Jesy Nelson has said that she felt as though she had "no control" over her life while she was in Little Mix, revealing that she had to do photoshoots in a bikini despite being depressed.

The 30-year-old quit the band, which she first joined while competing in The X Factor in 2011, back in December last year.

At the time, Jesy cited her mental health as the reason and said that she was leaving with a "heavy heart".

Upon launching her solo career, Jesy has opened up about her time in the band and the toll it had on her.

Talking to Fearne Cotton on her podcast, Happy Place, she said: "It is f***ing hard being in a girl band. It is like a machine. You don’t have any time to just be. Or do what you actually want to do.”

Explaining what it had been like since she left the band, Jesy revealed: "If I wake up and my manager goes to me: ‘Do you want to do this?’ I have the choice to go no I don’t or yes I do.

"I would have days when I was thinking: ‘how am I going to get out of bed today. I feel so depressed I don’t know how I am going to get out of bed today?’

"I would have to do a photoshoot in a bikini."

She continued: "I felt like I had no control over my life.

“I didn’t come into this industry for people to literally tear me down for what I look like.”

It comes after Jesy dropped the music video for her first solo single since leaving Little Mix, but it has proved to be controversial.

The singer has come under fire on social media following the release of the 4 minutes and 44-second clip on YouTube last night with fans accusing her of blackfishing - a term that refers to someone who is pretending to be black or mixed-race.

The song - titled Boyz - features American rapper Nikki Minaj and P Diddy even makes a cameo in the video which oozes nostalgia due to the early 2000s aesthetic.

However, viewers watching the highly-anticipated video were less than impressed to see Jesy sporting a deep tan in the footage as well as braided hair and took to social media to blast the white British singer - who hails from Essex - for cultural appropriation.

One fumed: "Not only is Boyz by Jesy Nelson a bad song but the music video does nothing to quell the accusations of blackfishing she’s faced her entire career."

However, others have wholeheartedly thrown support behind Jesy's video.

“Jesy, we are so, so proud of you. This video is everything and we can clearly see it’s YOU!! You’re voice, the way you want to sing, and your dance moves, the way you want to dance. It’s even better than I had ever thought it would be,” one impressed fan gushed.

Another shared: “This is sooooooooo sexy! Jesy is an icon.”