Speaking out
Little Mix’s Leigh-anne Pinnock is hoping to challenge racism in the music industry…
Since winning The X Factor in 2011, Little Mix’s Leigh-anne Pinnock has spent almost 10 years as part of one of the most successful girl bands in the world.
But behind the glamorous magazine shoots and packed stadium concerts she’s always felt she’s been treated differently to her fellow band mates because of the colour of her skin.
‘I always felt invisible, like people just looked past me, that I was the least favourite,’ says Leigh-anne, now 29, whose mum is half Bajan and her dad half Jamaican.
‘Winning The X Factor and becoming a pop star was all I’d ever wanted. But before we’d even signed a record deal things started to happen that now feel a bit off.
‘Looking back it was clear my colour was being used to define my image in the group.’
In this documentary, Leigh-anne opens up about her experiences of racism and
explores how the music industry treats other black artists.
She talks to fellow black female stars, including exsugababe Keisha Buchanan and Alexandra Burke, who admits that she was actually encouraged to have skin lightening treatment during her early career.
Leigh-anne also questions why the music industry is still predominantly white, despite the fact that it’s fuelled by hip-hop and R&B, and she launches a foundation that will fund internships for black people entering creative industries.
‘Being a black girl in the pop industry with a predominantly white fan base,
I feel I have a responsibility to speak out,’ says Leigh-anne.
‘I walk into work and there are no other black people there and it’s been that way my whole career. A couple of years from now I want to be able to walk into work and see people of colour.’