Mix emotions of pop band’s ‘invisible’ star
BBC1, 9pm
SINCE being catapulted to fame 10 years ago after winning The X Factor, Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has often felt invisible.
“I’m grateful for this crazy, rollercoaster life,” she says. “But sometimes I felt like I was being treated differently to my bandmates because of the colour of my skin.”
Leigh-Anne, 29, reveals she often felt ignored at signings and never heard her name being cheered.
But on tour in Brazil last year, a largely black audience was yelling her name – and that’s when she wondered if race had always played a part. “I had never felt so accepted,” she says.
Leigh-Anne, born to parents with Caribbean heritage, embarks on a very personal journey, but is acutely aware she comes from a place of privilege. “I’ve been in a pop bubble,” she says. “I only know my own experiences.” Even her mum and dad previously told her to pull herself together when she was upset.
But it’s admirable that she wants to use her platform to make a difference – and this is a heartfelt journey that sees her confront some difficult questions.
Leigh-Anne asks her first choreographer Frank Gatson about the time he told her “You’re the black girl, you have to work 10 times harder”.
She chats to a group of black and mixed-race pop stars including Keisha Buchanan of Sugababes fame and solo singer Alexandra Burke, which leads her to ask: “If I was dark skinned, would I be in Little Mix?”
Most uncomfortable is her chat with her fiance Andre Gray, who wrote offensive tweets about black women in 2012.
Finally, she confronts her record label about what they can do to make positive change. She says: “We can’t keep ignoring this issue.”