Leigh-Anne opens up about shedding her "old self" with new music
And what her twin daughters are teaching her
Last updated 22nd Oct 2025
Leigh-Anne has just announced her debut solo album, along with a tour for 2026, not only that, but she's released a new song called 'Dead and Gone', which she describes as being about "killing off" an old version of herself.
As Leigh-Anne navigates her new solo music, the singer joined Fleur East as part of our Raising the Next Generation podcast series, to talk about bringing up her twin daughters, and importance of representation and cultural identity.
The inspiration behind 'Dead And Gone'
On Friday 17th October, Leigh-Anne released her song 'Dead and Gone' after several months of teasing. Fans have been loving the new song, but Fleur wanted to know what it was all about, to which Leigh-Anne explained: "I wrote ‘Dead and Gone’ at a time where I was feeling very frustrated with my label at the time, lots of back and forth and it just felt like I was literally banging my head against the wall and like, I had a vision of what I wanted my solo career journey to look like and it just wasn't aligning with them.
"So I went in the studio and I just 'word vomited', said everything I felt and we literally just, there's just no filter on it and I just let loose, I think and Coffee (Clarence Coffee Jr.) is just incredible and I worked with Owen Cutts on it as well."
Leigh-Anne continued: "It's about killing off this version of myself that I guess no longer is serving me for this industry. I think it's like this ego is coming in and she is a force to be reckoned with. She walks into a room, she knows exactly who she is, she doesn't take no for an answer. And it's like this version of myself that I feel I've been suppressing over the years and now it's time to revive her."
During the chat, Leigh-Anne also opened up about being a mixed race singer and how her music doesn't fit into 'boxes'. She explained: "I think like I'm like even (like this) with my album, like you can't put it into a category.
"There's just so many different genres that are inspiring me and even when I think of The BRITs, where are you going to fit, Leigh-Anne? What category would you even fit into? Best Pop? Best R&B? It's like a melting pot of all these different genres, you know? It's not just one thing."
The singer went on to open up about her upcoming album, saying: "That's what this album for me it's about just being... doing everything that I want to do and not thinking about those categories, not thinking about those boxes and just putting out a great project."
Growing up and her musical influences
Leigh-Anne might have made her name as part of one of the biggest girl groups around, but she wasn't always confident, as she told Fleur about her childhood. The singer, revealed she used to be so shy that she would hide between her dad's legs.
Talking about 'Little Leigh-Anne' the singer said: "She was so shy. She used to literally hide behind... I used to hide behind my dad's legs and say,’ I hate peoples’, like that was my thing.
"I was just so, so shy, painfully. But then like as I got a little bit older, I just discovered my voice and just literally all I wanted to do was sing and I would belt out Mariah Carey in my room, like the neighbours would be banging on the wall with my mum and be like, 'Leigh-Anne! Shut up!’ I didn't care, I feel like I just knew that I wanted to sing from such a young age and I would take part in talent shows and just do so much.
"And then I just remember like looking at the floor and like just being so shy, but just knowing that I wanted to sing and then it wasn't until I did my first X Factor audition where I just completely came out of myself.
"Weird, I know. It's like I just knew in my head this is the one chance, this is my one opportunity and I just kind of like let loose."
What her daughters are teaching her?
Back in 2021, Leigh-Anne and her husband Andre Gray welcomed twins, and now that they're four, the singer opened up about raising her little girls. She opened up to Fleur: "Raising two girls... I want them to know what strength is and yeah, gosh, it's mad.
"They're so confident and fearless. If anything, they're like teaching me, I'm like, I need to be more like you. Like they inspire me, but yeah, I just want them to hold on to that for as long as possible.
"So whatever I can do to keep them, I guess, I don't know, like when you're so young and you're confident, it's like it's these outside factors that can like damage that and like they don't have that right now. They're just kids and like they're just..."
She also opened up about the importance of bringing them up in a dual heritage household: "I mean, I think obviously it starts from home, just even just going to Jamaica every year and just knowing exactly who they are, what their culture is, but I think this idea as well, like being mixed black, like I'm half white and I'm half black. That's what it is, you know?
"And I guess when I was growing up, I feel like I don't know, it was almost like I didn't really know where to kind of be and I think even in my career, it's like too, what's the word? Too black for white people, but then too white for the black audience.
"So it's just like, this is sort of in between things but now, I'm just like, I am both and that is it, you know."
Listen to the full interview below
Raising the Next Generation
Leigh-Anne was talking to Fleur East as part of the Raising the Next Generation podcast, available for free on Rayo. You can download the Rayo app for free for iPhone and Android.
Fleur East is having the conversation that so many people are too scared to have. Raising The Next Generation is a podcast where she delves into the issues surrounding race and the journey we should all be on to teach the next generation.
Each guest brings their own unique experiences from growing up, how that has affected their own journey and how they want to raise the next generation to improve the future.
Other guests on the podcast include Oti Mabuse, JB Gill, Marvin Humes, Candice Brathwaite and Angellica Bell.
Take a look Leigh-Anne's amazing career:
2011 - Leigh-Anne Pinnock wins The X Factor as part of Little Mix
Prior to auditioning for The X Factor, Leigh-Anne Pinnock worked as a part-time waitress at Pizza Hut. In 2011, she chased her pop stardom dreams and auditioned for the show as a solo artist. Leigh-Anne was soon put into a girl group along with Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson, originally named Rhythmix. They soon changed their name to Little Mix as they continued with the show.
