LEIGH-ANNE: REINVENTING EGO

APRIL 2026

Words by Vasili Papathanasopoulos

Photographs by Niklas Haze

Fifteen years after first stepping into the spotlight with Little Mix, Leigh-Anne Pinnock has arrived at a defining moment: the release of her long-awaited solo debut album, My Ego Told Me To. As one fourth of the record-breaking group, she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, conquered global stages and reshaped the modern girl group archetype. Now, stepping into her own spotlight, Pinnock reveals a more expansive portrait; one that captures just not the artist she has become, but the person behind it.  

When Little Mix announced their hiatus in 2022, Pinnock resisted the expected rush into a solo rollout. Instead, she began releasing a series of stripped-back covers online. They were intimate glimpses into her own influences, and almost reminiscent of the week-to-week vulnerability that first introduced the group on The X Factor. But this time, the focus was entirely her own. Her selections - including SWV’s Weak and Coco Jones’ ICU - signalled a shift, rooted firmly in R&B, far from the polished pop catalogue that had defined much of her career. For fans, it was a recalibration. Removed from the symmetry of a four-piece, Pinnock’s voice took on a new dimension, warmer and more elastic, revealing textures previously tucked beneath harmonies. “When I first left and I was doing some of my RnB covers - the same comment kept coming,” she tells me over zoom. “’Oh, her voice is butter, so buttery.' I'm like, I've never heard that about my voice before! So it was just so nice to experiment with new parts of it.” What began as a pause soon evolved into exploration, as Pinnock leaned into the sounds that had long shaped her musical instincts - this time, entirely on her own terms.

“It's such a crazy transition,” she admits, reflecting on the shift from global girl group to solo artist - a move that can feel like an opportunity for complete reinvention. For Pinnock, the stakes were uniquely high. The challenge wasn’t just stepping out alone, but redefining herself entirely; sonically, visually, creatively. “That was one thing, and that was incredible,” she says of her days in Little Mix. “But now I'm literally going into a whole different thing; one as a solo artist, but also doing music that's very different as well and really trying to put my stamp on the industry and carve my own lane out.” It’s a sentiment that underscores not just ambition, but intention. A refusal to be tethered to past expectations. Her early solo releases began mapping out that new territory. Signing with Warner Records, Pinnock introduced herself with her debut single, Don’t Say Love, in 2023, followed by the No Hard Feelings EP a year later. The project peeled back the layers of her public persona to reveal something more intimate and sonically distinct. Rooted in R&B, with subtle inflections of her Barbadian and Jamaican heritage, the music signalled a clear departure from the pop music that preceded. In the past two years, she has settled more into her sound and artistry - trusting her instinct over industry noise and external opinions. “I always knew that I wanted to have my own thing,” she explains, framing those early releases as part of a longer process of self-definition. “It's taken a couple of years to really find myself and find what that is, but it just feels so good to land on it and also have it be received so well.” That sense of arrival marks a turning point not just in her music, but in her confidence as an artist.

Perhaps the clearest expression of that autonomy came in May 2025, when Pinnock parted ways with Warner Records to release her work independently. The decision, whilst bold, speaks to a growing clarity of her vision, one that prioritises ownership, control and creative freedom above all else. What becomes clear, speaking with her now, is just how much those fifteen years in the industry have recalibrated her instincts. Experience, in her case, hasn’t dulled her creative edge, it’s sharpened her sense of self. There’s a quiet recognition that, in the early stages of her solo career she may have deferred too readily to the machinery she’d always known: major labels, external opinions, the expectation to fit a pre-existing mould. “In a way, maybe I should have leant on that more when I first signed solo, and just listened to myself and really, really owning myself,” she reflects, her worlds carrying the weight of hindsight. For an artist who had spent the entirety of her career within the structure of a major label system, that adjustment - learning when to absorb input and when to shut it out - was as much psychological as it was creative.

She describes those early days of her solo career as crowded with competing perspectives - “there was a lot of, 'oh, it should sound more like this' and 'no, it needs to be more like this,' and all these opinions from people at major labels and how they thought I should be as an artist, and what I should sound like” - echoes of an industry that often mistakes formula for identity. Pinnock, by her own admission was open to it. “Coming from a major label as well, like my whole life, that's all I've known my whole career. So also listening to opinions - I am very open like that.” But openness, she’s come to realise, can sometimes come at the cost of clarity. What ultimately shifted was not just her sound, but her willingness to trust the instincts she’s spent over a decade refining. “I think that has really never failed me,” she says, framing intuition as something earned rather than innate, honed through years of navigating one of the most demanding corners of pop music. 

