Little Mix vow they WILL reunite and say âwe canât live without each otherâ in their LAST interview before hiatus.
THEY have spent 11 years as a group, had five No1 singles, won three Brit Awards and released seven hit albums. But as Little Mix prepare to bow out - for now, at least - they have insisted they are doing it as the best of friends and are doing everything they can to ensure they arenât pitted against each other as they prepare to launch their post-band solo careers. In an exclusive final print interview with The Sun, just a week before they go their separate ways, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall have revealed their timetables will be carefully managed so there is no way they will put new music out at the same time. Perrie, 28, said: âWeâve all said we will let each other know when weâre going to release so we donât end up clashing in the charts. Weâre rooting for each other, not competing against each other.â Jade, 29, who has signed a solo deal with RCA, added: âItâs just not going to happen. There will be a conscious effort from all of us to make sure of that.â Leigh-Anne, 30, said their friendship was too precious to risk a head-to-head and the fact they remain so tight-knit will mean theyâre able to be open with each other about their solo plans. She has recently signed with Warner and said: âWe are so close and thatâs the thing. Weâre all going to be in communication about this the whole time.â In the 11 years since Little Mix were first brought together on The X Factor, they have become Britainâs most successful ever girl band, selling more than 50 million records worldwide and collecting over 22 million monthly Spotify listeners. Next Saturday will see the final performance of their sold-out Confetti tour. It will end with an emotional show which will be livestreamed around the world from Londonâs O2 Arena â the last chance to catch the girls before they bow out for their hiatus. Perrie, who has also already started working on solo music, said: âEven though itâs a massive, epic show, I think knowing everyone is watching it is going to make it feel super intimate.â However, they are already plotting their comeback as a band and promise they wonât follow the lead of One Direction, who went on their âhiatusâ in 2015 and show no signs of reuniting. Perrie said: âHonestly, we havenât even parted ways yet and weâre already talking about when weâre coming back! Weâre like: âis two years away enough? Two and a bit years?â.â Jade points out they are parting as the closest of friends and so thereâs every reason to get back together sooner rather than later. She said: âYou canât deny our relationship â whenever anyone comes to watch the show or sees us in interviews or on social media itâs pretty obvious that we canât actually live without each other. We know how phenomenal we are together, so why would we never want to do that again? Change has to happen in life, you have to move on at some point and try new things, but itâs such a comfort to know we have each other to come back to. We donât know how long this will be for but Iâm already ready for that reunion!â MAKING HISTORY There have been plenty of record-breaking Little Mix moments over the last decade, not least when they made history in 2021 by becoming the first girl group to win Best British Band at the Brits. They used their moment to pay tribute to the likes of All Saints, the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud who came before them but were always overlooked. Perrie said: âWe couldnât get our heads around the fact that a girl group hadnât won it before. There were incredible girl bands before us who deserved that award, but it always went to males. Weâd thought there was no way we were ever going to win simply because weâre female, which is kind of s**t. So we were really shocked when we won and we wanted to shout out all those women who were so deserving of it. Weâre so grateful to have won that award and itâs a huge deal for us. But it should have happened sooner.â Huddled together in their hotel room today, itâs clear how close the three of them are. Leigh-Anne says that after all the success, they no longer feel like they have anything to prove. She said: âAs a girl group weâve been constantly trying to prove that weâre credible. But this tour I feel like weâre all up there just having fun because we frickinâ earned it.â Jade agrees and says the bond between them is stronger than ever. âPeople have come and gone throughout the last ten years but this relationship we have has remained and I think thatâs very telling. Weâve come through a lot together, all the ups and downs and to get to this point and be as close as we are, I think says a lot about how weâve grown as women.â MUMS ON TOUR They all laugh when talking about how different the atmosphere is on tour now compared to the party days of the past. Leigh-Anne and Perrie both became mothers within a week of each other last August and say the backstage booze has all been replaced by baby paraphernalia. Perrie said: âItâs all baby bouncers, highchairs, you name it. Life has changed. I mean, we were never exactly rockstars before â it wasnât like youâd walk into bottles of Jack Daniels all over the place with us having it large. But it is a different dynamic.â Perrie has a boy Axel with Liverpool star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 28, while Leigh-Anne has twins with fiancĂ© Andre Gray, 30, who plays for QPR, although she hasnât made the babiesâ names or sex public. She said: âIâm just trying to keep it as private as possible for as long as possible. It was a decision we made at the time because [the attention] was freaking me out a little bit.â Both say that going into rehearsals so soon after giving birth was a challenge. Perrie said: âI feel like me and Leigh-Anne should have had a note from the doctor saying: âPerrie and Leigh have baby brain, go easy on them todayâ. Baby brain is real! Jade would pick up the routine in two seconds and weâd be there for an hour doing the simplest of things and then totally forget what it was. Iâve never struggled so hard for a tour. I thought I was going to die! Our bodies werenât ready, our minds werenât ready. If it wasnât for Jade, keeping the morale up and the positivity going then I donât know if weâd have made it.â However, Jade said she was in awe of how well the new mums managed everything. âPerrie and Leigh-Anne have had to adapt after having kids and being able to go into full-on rehearsal mode while breastfeeding and having the babies there was so amazing. And then to get on stage and these fabulous costumes! Theyâve been incredible. I struggled with rehearsals, never mind having to look after children as well. So I know Iâve had an easier ride.â As for whatâs next, they are all playing their cards close to their chests but say they are excited and nervous in equal measure about what the future holds. Jade said: âIâm just stepping into the unknown, I donât really have a plan! We all sort of have an idea what we want to do and how we want to do it. But personally, Iâm going to enjoy not putting pressure on myself to have to do something by a certain time.â Perrie added: âAs long as I can sing somewhere and at least someone is listening, Iâm happy.â Leigh-Anne said while they hoped to explore lots of avenues, music is where their hearts remain. She said: âI feel like weâll probably all dabble in a bit of everything, I donât think weâd ever want to restrict ourselves. But being on stage is everything to me and I canât picture myself being anywhere else. Itâs what we do, isnât it?â
