie Edwards opens up for the first time ever about her relationship with Zayn Malik and Jesy Nelson tells us her body confidence tips. Plus, get the lowdown on the girls' new single and forthcoming album in our exclusive interview with The X Factor winners…
Rex FeaturesG: How involved in writing your new material have you been?
Leigh-Anne: “We’ve actually had quite good involvement in it. We knew from the start we wanted to have some sort of involvement, because obviously, we had our own vision of what we wanted our sound to be like, our style, because we’re all individual in our style. We’ve basically written quite a lot of the album. Our first single we’ve written as well, so… Quite a lot.”
G: Did you co-write with anyone?
Leigh-Anne: “We’ve co-written with quite a few song writers…”
Jesy: “TMS are the main ones we’ve been working with at the moment. Two guys called Pegasus. Steve Mac.”
Rex FeaturesG: You enjoyed a pretty rapid rise to fame after The X Factor – does the attention ever get overbearing?
Jesy: “I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, I would say it’s more fun than anything. Our lives have completely changed, but it’s just amazing now. We wake up and we do something we love for a living every day, so, we can’t complain. Obviously there are times, little things, like if you want to go shopping it’s not as easy any more, but that’s just what comes with it and I would never change that anyway because I literally feel like I’ve got the best life ever, we all do…”
Leigh-Anne: “We get the odd ugly pap picture, but that’s about it!”
Rex FeaturesG:There are quite a few rumours of collaborations on your new album – including with Tulisa and Jessie J. Is there any truth in those?
Leigh-Anne: “Not just yet, but who knows what could happen? We’ll have to wait and see.”
G: Who would your ideal collaboration be with?
Leigh-Anne: “We’d love to do something with Tulisa, that would be amazing. Hopefully that might happen, I don’t know.”
WennG: Are you still in good contact with Tulisa since you left The X Factor?
Leigh-Anne: “Yeah, I’ve got her on BB(M Messenger), and we went to her chart party the other night, which was really fun. It was really good to see her. Yeah, quite a lot of contact, which is good.”
G: Do you still speak to any of the other contestants from the show?
Jesy: “Yeah, I still speak to Marcus[Collins], he rung me yesterday actually. I speak to him all the time. We’re always in contact with him. Amelia [Lily], Craig [Colton], The Risk, a lot of them actually.”
PA PhotosG: Can you reveal any details of your new album to us? What are you calling it, how many tracks are on it, ext…
Jade: “Well, we’re not allowed to say any names yet or how many tracks are on it or anything, but it’s coming out at the end of this year.”
Perrie: “It’s quite a wait, yeah… But we’ve got our new single coming out soon, so that’s good. We’ve been working on our album, we’ve been in the studio since we left The X Factor. We went straight in the studio, then went on tour, and while we were on tour, we were in the studio as well, so we were like balancing it. It was pretty tough, but it was worth it. It’s looking pretty good at the moment, it’s got a lot of variety. We’re going for like kind of…”
Jade: “It’s like old school pop, RnB but with modern beats in it. Really showing off that we’re a vocal harmony group as well. And I think that the good thing about us is because we are so different and we have got so many different tastes in music, they’re all on one album so hopefully it will be really interesting.”
Rex FeaturesG: If you were to describe the sound of your new single to an alien who had never heard music before, what would you say?
Leigh-Anne: “It’s kind of like old-school RnB with modern beats, so… It’s kind of like a combination of all our individual styles and stuff so, we’ve taken different influences for music. Jesy’s quite into hip-hop, I’m more into old school RnB, and then Perrie takes influences from like rock music and Jade’s quite mo-town, so it’s really interesting…”
Jesy: “The whole album’s merged together…”
Leigh-Anne: “Yeah it’s lots of different sounds, so it’s exciting. It’s going to be good! It’s exciting…”
PA PhotosG: Do you feel under pressure to achieve success in the same way Leona Lewis has? There is a bit of a curse on X Factor winners from previous years – Matt Cardle has been the latest to have parted ways with his label this week after just a year…
Leigh-Anne: “I don’t think we feel under any sort of pressure at all really. I mean, Leona did amazing, so obviously we want to follow in her footsteps as well, so. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’re working so hard, and we’re just doing all we can really.”