When the time arrived to make a decision on where to home her music, she tells me the decision was easy: “I didn't even hesitate. It was more instant, 'okay, we're going! Yeah, I'm going.' That was it. Like, 'love that, let's go, bye' [laughs]. I think it's because at that point I was so exhausted and tired of all of the outside noise and just wanted to put my album out and do it the way I wanted to do it. I think my mind was instantly made up.” She states that the album shared with the world today simply wouldn’t exist in its current form had she still been confined by the traditional label system - at least not with the same sense of conviction. “I don't think I would've had this album out just the way I want it and so proud of it if I was in a different situation, maybe with my major label before. This has all happened, how it should happen… I’m just so overwhelmed by the response, and to do it independently as well. It's kind of, ‘wow’,” she reflects, acknowledging what independence has afforded her. There’s a palpable pride in that realisation, but also a sense of timing: that this version of her artistry could only arrive now, shaped by everything that came before it. The result is a body of work shaped entirely on her own terms - an outcome that feels less like a risk, and more like a necessary evolution. “Going forward, that is my thing; if my heart says it and if my gut is telling me, then it's usually always right,” she remarks.

It’s that hard-won instinct that ultimately shapes My Ego Told Me To, an album that feels less like a calculated pivot and more like a homecoming. Sonically, it’s a richly layered fusion; reggae, R&B, afrobeats and pop interwoven, anchored by Pinnock’s unmistakable vocals. From its opening moments, there’s a sense of immediacy: this is new terrain for her, but it doesn’t feel tentative. It feels assured. Every influence is handled with care, not as a trend to tap into, but as something lived-in, threads that have long existed within her, now pulled to the surface with intention. “I think I just wanted to do music that I love and resonate with,” she explains, grounding the albums direction in personal truth rather than strategy. The music that I listen to is RnB, reggae and a little bit of afrobeats. They are all those genres that I just listen to all the time, so I'm like, I need to do what I love.” That clarity didn’t come without its tensions. Despite her deep-rooted connection to the genres, Pinnock is acutely aware of how far they sit from the sound that defined her for over a decade. “What’s my representation in pop?” she recalls asking herself. A question that lingers at the intersection of identity and expectation. Her answer is both simple and resolute: “This is it.” Still, there were moments of hesitation. Stepping away from the familiarity of pop - particularly at a time when the genre continues to dominate - meant confronting the industry’s ever-present pull towards what’s proven to sell. “Do I do my own thing or do I do what's gonna be a bit more marketable and what's gonna be easier to sell?,” she says, articulating the quiet pressure that shadows any release.

But if the question lingered, it didn’t last. What cut through was a sharper, more defining realisation: “you only get one shot at this debut album. I'm gonna just be me and do what I love.” It’s a statement that reframes the project entirely, not as a bid for commercial footing but as a line drawn in the sand. Across the album, that ethos is unmistakable. Pinnock isn’t chasing a lane; she’s building one, guided by instinct rather than industry expectation. “I think the whole marketable thing and this idea that people like to put people in boxes,” she says, before dismantling the idea altogether. “I don't even know if this album could be put into any box to be honest. But I really love that.” In that refusal to be easily defined lies the albums greatest strength: not just its sound, but its sense of self. 

If My Ego Told Me To establishes anything, it’s Pinnock’s anchoring in reggae. “I knew that I wanted to have this reggae stamp,” she says tracing that instinct back to a lifelong connection with the genre. Lovers rock, in particular, emerges as a touch stone, it’s warmth and intimacy echoing throughout the record. “Reggae has always been a really massive part of just my life,” she explains, framing its inclusion not as a creative decision, but as an inevitability. It becomes one of the albums defining threads, woven seamlessly into a broader sonic tapestry that reflects the full scope of her influences. What’s striking is the way Pinnock speaks about that balance. “I have so many layers to me. I don't just like one thing and I've always wanted to incorporate these genres and really make a cohesive album. I've really managed to do that.” That ambition, to merge R&B, reggae and pop without diluting them, could have easily resulted in fragmentation. Instead, she’s created something fluid. “To have all of these different sounds and it just sounds like one, and it also sounds like a different mood for every song as well. I think I've managed to do that, which I'm so proud of.” Pointing to the albums ability to shift mood and texture, without losing its centre. Each track occupies its own emotional space, yet together they form a singular, unified statement. 

