Popstar Jade Thirlwall has said being in Little Mix was “cut-throat” and that she was constantly on a “tightrope of success”.
The 32-year old singer rose to fame after winning The X Factor in 2011 with the girl group behind the hit songs Wings, Shout Out To My Ex and Sweet Melody.
Despite the group’s chart successes, including five number one songs and a number one album, Thirlwall revealed the immense pressure the members were under while being in the group.
Ahead of being recognised with the musician award at the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year awards ceremony on Thursday, Thirlwall told the magazine: “It was cut-throat. You were always on a tightrope of success.
“If you fell out of the Top 10, there was a lot to worry about.
“I look back at times when we were huge, before Get Weird came out, and we had a big sleepover, all crying, ‘if this isn’t a Top 10 song, we’ll get dropped’. It’s wild to think about now because we were so big at the time.”
The singer also opened up about the racism she faced growing up and feeling “ashamed” of who she was.
She said: “My early teen years were tough and that was the dawn of me almost feeling ashamed of who I am. When you’re from the North East, you hear slurs constantly. You don’t become immune, but you get used to it.
“Being called the P-word was just part of growing up, which is awful to say.
“Entering the industry at 18, I’d mostly seen negative stereotypes of Arab and Muslim people in the press – I was scared to embrace that side of myself. I still carry that shame.”
Little Mix was originally made up of Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson until Nelson’s departure in 2020, with the remaining singers continuing on as a trio before announcing an indefinite hiatus from 2022.
She said: “I struggled the most to adapt to life after the group – the other girls had better distractions: families, kids. They went into a new chapter willingly. It was just me.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself. Since I was 18, I lived and breathed Little Mix. It just took me a minute to adjust.
“There were so many spirals. I kept thinking ‘will I still be relevant by the time I come out? Will everyone forget about me?’. And being 30-plus, you do wonder ‘is that old to start as a solo artist?’.”
Since embarking on her solo career, under the stage name JADE, the singer has credited her time in the girl group with helping her deal with criticism on social media and in the press, adding that it gave her a “thick skin”.
She said: “The paparazzi have died down, but they’ve been replaced by keyboard warriors. I’ve banned myself from Twitter (now X) – it’s just a hellhole of awfulness.
“My heart goes out to newer artists. I don’t think I could’ve coped as a solo artist had I not been in a group for 10 years. It gave me a thick skin … I reach out to people who are just starting.
“I’ll DM (direct message) people if I see they’re struggling, especially women. There’s room for everyone to support each other.”
She has also been on the receiving end of the support with pop stars such as Sporty Spice, also known as Mel C, and Lily Allen reaching out after she released her debut solo album, That’s Showbiz Baby.
She said: “Mel C was so lovely to me – and Lily Allen literally DM’d me and said she really loves the album and the topics I sing and write about.
“She’s outspoken and sometimes she has to suffer the consequences of that. People love to berate outspoken women.”
It comes after Allen released her new album West End Girl – her first album for seven years – which is said to detail the alleged infidelity of her ex-husband, US actor David Harbour.
The December/January issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from November 7.