Jade: “I don’t think any of that really applies to us. A group hasn’t won [The X Factor] before, certainly a girl group hasn’t won before…”
Perrie: “We’ve had that pressure even when we were on the show like, like the girl band curse. We broke that one, so…”
Rex FeaturesJade: “It might be different if I were like a solo female artist, but we’re different and it’s never happened before, nobody is expecting anything I don’t think.”
Perrie: “Hopefully that will help in the long run instead of having massive expectations after a previous girlband that won. It’s a fresh start, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re not going to work as hard as Leona Lewis has, if not harder. We’ll work our bums off.”
GLAMOUR: Tell us about your campaign for M&Ms?
Leigh-Anne: “We’re promoting the new red, white and blue packet, so we went to do a photo shoot in the store, and it was really fun. There are so many different colours! It was crazy, we were throwing them around, they’ve got a big red bus in the middle of the store, so it was just really fun.
Jesy: “It was a really good photo shoot actually, we just got to muck around. It wasn’t too serious, and we just got to chuck loads of M&Ms around. And we got a lot of free stuff!”
Perrie: “We got to run around the store rioting and chucking M&Ms. We had a massive dish of them.”
Jade: “It’s amazing that place, I never knew you could get so many things with M&Ms on them! And we just took everything we could, ha ha ha…”
WennG: You’ve all got boyfriends now, is that right?
Perrie: “Yes, we’ve all got boyfriends, except for Leigh-Anne.”
PA PhotosG: Do you find it difficult to have a relationship under the glare of the media spotlight?
Perrie: “I don’t know, I think it’s a good thing. Because, when you’re in a relationship, obviously back home you’d see that person a lot… It’s hard not seeing them much when you’re in this industry, but at the same time it’s a good thing because you get the breathing space and you get to see them and it makes it more special when you do get to see them. And you can focus on this as well, like this is our career and obviously the main priority. And if you’ve got a boyfriend it’s good because you can balance it, instead of seeing them all the time…”
Rex FeaturesG: Is it tricky when they’re also in another band?
Perrie: “Erm… Not really. I think it’s a good thing, because when we do see each other it’s a lot more special. And since he’s in the same industry, he gets it if I can’t go out with him or whatever because I’m doing a photo shoot, he understands. That’s the beauty of it, because we’re both in the same boat.”
PA PhotosG: Would you ever collaborate with One Direction, or do you think that would be too weird now that you’re with Zayn [Malik]?
Perrie: “I don’t know! That would be up to them to decide, wouldn’t it?”
Jade: “Obviously, we’re big fans of One Direction, but I think we’re completely different from us… But who knows!”Perrie: "You never know, they might be up for some RnB, hip-hop pop, ha ha ha…”
Rex FeaturesZayn Malik gave you [Perrie] some advice yesterday. He said: “Just work hard and hope for the best.” What advice would you give him?
Perrie: “Ha ha ha, is that what he said?”
Jade: “Oh, shut your mouth Zayn…”
Perrie: “Jade said ‘shut your mouth’. I don’t know, obviously I can’t be giving him advice because One Direction and everything they’re doing is right, that’s why they’re so successful and everything they’re doing is amazing, so… We’re still learning! That’s what’s good as well about beign so close to One Direction is that they always give advice like that so it’s nice to have people in the industry that we’re friends with.”
WennG: What is the best piece of relationship advice you’ve ever been given?
Jade: “To not be selfish, to remember there is two people in the relationship.”
Perrie: “Be understanding, be unselfish…”
Jade: “Make sure you’ve had a good wash and be clean.”
Perrie: “Jade! Sorry, she comes out with weird stuff like that sometimes…”
WennThere were some reports that you’d all deleted your personal Twitter accounts. Are they true? What made you make that decision[There were some rumours you were receiving threats because of Zayn and Perrie’s relationship]?