That reggae thread, and the broader sonic identity of My Ego Told Me To, was shaped not just by Pinnock’s vision, but also by the collaborators she trusted to translate her vision. “I worked with so many amazing people on this album,” she says. Clarence ‘Coffee’ Jr. and Owen Cu6s were pivotal in shaping the record. “Dead And Gone, Look Into My Eyes, and Revival - we wrote them all in the same sort of camp and literally, that was one of the most excited I've ever felt in the studio because it just felt like I'd unlocked this sound that just sounded like mine. I was like, 'yeah, this is what I've been looking for.’ Other collaborators brought their own magic: Khris Riddick, who produced Goodbye Goodmorning, impressed her with his versatility. “Sometimes you just get those producers that can just do anything and everything sounds phenomenal. He's just got the ear, he's just incredible.” Alex Goldblatt added guitar work that she describes as “shredded that guitar like nothing I've ever seen and heard, like it's just crazy.” Elijah Ross led a New York camp she attended early in the process of crafting the record. “ I was so excited to go into the studio, have no brief, not have to think about what everyone else thinks. It was just about me and my music. We had such an amazing camp and Best Version Of Me, Burning Up and Tight Up Skirt came out of that [camp].” 

More than anything, the album feels like a beginning. There’s a sense, in the way she speaks about it now that the world has pressed play on My Ego Told Me To, of something unlocked: creatively, instinctively, even personally. “I think this is my little thing now,” half-claiming, half-discovering the lane that she has carved out for herself. And if this record is the foundation, her focus is already fixed on what comes next. “I'm just so excited to just write the next album. Like, get me back in the studio… I am excited I've unlocked this.”

Whilst Pinnock is excited for the next chapter, both she and the world are still firmly engrossed within the present one. My Ego Told Me To remains rooted in something far more reflective, an interpretation of who she was before the industry began to reshape her, and who she is today. At the heart of the album is an ‘alter ego,’ not as a performative device, but as a reclamation: a return to her younger self, unchanged by expectation. “When I first went into The X Factor, I was super determined; fearless, bold,” she recalls, sketching a version of herself defined by instinctive confidence. “I would walk into a room and I would know who I was and I wouldn't take no for an answer.” It’s a vivid image, one that contrasts with what followed. “She went into The X Factor, she dyed her hair red, and then all of a sudden, as those years unfolded and as the years went on, she kind of lost that. I lost that confidence and it was kind of being chipped away at.” That sense of loss, and the desire to confront it, became a catalyst during a particularly turbulent period. Navigating her professional terrain and moments that affected her view of herself forged a period of introspection, one that led her back to that earlier, more self-assured version of herself. “With all of the rubbish that I went through with my label and feeling, I guess, a bit of rejection, I just felt like I needed that girl back,” she confesses. There’s both defiance and clarity in how she frames it: “I needed that fire back and I'd just been missing her. The old Leigh-Anne wouldn't take this shit [laughs]. I just felt like I needed to revive her.” In that sense, the album becomes more than a debut, but a deliberate act of restoration.

That narrative is woven throughout the record, not just lyrically but emotionally. “I wanted to tell that story through the album whilst also highlighting my heritage and my culture,” she explains, positioning identity - both personal and cultural - as central to its DNA. One of the albums most poignant moments arrives in the form of an audio recording of her grandparents, their voices grounding the project in something deeply personal. Her grandmothers words in particular, act as both affirmation and reminder: “When you said you are a star, that’s when you were thinking of getting into The X Factor. You say you are a star, "I am a star,” right? So you know it's your determination.” For Pinnock, it’s a full-circle moment. “That really takes me back to who I was before The X Factor, and that is the whole message of the album. 'You were this fearless thing, and you can get it back again,’” It’s a sentiment that extends beyond her own experience. “I think sometimes we all need that, really. We all need that side that just comes out and stands up for ourselves.” It’s here that the albums deeper resonance begins to shape. Not just as a story of artistic reclamation, but as something more expansive. Because in finding her way back to herself, Pinnock isn’t just reclaiming her voice, but she’s beginning to redefine what it means to fully step into it. 

