So Billboard did an article around the recent Christmas reunion of the girls and apparently omitted Leigh-Anne, whilst discussing the other girls - including Jesy. Leigh tweeted about this, expressing her frustration about how her fight for change constantly seems like hitting her head against a wall.

It does seem the article has been edited after the online outrage it caused.

This has been a recurring issue since the history of Little Mix. One of their biggest selling points has been their equality and not pushing any member as the "front man". Which is why it's a bit sad to see her constantly ignored/neglected. I know she already addressed this in her documentary, and this issue must have been discussed here, but I do often wonder what the real reason is.

Is it purely racially motivated?

Do people perceive her to be the least exciting, to such extent she is ignored? I mean, she even has the least followers online.

Is she seen as the least talented?

Geri Haliwell and Cheryl were not the most talented in their groups, but were nowhere close to being the least popular in their respective groups.

Yes, I do think there’s racial motivation behind it.

 

So, my opinion is, even though that Little Mix did the right thing and allowed each member to be equal and not let anyone else become a stand out star, I think it stunted their individual popularity (An issue I think will be very apparent when solo music is released) so throughout their rise, 3 of them managed to find popularity within other groups. Perrie’s popularity skyrocketed due to Zayn, coupled with her being the “sweet, northern white girl who can really sing” allowed the GP to connect with her. She also gained a lot of public sympathy when Zayn broke up with her the way he did.

 

Jesy was in a similar boat, she gained a lot of GP sympathy due to her being the “big” girl and talking about her struggles, she also was the feisty one and was the one to watch in interviews and such, thus improving her popularity. Particularly among “locals”.

 

Jade was outspoken about a lot of human right issues, which doesn’t resonate a lot with the GP but she did manage to improve her popularity immensely among queer people, she also has a fanbase among Asian women, specifically women of Arabian origin.

 

Leigh’s requires a bit of nuance, and also a bit of critical thinking. Leigh was the sweeter one, and thus she never had the personality like Jesy, she wasn’t the most talented or showstopping and she didn’t really start speaking up until around 2018(?) I could be wrong here, but from LM5 onwards it seemed to be when Leigh started to come into her own. This is probably due to Leigh being black, and even being light skin/mixed the GP just did not click with her, but because she wasn’t a prominent activist or anything other groups weren’t clicking with her. All of this due to her being black is quite gross and unfair, because yeah she wasn’t the most talented or outspoken at the time, but she deserved just as much love and respect as the others. Even their own fans were hostile to Leigh. She started to gain momentum during 2020 onwards when she really started to stand up for herself; but I think that also hurt her image a bit, because it was hard for (some) people to take her activism seriously, there’s the fact that she was “lighter” than other black women doing a lot more and then there’s the Andre issues. It was very hard for people to click with her knowing that her husband was extremely anti-black, misogynistic and homophobic.

 

I do think that sadly, she was just overlooked, which is very unfair and I can’t imagine how she just feel. She’s proven herself several times, apart of the biggest girl group of our generation and still has to deal with this type of mess. I do think Leigh will probably be the slow burn and eventually last longer because she seems so committed and is improving constantly.

 

With the article itself I don’t understand how you can write about LM3 reuniting and missing out ONE of them, how much of a bad journalist do you have to be?

 

Either way Leigh-Anne deserves better from everyone. She’s constantly done dirty and I really really hope that when she debuts she blows everyone away because she has it in her, I just hope she gets the support.

Yes, I do think there’s racial motivation behind it.

 

So, my opinion is, even though that Little Mix did the right thing and allowed each member to be equal and not let anyone else become a stand out star, I think it stunted their individual popularity (An issue I think will be very apparent when solo music is released) so throughout their rise, 3 of them managed to find popularity within other groups. Perrie’s popularity skyrocketed due to Zayn, coupled with her being the “sweet, northern white girl who can really sing” allowed the GP to connect with her. She also gained a lot of public sympathy when Zayn broke up with her the way he did.

 

Jesy was in a similar boat, she gained a lot of GP sympathy due to her being the “big” girl and talking about her struggles, she also was the feisty one and was the one to watch in interviews and such, thus improving her popularity. Particularly among “locals”.

 

Jade was outspoken about a lot of human right issues, which doesn’t resonate a lot with the GP but she did manage to improve her popularity immensely among queer people, she also has a fanbase among Asian women, specifically women of Arabian origin.

 

Leigh’s requires a bit of nuance, and also a bit of critical thinking. Leigh was the sweeter one, and thus she never had the personality like Jesy, she wasn’t the most talented or showstopping and she didn’t really start speaking up until around 2018(?) I could be wrong here, but from LM5 onwards it seemed to be when Leigh started to come into her own. This is probably due to Leigh being black, and even being light skin/mixed the GP just did not click with her, but because she wasn’t a prominent activist or anything other groups weren’t clicking with her. All of this due to her being black is quite gross and unfair, because yeah she wasn’t the most talented or outspoken at the time, but she deserved just as much love and respect as the others. Even their own fans were hostile to Leigh. She started to gain momentum during 2020 onwards when she really started to stand up for herself; but I think that also hurt her image a bit, because it was hard for (some) people to take her activism seriously, there’s the fact that she was “lighter” than other black women doing a lot more and then there’s the Andre issues. It was very hard for people to click with her knowing that her husband was extremely anti-black, misogynistic and homophobic.

 

I do think that sadly, she was just overlooked, which is very unfair and I can’t imagine how she just feel. She’s proven herself several times, apart of the biggest girl group of our generation and still has to deal with this type of mess. I do think Leigh will probably be the slow burn and eventually last longer because she seems so committed and is improving constantly.

 

With the article itself I don’t understand how you can write about LM3 reuniting and missing out ONE of them, how much of a bad journalist do you have to be?

 

Either way Leigh-Anne deserves better from everyone. She’s constantly done dirty and I really really hope that when she debuts she blows everyone away because she has it in her, I just hope she gets the support.

 

Completely agree!