Jade Thirlwall has admitted that Little Mix were ‘scared of p***ing anyone off’ at the start of their career and that they did ‘what we were told’.
The singer, 27, has candidly discussed the group’s journey in a new interview with Radio Times alongside her bandmates Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Leigh-Anne Pinnock.
Little Mix, who switched from Simon Cowell’s Syco record label to RCA during the recording of their fifth album LM5 in 2018, were originally formed on The X Factor in 2011.
Candid: Jade Thirlwall has admitted that Little Mix were ‘scared of p***ing anyone off’ at the start of their career and that they did ‘what we were told’
Discussing the group’s journey so far, Jade admitted during the interview that the group used to do ‘what we were told’ and were ‘scared of p***ing anyone off’.
The singer also claimed that the music industry is ‘very much dominated by older men’.
Jade told Radio Times: ‘At the beginning we were so scared of p***ing anyone off and damaging our career, so we did what we were told.
‘We didn’t even realise we had a choice, it was pitched as not having one, so you sign what you are told to and you go along with it. As the years went on, we started to realise we didn’t like that.’
Bandmates: The singer, 27, has candidly discussed the group’s journey in a new interview with Radio Times alongside her bandmates Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Leigh-Anne Pinnock (pictured earlier this month)
Jade recalled how in one meeting she tried to reach a compromise with ‘one of the head guys’ and she was shot down.
She said: ‘I left that meeting crying my eyes out and ringing my mum. It took a while to be like, “Actually, f*** you. I’m just as entitled to an opinion as you are.”‘
Jade added that since the band has started saying ‘no’ a weight has been shifted and that they used to feel ‘intimidated’ by the music industry but not anymore.
Little Mix switched from Simon Cowell’s Syco record label to RCA during the recording of their fifth album LM5 in 2018 amid claims of a feud.
Journey: Little Mix, who switched from Simon Cowell’s Syco record label to RCA during the recording of their fifth album LM5 in 2018, were originally formed on The X Factor in 2011 (pictured)
At the time, Simon insisted that he ‘never fell out’ with the group and that tensions between himself and Little Mix’s management, Modest Management, led to an ’embarrassing row’ over a songwriting credit for their new track Woman Like Me.
The music mogul even branded the girls ‘the hardest working bunch’ he has ever worked with.
Simon again dismissed rumours of a feud with his former protégés Little Mix in 2019 after it was revealed they had brought the release of their rival talent series The Search forward from 2021 to 2020. It will be airing this autumn.
Candid: Discussing the group’s journey so far, Jade admitted during the interview that the group used to do ‘what we were told’ and were ‘scared of p***ing anyone off’ (pictured in 2017)
The star insisted he holds no grudge against the group and said he had the idea for X Factor: The Band – which aired at the end of 2019 – before Little Mix offered him a role of co-producer on their own BBC prime time show The Search.
He said in an interview on Heart FM in late 2019: ‘With music, radio, TV – sometimes you just gotta do something quick. The truth was is that I have a group show which I launched in America, I think four or five years ago.
‘We’ve always decided to do a group show in the UK, so we’d agreed with ITV that we were going to do X Factor Groups in 2020.
Claims: The singer also claimed that the music industry is ‘very much dominated by older men’ (pictured in 2019)
‘Then when we found out that the Little Mix show was gonna go out in 2020, I didn’t want to follow that show since we’d already planned it years ago.
‘I thought, well we’ll just bring it forward – simple as that. It wasn’t like some grudge against Little Mix or whatever because I owe those girls a lot, you know. Even though we gave them a launch pad, they sold a lot of records.
‘I thought their idea was a great idea. Sometimes you want to be the first one to do it in a certain country.’
You can read the full interview in the latest edition of Radio Times.
Feud? Little Mix switched from Simon Cowell’s Syco record label to RCA during the recording of their fifth album LM5 in 2018 amid claims of a feud, although the music mogul insisted at the time he ‘never fell out’ with the group