For much of her career, her voice has existed as part of a collective, carefully balanced within the architecture of Little Mix and ultimately shaped by the needs of the group. “They always wanted us to sort of sing bright and very present, and I guess that's more of a pop vocal. I never really got to explore my tone.” That sense of limitation extended into the writing process too. “Jade [Thirlwall] and I would write a lot and my role was kind of like - I was of concepts. I would love to think of all the different concepts we could write about.” But even then, it was a shared space and one where individual perspective was just once piece of a larger whole. Solo work, by contrast, has allowed for something far more personal. “It's just this idea of writing purely from my heart and being able to kind of get everything I've ever wanted to get off my chest into lyrics and into songs. I always feel like songwriting is therapy.” Her approach now is instinctive and unfiltered. That shift from collaboration to catharsis has been as freeing as it has been revealing, pushing her to continue to trust her instincts in ways she hadn’t fully done before. “I think one thing that I've learned that I know I need to do is probably push myself more. I feel like I need to do that, with this whole trusting my gut era that I'm in.” It’s a mindset that has extended beyond the music itself and into how she shapes it. “What I've really learned as well is I'm actually a really good A&R for myself. Just trusting and knowing that I've got a good ear” she says, recognising her own creative judgement, something that became especially apparent when assembling the album. Pinnock put the track list together herself, having previously leaned on A&R’s for the task. “I remember saying to my A&R at the time, I was like, 'okay, so got all the songs, but I just need help with the track list now.' And she was like, 'No Leigh-Anne, you do that yourself. You know what you're doing.' And I went, 'oh, okay,' [laughs]. I found it really hard at first, and it took me quite a while. I was constantly reshuffling, shuffling. Then I landed on it and I'm like, 'yeah, this is good. This is exactly how it needs to be.’” It’s a small but significant shift: not just finding her voice, but trusting it both in what she says, and how she chooses to say it.

That sense of definition extended beyond performance and into the creative process itself. Stepping outside of that framework has offered something far more expansive. Without the need to blend or conform, Pinnock is able to approach her voice with a new sense of curiosity, one that feels both liberating and long overdue. “It's just such a freeing thing because I think sometimes people underestimate, like to be in a group for so long and to kind of have a role as well. But you don't really get to show all of you.” Now those constraints have fallen away. “It's just a really empowering thing to now be able to explore all these different sides of me and explore my voice.” What is perhaps most striking is her own sense of discovery within it. “It's crazy. You'd think that I would know right? After however many years,” she says laughing. Even after years in the spotlight, there are still parts of her artistry left to uncover.

That trust in her instincts isn’t in regards to the music. It’s about how Pinnock carries herself as a woman. The confidence coursing through My Ego Told Me To is rooted in self-possession, a refusal to shrink for anyone. “Oh my god, yeah,” she says smiling when I ask about the strong sense of embracing your womanhood that is present on the album. “Songs like Most Wanted, Tight Up Skirt, where it's all about feeling yourself, feeling confident.” Those tracks aren’t just playful or catchy, they’re deliberate acts of self-affirmation, an insistence that she exists fully and unapologetically. It’s a response to the quiet policing that women face, especially in the industry. "I think it's that idea as well, like when people say, 'oh, she's too confident' or 'she's overconfident.' I can't stand that. I just feel like, especially as women, or anyone, you should embrace that as much as possible because this world and the way that people pit each other against each other and especially the industry; it chips away at confidence so easily.” In turn, her music becomes more than expression, it’s a form of empowerment and a reminder to never shrink for anyone else. "That's why I'm really passionate about wanting my fans, and whoever listens to my music, to feel that confidence and be that girl [laughs]. Because you are, let the world know! I love that a lot of my music kind of has that feeling, and also just kind of feeling like you can be sexy too.” That self-assurance also extends to her sensuality. During her time in Little Mix, there were constraints: “We didn't wanna offend many people. We weren't overly sexy or anything like that, and that's fine,” she confesses. It was a deliberate choice, appropriate for that chapter, but one that again, left parts of her unexpressed. “That was great for that,” she says acknowledging it, “but now I feel like I'm all about owning my sexuality and just being free.” In these new songs, confidence and sensuality coexist naturally. They are not performance, but autonomy. Beyond reclaiming her voice and confidence, Pinnock is reclaiming herself - and in doing so, defining her womanhood entirely on her own terms. 

