Leigh-Anne Pinnock was worried Little Mix were going to get dropped by their record label.
The ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ hitmakers – who rose to fame on ‘The X Factor’ eight years ago and are still signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco label – released their fifth album ‘LM5’ last year, but the 27-year-old singer has admitted she was scared their success wouldn’t last while they were working on 2015’s third effort ‘Get Weird’.
Writing a letter to her younger self for Bustle UK, she said: "So much s**t will happen to you. It won’t always be easy.
"After the second album, you’ll start writing the third and it won’t feel right… In that moment, you’ll fear that you’re going to get dropped, that you won’t be able to keep going.
"It’s a horrible feeling, but then you’ll find ‘Black Magic’. That will be the turning point that saves your career."
Leigh-Anne revealed the advice she would give to herself if she could travel back to the night the group won ‘The X Factor’, and added that she needed to "trust" she was doing the right thing.
She added: "Your lives are in other people’s hands, and the crazy thing is, often the decisions people make for you won’t really work.
"People will say stuff to you that you now know is totally wrong, like saying you can’t be in writing sessions because artists can’t write. Ignore it and trust yourself."
In 2018, the band – completed by Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson – earned £1.65 million each from touring alone, but the quartet recently revealed they are are being smart with their money to make sure they remain in a good position.
Jesy explained: "We are very sensible with our money. We’ve all bought our mums houses and ourselves houses."
Jade added that while they earn a lot from music, the band would love to be in a position where they don’t "have to" do it just to make a living.
She said: "We want to know that when we are working, we are doing it because we enjoy it, not because we have to. That’s the aim, really."
Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock was scared they were going to get dropped by label
