Jesy Nelson and the other bandmates—Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock had been in a group together for ten years before Jesy called it quits, leaving the three of them alone. After a decade of constant trolling, the singer left one of the most successful girl bands—Little Mix—in 2020 to look after her mental health. She had hit rock bottom, and even the bandmates weren’t happy about it.
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The singer decided it was enough; after experiencing panic attacks with the group, including one on the set of their video for 'Sweet Melody.' Amidst all the chaos, Nelson's mother Janice supported her decision because it was getting painful for her to watch her daughter depressed while doing something she loved.
Mum’s support
Jesy recently revealed on Reign with Josh Smith that her mother pushed her to look after her health, as it was becoming a rather unhealthy lifestyle. She admitted:
And what’s s**t for my mum is my mum saw me as a barmaid who was very confident, who was always happy, to then go to someone who had no confidence, was down all the time, depressed.
Expressing that her mum’s entire importance was Jesy and nothing else, she said:
And that was really hard as a mum for her to watch… My mum does not care about money, fame, all of that s**t, she just wants me to be happy.
So, for her to see her daughter do something that she’s always wanted to do, but see her be so miserable, my mum was like, “Why are you doing this? You live once. This isn’t you. This isn’t the Jesy that I know. You’ve become someone I don’t even recognize anymore.
Going solo
Jesy is set to bounce back in the music game. Jesy has been working on her own music, and her first single, 'Boyz,' is on the way, inspired by a 'horrendous' heartbreak in her past. As excited as she is to be back in the game, she also feels liberated since this is the first time she has a feeling that she can actually express what she truly feels in her songs. Jesy confessed:
I’m taking control of everything now, down to my music videos, down to my styling, down to the…every single thing.
Before it was a collective, now it’s just me and that’s scary, but I love that because if it does go to s**t, then I’m okay with that because this is my truth and this is what I wanted to do.