On 11th December 2011, Leigh-Anne, Jade, Perrie and Jesy became the first group to win The X Factor, with Little Mix crowned the champions under the leadership of their mentor Tulisa Contostavlos.
2021 - Documentary, film debut and Little Mix hiatus
Leigh-Anne took part in a documentary, entitled Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop and Power, which aired in May 2021. The documentary centred around Leigh-Anne talking about racial issues, and also featured RAYE, Keisha Buchanan from the Sugababes and Alexandra Burke. She received a nomination at the National Television Awards for Best Authored Documentary.
After the documentary, Leigh-Anne and Andre launched a charity called The Black Fund. The charity works with existing charities to deliver support to the black community.
In October, Leigh-Anne appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race UK as a guest judge. The series featured many famous guests throughout, including Emma Bunton, Steps, Matt Lucas and Oti Mabuse.
Leigh-Anne's film Boxing Day was released on 5th December. Not only did Leigh-Anne's Pinnock Productions contribute to the film, but the singer also starred in it. After filming wrapped in early 2021, the movie was released in UK cinemas on Friday 3rd December 2021.
Then, later in December 2021, Little Mix announced they would be going on a hiatus in 2022, following their 'Confetti Tour'.
2022 - Leigh-Anne announces solo record deal
In February 2022, Leigh-Anne confirmed she had signed a solo record deal with Warner Records UK, sharing their announcement with the caption: 'So excited for what's to come 😍🙏🏽'. Later that year, she shared pictures from Jamaica where she could be seen with other writers and producers, confirming she was working on new music.
2023 - Honorary doctorate, debut solo single and memoir
In March 2023, Leigh-Anne announced that she'd narrated the original Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid for Audible UK.
In July 2023, Leigh-Anne received an honorary doctorate from Buckinghamshire New University in recognition of her anti-racism and racial equality work. She returned to her home town of High Wycombe to collect the accolade.
Leigh-Anne delighted fans by dropping her debut solo song 'Don't Say Love' on 16th June. Speaking about her new music, Leigh-Anne told us: "I would love to sell out shows on my own. That would be a dream. Just to have fans, just for me I think is gonna be... Ah yeah, there's gonna be tears."
In July 2023, Leigh-Anne received an honorary doctorate from Buckinghamshire New University in recognition of her anti-racism and racial equality work. She returned to her home town of High Wycombe to collect the accolade.
She released her second single 'My Love' on 7th September 2023. The song features Nigerian singer Ayra Starr.
Leigh-Anne released her memoir Believe on 26th October 2023, announcing the news on social media with a clip of herself reading it. She wrote in the caption that she'd felt as though she'd been in a "whirlwind" since winning The X Factor, and hadn't had "chance to process," adding that she wanted to "respect her past" before embarking on a "new journey".
2024 - 'No Hard Feelings' EP and first solo show
Leigh-Anne released 'Stealin' Love' on 28th March, a new song which featured on her EP called 'No Hard Feelings', released on 31st May. Leigh-Anne described her EP as a collection of songs which: 'While not part of my album, have helped inform my direction as an artist, a songwriter and a musician.'
Leigh-Anne took to the stage for her first headline show since going solo in Lafayette London, a live music venue near Kings Cross.
On Friday 22nd November 2024, Leigh-Anne took to the stage of Birmingham's bp pulse LIVE arena for Hits Radio Live, performing solo hits and new music. The 'Don't Say Love' singer wowed audiences with her incredible vocals and energetic dance breaks. Check out all the pics here.
2025 - More songs and leaving her record label
In May 2025, Leigh-Anne began teasing new music, sharing pictures of herself in the studio and featuring what appeared to be a clip of new music.
In September 2025, Leigh started to tease another song, which fans believed was called 'Dead and Gone'. It was later released on 17th October, following pop banger 'Hello' on 3rd October, for which she teamed up with Sigala and Jonita.
Her last song of the year was released on 21st November, called 'Friends' and featured Jamaican singer Rvssian. In an email to her fans, Leigh-Anne explained what it was about: 'We've all had that one friend who turns out wasn't actually your friend. This song for me captures that feeling of the weight off your shoulders after finally cutting them off ❌.' (sic)
Leigh-Anne reflected on a busy 2025 in a New Year's Eve Instagram video featuring footage recorded earlier that year, opening up about her decision to leave her record label. She said: "So, long story short, the label have said no basically. They don't have the budget to put my album out. So I'm ready to just take the reigns. It'll be a new chapter and I just can't wait. And I'm leading this s---."
2026 - Debut album release
Leigh-Anne released her debut album on 20th February, telling Hits Radio: "This is a massive moment, I think it's just because it's taken so long to get here. It's been two years in the making and I think the fact that I'm doing it my way, like my terms, and I've done it myself, and got it over the line myself, I just feel like it's just even sweeter."
On the day Leigh-Anne announced her debut solo album, 'My Ego Told Me To', the singer also revealed she will also be going on tour in April 2026. She will be performing in Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol and London as part of a wider European tour.
Now read:
Leigh-Anne pitches amazing idea of a 'Little Mix festival'
Perrie on sharing a house with Little Mix during The X Factor ❤️
JADE joins Hits Radio for an exclusive chat where she reveals more details about her album