Who can believe it’s been ten years since British girl group Little Mix joined forces on X Factor to become the first band to win the singing competition back in 2011?
Ten years on, with six chart-topping albums, three Brit Award wins and the most nominated group in the ceremony’s history, it’s fair to say the past decade has been a success for the act.
Today on this special occasion, the band have announced a new album called “Between Us.” It will be Little Mix’s first album as a trio since Jesy Nelson left the band in 2020. It will be released on 12th November later this year and will include all of their hits over the past decade as well as some brand new material.
To celebrate reaching this milestone, let take a look back at the 10 most iconic Little Mix moments over the last 10 years.
When they became the first group to win The X Factor
The X Factor is where it all started for Little Mix. After failing to get through to judges houses as solo artists, Leigh Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson were put together by Destiny Child’s Kelly Rowland.
After this, they went from strength to strength under the coaching of N-Dubz’s Tulisa and made it all the way to the final where they became the first group to win The X Factor with their winning single “Cannonball.”
Little Mix wins their first Brit Award… and get very drunk
In 2017, the band reached a significant achievement by winning their first Brit Award in the British Single category with their hit song “Shout Out To My Ex.”
As they eventually made it onto the stage, after nearly getting lost in the excitement of it all Jade shared how the win was a surprise and they were too busy “chinwagging” beforehand.
Leigh Anne hit us in the feels with her tribute to fellow girl band members: “Five years together and still going strong. These girls are my best friends. Long may it continue. I love these girls so much.”
The celebrations were well underway by the time the girls were interviewed by the press about their win, and in one hilarious clip Jesy confesses: “I’m really sorry we’re very drunk but we don’t give a s**t, we’re so happy!”
Jesy’s “Jamaican accent” became a viral meme
When Little Mix attempted various accents as part of a “You Generation” promotion video, little did they know one of their band members would become an instant meme.
It all began when Jesy Nelson attempted to perform a Jamaican accent by blurting out a strange noise and said: “Balegdah” and soon began to make rounds online, and is still remains a pop culture reference to this day.
Though all is not what it seems, as Jesy explained in an interview with Buzzfeed in 2015 that the video was edited, as that was not her actual attempt at a Jamaican accent.
She told the publication: “All of us do the same thing when we’re like stuck on how to do something we go (Jesy makes indecipherable noises). So I was stuck on how to do it and then I was like, did my Jamaican accent, but someone cut off my Jamaican accent!”
Leigh-Anne’s Race, Pop & Power documentary
In 2020, Leigh-Anne opened up about her experiences as the only Black member in the band and about the wider problem of racism within the music industry.
“I wanted to speak about my experiences and the way I felt in the band, being the Black girl in the band and people identifying me as the Black girl. I really wanted to explore why I felt so overlooked, so shadowed and it was down to my colour.
“But also, I wanted to be able to hear from other Black women on their experiences.”
During the Black Lives Matter protests last year, Leigh-Anne posted an emotional video detailing the racism she has experienced.
“I’m doing it [the video] because enough is enough and hopefully from sharing this we can all do more to understand the racism that takes place.
Jesy’s Odd One Out documentary
Little Mix star Jesy Nelson shares her mental health and body image struggles since being part of the group due to the abuse she has suffered at the hands of cyberbullies in her documentary: “Odd One Out.”
“I was told that my face was very deformed,” Jesy reveals, “and that I should chop my head off so they don’t have to look at me anymore.”
Jesy goes into heartbreaking detail about how attempted to take her life in 2013 when she felt like she could no longer cope.
After posting an old photo on her Instagram, she explained why she wanted to share her personal experience.
“6 months ago this girl was someone I just wanted to forget. I wanted to erase her from my mind and everyone else’s memory. I didn’t see her as Jesy I saw her as ‘the fat one from Little Mix’.
“Up until now, I hated her not because she’d ever done anything bad but because I was made to hate her by endless amounts of trolling. Since filming my documentary for @bbcone and @bbcthree I’ve learned so much more than I ever expected to. Thanks to all the inspirational people I’ve met on this emotional journey, I now love the girl in this photo.”
Brit Awards speech after historic Best Group win
This year, Little Mix made history to become the first female girl group to win a Brit Award in the Best British Group category.
The trio paid tribute to former member Jesy Nelson who left the group last year and also gave honourable mentions to girl groups over the years who paved the way for Little Mix.
“It’s not easy being a female in the U.K. pop industry,” she began. “We’ve seen white male dominance, misogyny, sexism and lack of diversity. We’re proud of how we’ve stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women, and are now using our voices more than ever.”
Jade added: “The fact that a girl band has never won this award really does speak volumes, so this award isn’t just for us, it’s for the Spice Girls, Sugababes, All Saints, Girls Aloud, all of the incredible female bands. This one’s for you!”
Strip body image campaign and hitting back at Piers Morgan
As part of their music video for their single “Strip” on their fifth album LM5, Little Mix decided to make a statement in supporting body positivity by posing naked with offensive words written all over their bodies.
“Strip is a really special song from LM5, it’s all about standing proud and we wrote it to encourage and empower people to be who they are,” the band said in an Instagram post.
The video appeared to rile up Piers Morgan who accused Little Mix of “stripping off to sell albums” on Good Morning Britain. But Little Mix had the best response and used a clip of his rant on their tour before breaking into their song Wasabi.
And they had a sassy response when the TV personality and broadcast accused them of getting the clip without his permission.
They’re active LGBTQ+ allies
Little Mix are known for being allies of the LGBTQ+ community and fans particularly loved it when Jade confirmed that their song “Secret Love Song Part II” was an LGBTQ+ anthem.
The group have also been seen sporting the pride flag during one of their concerts in Dubai – where homosexuality is illegal.
Leigh Anne and Perrie hid their pregnancies
(PA)
We all recently learned the wonderful news that Leigh Anne and Perrie are pregnant, and it was just after the release of their music video Confetti along with their press tours – and fans couldn’t believe how well the pair were able to hide their growing bumps – truly iconic.
Here’s to another 10 years…