Leigh Anne is reclaiming her power and 'shaking ass' while she's at it
Leigh-Anne gets candid about reclaiming her power (and “shaking ass”) on her debut album, and why her LGBTQIA+ fanbase remains everything.
Photography Niklas Haze
“There are vulnerable moments, but also moments where you just want to shake ass!” says Leigh-Anne. Three years after lighting up the charts with her garage-inspired debut single, ‘Don’t Say Love’, the former Little Mix-er has finally unleashed her debut album, a bold reclamation of her “power and struggles” in the music industry.
While she’s scaled pop’s highest peaks with Little Mix — five UK number ones, three BRIT Awards, sold-out arena tours, and a fiercely loyal global fanbase — this album marks a return to the 20-year-old redhead who first stepped onto The X Factor stage with “fire and determination, and no one could tell her nothing.”
“Then being into the industry, that was chipped away,” she tells Gay Times. “I just lost that version of myself, the fire. I didn't care what anyone had to say. I had tunnel vision of what I wanted. So, I missed that girl. And for me, this whole era is about reviving her.”
Effortlessly blending pop, rock, R&B, and reggae, and rooted in her Jamaican heritage, the album is the first time Leigh-Anne has felt fully in control of her sound. “This is me, and this is everything that I imagined for my debut album,” she says.
As it climbs the midweek charts — currently aiming for a top-five peak that would match her Little Mix sisters Jade and Perrie — the star speaks with Gay Times about her “fearless” debut era, what her LGBTQIA+ fanbase means to her, and why she believes we all have a “responsibility to f**king say something” when it comes to social and political injustice.
Leigh-Anne, this… album. ‘Free’ and ‘Goodbye Goodmorning', I am absolutely obsessed with. The latter seriously gives me ‘Kiss It Better’ by Rihanna vibes.
Isn’t it? I know, literally. I wanted my sexy R&B [sound] and I love electric guitar. I think R&B and electric guitar just marry so well together, so I wanted a moment like that on the album.
Give us a video… please.
No, I think I have to. It has to be a focus [track] for me, I think.
So, how does it feel to finally unleash this album onto the world?
We are literally just saying that it feels so amazing. It is, I think, two years in the making. This is a long time coming. For your first debut album, it's so important for an artist to show who you really are. I can't wait for people to really know who Leigh Anne is and see my artistry and get the whole picture.