Leigh-Anne: “It was literally just to draw everyone to the main account. Because obviously we are a group, and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Jesy: “I never had an individual one anyway, so it was just Leigh-Anne, Jade and Perrie.”
WennG: Trainers were a bit of a trademark for you guys on The X Factor – now you wear heels on stage quite a lot. Do you think you’ve sexed up your image post-show?
Leigh-Anne: “Erm, I think it’s started… When we perform we like to wear trainers and flats because we like to feel comfortable performing. I’ve always liked heels personally, so when we go out, we like to make an effort.”
Jesy: “When we perform we never wear heels because we like to dance around a lot… But if we’re going to the BRITs or a night out, we’ll always wear heels. I just think it’s more glamorous and I just feel nicer…”
WennG: What advice would you give to girls who want to be more confident?
Jesy: “Wear what you feel most comfortable in. And if you like it, don’t care what anyone else thinks, that’s how I feel. You don’t dress for anyone else, you dress for yourself.”
Leigh-Anne: “Love yourself.”
RexG: What advice can you give to our readers on dealing with body hang-ups?
Jesy: “I think everyone’s got different body shapes and sizes, and no-one’s perfect, and I just think you have to love yourself for who you are. If everyone looked the same it would be boring.”
Jade: “I think every girl goes through that stage…”
Rex FeaturesPerrie: “Sometimes you’ll never be happy with what you do have. Sometimes you’ll be too skinny, and you’ll want to put more weight on. Sometimes you’ll weigh more, and then you’ll want to lose weight. Girls are just girls, to be honest, but when it comes to stuff like that, you’ve just got to be confident.”
Jade: “Yeah, you’ve got to learn to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself then it will show up on other people.”
Perrie: “When our new single comes out hopefully it will help all the girls out there who are feeling that way. And boys… We just want to give off a positive message and positive vibes.”
G: Who is the hottest guy in the world right now?
Leigh-Anne: “Justin Bieber… Sorry, I just love him…”
Jesy: “I don’t even know, there are too many!”
PA PhotosG: Who were your celeb crushes growing up?
Jesy: “Mine was Justin Timberlake.”
Leigh-Anne: “I liked Aaron Carter.”
Perrie: “Johnny Depp. Jesse McCartney! Does anyone remember him? When he used to sing Beautiful Soul, I’d be like, ‘He’s singing about me…’”
Jade: “I loved Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys.”
Bigpicturesphoto.comG: How do you keep your skin clear?
Jesy: “I’m quite lucky with my skin, I don’t really get spots, so I’d say just clean it all the time and use a good moisturiser.”
Leigh-Anne: “Me and the other girls, we do get spots sometimes, so the most important thing is always take your make-up off. I can’t stress enough how important that is. Something just to exfoliate your skin, then toner and moisturiser. Hero products? Dermalogica is really good. And I always use this brand called Yon-Ka. Not many people know about it, but that’s really good. And that comes in a moisturiser, toner and cleansers.”
PA PhotosG: What’s the one item in your make-up bag that you couldn’t live without?
Perrie: “My mascara. I use a MAC one with the two different wands [M.A.C Haute & Naughty mascara].”
Jade: “Yeah, my mascara. I like the L’oréal Telescopic one. And I love liquid eyeliner…It’s all about eyes.”
Perrie: “It’s all about the eyes. The eyes are the nipple of the face. You’ve got to jazz them up from time to time.”
Jade: “It’s true! You could have a minging face, but as long as you’ve done your eyes nice, people just look at your eyes.”
PA PhotosG:What’s the one item in your wardrobes that you couldn’t live without?
Jesy: “There are loads! Probably my trainers and my Dr Martens.”
Leigh-Anne: “I’d say my slack backs, because they cover up a bad hair day, and a pair of dungarees.”
Bigpicturesphoto.comTo celebrate British summertime Little Mix are launching M&M'S limited edition Union Jack Pack, featuring red, white and blue peanut M&M'S.
Available now.
