Leigh-Anne Pinnock opens up about suffering racism: “Why do I feel invisible?”

nme.com:

Leigh-Anne Pinnock has opened up about the racism that she has faced since finding fame with Little Mix in 2011.The group that she formed along with Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall won The X Factor that year, the only girl group to ever win the reality competition show.

They went on to have five UK number one singles, selling 75 million records worldwide and receiving over 15 billion streams.Speaking to The Guardian, however, Pinnock has explained that despite this success, she has always struggled with the way she has been treated, compared to her bandmates.“I always used to say, ‘Should I feel like this, having accomplished my dream?’,” she said. “Why do I feel like I might as well not be here sometimes?

Why does it feel like I’m not being noticed? Why do I feel invisible? Why am I not appreciated like the others? It just didn’t feel right.”“I internalised that I was the problem and it made me lose my confidence.”She went on to explain that a moment of clarity came when Little Mix played a show in Brazil and a predominantly Black audience began cheering for her specifically. “I always knew there were Black women out there that I was touching, but I didn’t see them.

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.