Leigh-Anne Pinnock has addressed the backlash to her 2021 documentary about racism in the music industry, revealing that the criticism hurt more as it came from the Black community.
Former Little Mix singer Pinnock’s BBC Three film Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power explored her experience as the only Black member of the girl band, who shot to fame after winning The X Factor in 2011. She also interviewed other Black British pop stars about how they have faced racism and colourism, a prejudice in favour of lighter skin colours, throughout their careers in music.
The documentary was originally announced under the working title Leigh-Anne: Colourism & Race, which prompted criticism online, with some commentators questioning whether Pinnock, a light-skinned Black woman, was the right person to front the project.
“It hurt me more to get stick from my own community than it did to read a racist comment on the Daily Mail,” Pinnock said in an interview with The Guardian, reflecting on the backlash more than two years later.
She added that she is still committed to using her platform to raise awareness of the issue, as she “truly believe[s]” that “light-skinned privilege” has helped her career.
“I know I’m helping some people, and I know I’m doing a good thing, and I’m going to continue to do that,” she told the paper. “And one thing I’m 100 per cent going to do is talk about light-skinned privilege. I truly believe it’s helped me to get to where I am today.”
The three-time BRIT Award winner, who will publish her autobiography Believe later this month, also revealed why performing in Brazil in March 2020 to a crowd consisting of a majority of Black fans was an emotional experience, one that also helped her clarify her previous feelings of “being undervalued and unseen” in the group.
“I always knew there were Black women out there that I was touching, but I didn’t see them,” she said. “They were not at shows or fan events. Brazil was monumental in helping me understand everything I’d been feeling in terms of being undervalued and unseen.
Pinnock felt “undervalued and unseen” as Little Mix’s only Black member— (Getty Images for Warner Bros)
“It confirmed what I was feeling. But it didn’t take the pain away, because it kept happening. I came back to the UK and I was still feeling it.”
Since Little Mix went on hiatus in 2022, Pinnock has been working on solo material, releasing her debut solo single “Don’t Say Love” in June, ahead of a planned album release next year.
In an interview with Rolling Stone UK in August, she revealed that her creative team is now 60 per cent Black, after years of being “the only Black person in the room”.
Pinnock explored racism in the UK music industry in her 2021 documentary— (BBC)
“Now I’m on my own, I have the control to make sure 60 per cent of my team is Black, ’cos why not?” she said.
“Music is so heavily influenced by Black culture, so why are all the people at the top white? I can control these little things. I don’t have to be the only Black person in the room now, that just doesn’t have to be my reality.”
Pinnock’s memoir Believe will be in bookshops from 26 October.
