Leigh-Anne Pinnock says the ‘pressure and weight of expectation’ of being in Little Mix stopped her enjoying making music as a solo artist

This morning, Leigh-Anne Pinnock joined Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce and Shayna Marie.

In a candid interview on Capital XTRA Breakfast this morning, Leigh-Anne Pinnock revealed that, at first, the ‘pressure and weight of expectation’ of being in Little Mix stopped her from enjoying the process of making music as a solo artist. Back with a new comeback single, Leigh-Anne credits changing her mindset has helped her to overcome that pressure and enjoy making music again.

Key
Leigh-Anne Pinnock – LAP
Robert Bruce – RB
Shayna Marie – SM

RB: “Are you enjoying the process at the moment?”

LAP: “Yes.”

RB: “And when was the last time you enjoyed the process?”

LAP: “Good question. I think the pressure is what stopped me enjoying it as much. Obviously, coming from such a massive group and having the pressure to do just as well as that massive group did is kind of impossible to do overnight. You know, that took 10 years. It takes work. And also, I’m not doing music like the group did. Like, I’ve gone down a different route, and I just think those expectations kind of like weighed on me and it was like, ‘This is just not fun!’ Like, ‘This is not how it should feel.’ After having lived the pressure for 12 years in a girl group – obviously, the best experience of my life – we worked so hard and did so much, and I don’t need to have that pressure on me anymore. I’m doing this solo because one, I want to have fun. You know, I deserve to have that without feeling like this horrible pressure on me. So now that’s gone, I just feel so much pressure.”

SM: “How did you alleviate the pressure?”

LAP: “I had to change my way of thinking. Even like that question, ‘What does success mean to you?’ Like, success to me is genuinely to be happy. I want to be happy. Of course everyone wants to be happy, that’s the number one thing. But also, just to make music that I love and I’m proud of. That idea of compromise, ‘Oh, it’s a little bit like how I want it to sound,’ but then, ‘I’ve compromised a little bit because this person has this opinion on it and thinks it should sound like this.’ That’s not how I want to do this anymore. So, yeah. It’s just to be fully proud and back and to love what I’m doing. I really feel I can really say that now with chest.”