Sabrina: “I felt invisible in Mis-Teeq – but now I have my confidence back”
Singer Sabrina Washington opens up to Closer about rebuilding her self-worth after some difficult years on the pop scene and reveals how she has found therapy in music
She shot to fame as the lead singer of noughties sensation Mis-Teeq – and 15 years on from the group’s split, Sabrina Washington still looks girlband-ready, as she poses for our bikini shoot.
“I was very nervous because I’ve never done a shoot like this,” the 41-year-old admits to Closer. “But I’ve improved my body confidence over the years, I’ve started to believe in myself, and I feel great. I loved the pictures when I saw them!”
But it hasn’t always been this way for Sabrina – who was in the band with
Alesha Dixon, 41, and Su-Elise Nash, 39, for six years. The singer admits to feeling “invisible” during her time in Mis-Teeq, despite penning their hits and leading the vocals, and says that it’s taken a long time to re-build her confidence.
MISTREATMENT
Sabrina even claims she was told by people in the music industry that she wasn’t “aesthetically pleasing” because she had a darker skin tone. “I was very quiet in the band. It made me feel like my talent wasn’t appreciated and it made me feel invisible,” she says. “It all felt odd to me because I’d grown up in a multicultural neighbourhood, so it really upset me to be told my darker skin tone wasn’t ‘aesthetically pleasing’.”
Sabrina also feels Alesha and Su-Elise, who had lighter skin tones, were embraced as the stars of the group – although she insists that was no fault of their own. She says, “It wasn’t their fault, but the music industry has a fixed idea of what a black girl band should look like, and I felt I didn’t fit into that.”
Racial equality in the music industry is a topic that is now being talked about openly, partly thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement. Singer Fleur East has revealed that during her time in a band before she appeared on The X Factor she was told she “wouldn’t be able to sell” her music if she wore her hair naturally, while Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock admitted in an emotional video that she was told she’d have to work ten times harder as the black girl in a band – something she said later made sense to her.
Sabrina says she’s glad people are finally talking about the issue. “When you go through a situation and you don’t have anyone to speak to about it, you carry it – and that’s not good,” she explains. “Conversations are being had now and we need to communicate. It’s sad that other people are still going through it, but it’s refreshing people are talking about it.”
HEALING PROCESS
For Sabrina, it’s been a long road to rebuilding her self-esteem. In her 2019 solo single Gone she describes turning to alcohol when the band split in 2005. But the star – who has reached number one in 12 different countries with her solo music – says she has found writing music therapeutic.
“I found it very hard when the band ended because it was something
I’d always wanted to do and I loved performing and meeting fans,” she says. “But there was a sense of relief in terms of being away from the treatment I was getting, and having time to build my confidence back up. Writing music was a big part of my healing process – I find it therapeutic. And I love performing. People are there to see me because they love the music, they don’t care about my skin colour.”
And Sabrina says changing her mindset has helped her, too. “I’ve learned that sometimes people say things that hurt but that’s their opinion, it’s not a fact about me. After everything that was said, it stripped a lot from me, but I had to build my confidence
‘I spent so long smiling through the bad times’
and not allow a stupid opinion to affect me. Talking about it helps too, I spent so long carrying those feelings and smiling through the bad times.”
These days, Sabrina, who is currently working on new music, says keeping fit and healthy is key to feeling good and staying positive. She says, “I find meditation and exercise really helpful, not only physically but for your mental health. When you go for a walk, everything feels OK again.
I’ve learned that loving yourself is so important and putting things in your life that make you happy. I finally feel like me again.”
By Annabelle Lee