Leigh-Anne Pinnock has hinted that her debut solo album could be released in 2024.
Pinnock, previously of the band Little Mix, released her debut solo single ‘Don’t Say Love’ in June. The garage and house-inspired track was produced by Jon Bellion and Pete Nappi and co-written by Aldae, and sees the star deal in the complexities of love. She also featured on Jon Batiste’s recent track, ‘Running Away’.
Appearing on Amazon Music’s +44 podcast with hosts Zeze Mills and David ‘Sideman’ Whitely, Pinnock hinted that a solo album could arrive as early as next year.
She told the podcast hosts: “Well, I mean, it’s definitely in the works. Yeah, to be honest, coming together quicker than I think anyone thought, which is good. I reckon next year for sure. Because I want to tour like I want to perform, I belong on stage.”
Speaking about the transition from being a part of a group to a solo artist, Pinnock added: “It’s been a hard sort of transition. I remember, when we did ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ and when streaming started taking over and it really started coming in. I’m so old school, I’m trying to kind of get used to it I guess but with social media and TikTok, that is such an important part of any campaign. We have to set time aside for that. Whereas before it’d be like oh, forget time, we’ll figure it out.”
She added: “It’s incredible what Little Mix have done and what we’ve achieved, we’ve absolutely killed it. But now I am on my own and not all of the Little Mix fans are going to come along with me, I have to build a new fan base. Yeah, so I do feel like a new artist to some extent…”
Little Mix formed in 2011 and became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time by 2022, as well as one of the UK’s biggest-selling acts. They sold over 75million records worldwide and earned six UK Platinum albums and over 15billion streams.
The band’s original line-up included Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards. Nelson left the group in 2020 before Thirlwall, Edwards and Pinnock took a break from the group last year.
Last December, she told fans that new music was on its way: “I’ll be giving you as much music as I can as soon as it’s ready.” She promised she was “working really hard” on it and is “so happy with what we’ve made so far.”
Following the band announcing their split in 2021, Pinnock made her film debut in the Christmas movie, Boxing Day. She praised her fellow Little Mix members for their support whilst she did the role.