Discovering who you are as a person and artist after spending nearly a third of your life in one of the world’s most successful pop groups wouldn’t be an easy task for even the most self-assured of people. But Leigh-Anne Pinnock – formerly of Little Mix – certainly made it look effortless, despite everything thrown at her.
When Little Mix went on hiatus in 2022 to pursue solo projects, the UK pop star stepped into a new chapter with a flicker of confidence beneath nerves. In the years since, that flicker grew into a flame – culminating in last month’s long-awaited debut album My Ego Told Me To, released via Virgin Music.
Leigh-Anne, now 34, was among the first of the group to release solo music – marking the start of the new era with her single “Don’t Say Love” in 2023, via her old label Warner Records. Rather than stepping out with the weight of a global fanbase behind her, she says the transition felt more like starting over. “I am a new artist… building something new,” she explains.
At the time, the Buckinghamshire-born singer said creating the upbeat dance-pop song was a “healing process”, adding that she underwent a full journey to find her own voice. These days, she continues to love the song and the moment it represents, but admits it wasn’t quite the statement she would make today.
“I love that song. It’s such a banger,” she tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “But my gut was telling me it wasn’t right to put out first.” At the time, she found herself navigating a new kind of creative landscape, one where her instinct and outside opinions were often in tension. “I felt like I listened to everyone else around me, putting my trust in everyone else,” she continues. “And as I say, it really is a good song… I just don’t think it was right for me as my first single.”
The uncertainty she felt carried through her work over a period of time – until she went independent in May last year. “I don’t know if there was one clear sort of vein,” she says of her sonic identity. “When you listen to my music from the beginning, it was going in different directions. And I think that comes from not being able to fully have the control.”
So while My Ego Told Me To took its time to arrive – it did so rightfully. Leigh-Anne worked on the music over a number of years, with some songs written shortly after Little Mix went on hiatus, but the ups and downs of transitioning to a solo artist – and being told no after showing the songs to her former label – inevitably slowed the process.
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“You can hear it in my album now – there is a thread and an identity there. And that’s from me being able to just do what I want to do. I went back to trusting my gut, I listened to myself and I think it’s really resonating with people. I got this over the line myself… that’s what makes it even more sweeter.”
That clarity certainly didn’t come overnight. It clicked during a writing trip to Amsterdam, where, for the first time, she heard something that felt entirely her own – a sound that blended her influences without compromise. While waiting and finding her identity was one of her greatest struggles, she says, ultimately, it became the most rewarding discovery. So when My Ego Told Me To was announced, she described it as the “truest representation of me” – a record that marks a turning point in claiming who she is post-Little Mix.
“I wanted to revive my younger self, who is my ego – that fierce, bold version of myself who I felt like I’d lost,” she tells me. “I needed her back. I think I’ve done a good job of showing that with songs like ‘Revival’, where I’m reclaiming my power, standing up for myself.”
In fact, she took reviving her younger self so literally, she dyed her hair red – a nod to her X Factor and early Little Mix days. It wasn’t until I asked whether that was a deliberate choice that the connection clicked. She nods, telling me the ‘look good feel good’ mentality is working.
Getting emotional, she explains that before she started out, a young 19-year-old Leigh-Anne was fearless and confidence – which, over the years, was beat out of her. “It’s like, I got my dream, but then the things I experienced within the industry and the toxicity, the comparisons, and the social media, and being in the public eye, all of these things kind of ripped it away.
Leigh-Anne in 2011. Credit: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
“I really didn’t think that could happen, and it did. So for me, especially going through all the crap with the label, I just wanted to revive that energy again. I just knew little me wouldn’t take no fucking shit. She knew who she was, I’m like, ‘Where has she gone?’ Like, I need that energy back. For this era I just wanted to bring the fire back so obviously I’ve dyed my hair back red and reclaiming it. And it really is working – like even just talking about it…” she continues, her voice catching as she tears up.
Beyond personal identity, My Ego Told Me To also allowed Leigh-Anne to explore her cultural self. The album is rooted in her vibrant Caribbean heritage, sonically blending her signature pop sound with R&B, reggae, and dancehall – a genre rooted in Jamaican music culture.
She tells me of her childhood, of going to Jamaica every year since she was born to visit her grandfather – whose voice you can hear in “You ARE a star (Interlude)” alongside her step-grandmother – calling it “such a big part of my life”.
“I really wanted to highlight that, my culture. I wasn’t really able to do that in my group to the extent that I can now. I love reggae, I grew up listening to and loving [my grandfather’s] rock music, so being able to incorporate that, like that’s a massive part of who I am. I’m set on having my own sound and my own thing.”
While Little Mix was one of the biggest girl bands in the world – a “mammoth machine” as Leigh-Anne describes it – success these days looks a little different. “It’s about being proud of the art that I’m putting out,” she says simply.
“Knowing this album is resonating with people, that’s success to me. Do I want a Brit? Yes. Do I want a Grammy? Yes, of course I do. Do I want a billion streams? Yes, and I will continue to manifest. But just making an album that I’m completely proud of, in five years time, I’m going to look back and be like, ‘You did that’, that’s the main success.”
Leigh-Anne’s My Ego Told Me To is out now.
