Little Mix have set the record straight over their fall-out with former label boss Simon Cowell.
Last year, it was revealed the ‘X Factor’-winning girl group would be leaving Simon’s label, Syco, after seven years, just days before the release of their fifth album, ‘LM5’.
He later claimed in an interview the departure was due to a disagreement over the album’s lead single, ‘Woman Like Me’, which Simon claimed they “didn’t want to record” at all.
Band member Jesy Nelson has now set the record straight on the subject, telling The Guardian: “So this is what happened. We so wanted to write a song like Strip and were so passionate about releasing it as our first single.
“We’d co-directed the video, we’d done the [naked] photoshoot, so we were excited. Obviously when Woman Like Me was put on the table, in our heads Strip was going to be the first single, and [Woman Like Me] didn’t feel exactly like what we’d sing about.
“So we went in, tweaked the lyrics, changed the production, and got Nicki [Minaj] on it, which was an absolute dream.”
She added: “We didn’t despise it at all. It’s a banger.”
‘Strip’ was eventually unveiled as a teaser single prior to the release of ‘LM5’, with the accompanying video seeing all four members of Little Mix posing naked with their supposed flaws written on their bodies.
Explaining the motivation for their ‘Strip’ music video, Jesy previously told HuffPost UK: “It’s so real, like, you can’t get any realer than this video.
“Nothing’s been airbrushed, what you see is what you get, and it’s just about women owning it and feeling confident and loving every single part of their body.”
Leigh-Anne Pinnock added: “We have all had so much fucking negativity thrown at us for different reasons. And now I think it’s so important and brave of us to come out and say all this stuff and help people.
“Because it will help people, think of all the people who’ll see that and feel inspired, and that’s exactly why we’re doing it.”