One of the most striking aspects of My Ego Told Me To is its visual identity, a bold extension of Pinnock’s personality and artistry. The album cover - her signature red hair paired with an eye-catching green tongue - feels instantly iconic, a daring statement that will be remembered as one of the years most capturing visuals. Every music video, image and piece of content across the albums rollout has reflected this fearless ethos, creating a world that is unmistakably hers. “I wanted something that my ego would tell me to do [laughs], and it's super eye catching. Obviously I wanted to incorporate the colours of my era as well… obviously with the album cover, I've got my red hair, my green tongue to basically show both of these colours; both of these personalities need each other. I just wanted to do something really cunty,” she explains, framing her choices as both playful and purposeful. Pinnock has also relished the reactions her visuals provoke, thriving on the mix of shock and admiration. She recalls showing the cover to her mother: “She went, 'oh, Leigh-Anne,' and I said, 'come on mum! It's amazing. It's iconic.' She loves it now, but at first I think she was just shocked.” The response underscores the power of her creative freedom: she is unapologetically herself, crafting imagery that commands attention and embodies the confidence, irreverence and layered identity at the heart of her solo era. In a landscape dominated by fleeting content and calculated campaigns, Pinnock has made something enduring - vivid, personal and entirely her own. 

That vibrant visual world will soon leap off the page and MP3’s and onto the stage as Pinnock begins her UK tour next week. “I'm so excited. I wanna bring this story to life for these shows,” she says, her enthusiasm palpable. Her ambition is to translate the albums layered themes and sonic diversity into a fully realised live experience. “What we're gonna do on stage with this is just gonna be so, so amazing and I really want to think outside the box with it as well, and just really get this story across,” she adds, emphasising that every mood, rhythm and narrative thread will find a new dimension in performance. For Pinnock, the live element is where her music truly comes alive. “I think the thing that I'm really excited for is the instrumentation. Having this album live and how it's gonna sound and, oh God - just can't wait. I always think music is just so much better live. It just is.” Here, she highlights how the stage transforms recorded songs into communal energy. This tour also marks her first outing without her bandmates. “Now obviously I have to sing the whole song myself [laughs]. I guess what comes with that; being fit, stamina. I think that all had to be improved,” she admits, candidly acknowledging the physical and technical demands of leading a show alone. Yet Pinnock’s Little Mix years have left her more than prepared. “I think because I've done it for so long, I feel like I'm a seasoned performer now. I know how to perform and I'm so grateful for all of that experience… that's just where I've come alive.” She underscores that the stage is not just a workplace, but her creative home. The tour promises not just to showcase My Ego Told Me To, but to reframe Pinnock as a solo artist fully in command of her craft, her sound and her stage presence. I suggest she brings the tour to Australia, to which she responds asking me for venue recommendations that could house an intimate evening with her Australian fans. I offer up some suggestions, hoping these shows soon come to fruition. 

Even as My Ego Told Me To feels fully realised with its release and Pinnock poised to take the stage, she hints that the story is far from finished. She teases songs that appeared on bonus discs, and even an unfinished track she is still perfecting. “In terms of songs that haven't made it, there are a couple. There's one that's just like a really nice RnB vibe that needs a feature. So I am working on that,” she reveals. Her focus is clear: she wants to build on what she has already established, capturing the albums essence whilst pushing it even further. "Now I'm thinking of what I'm gonna do for the deluxe and going forward. But all really exciting.” Pinnock has also been observing how listeners engage with music from the album now that it exists as a complete body of work. When I mention Burning Up as a personal favourite, she nods knowingly, calling it an underrated track. “I feel like it's only really clicked for people now hearing them all in a body of work,” noting that some tracks are resonating more once fans experience them in context. “Sometimes it just takes a minute for people to grasp something when it's quite different as well. Especially knowing me, coming from something and then hearing me in a different way. I just felt that was really interesting,” she adds, reflecting on the adjustment period listeners sometimes need to appreciate songs. Even with the album out in the world, Pinnock’s creativity is clearly in motion. The record may mark a bold chapter but she’s already looking ahead, promising an ongoing evolution that will keep fans engaged for years to come. 

After unpacking how My Ego Told Me To reflects Pinnock’s identity - both as an artist and as a person - I’m curious to shift the focus outward. As our conversation draws to a close, I ask what she hopes listeners will take from the record. “I would love for people to feel empowered when they listen to this album. For me it's like talking about my journey from the beginning till now and how it's not been smooth, it's been up and down, it's been rocky, but ultimately I've got up, I've dusted myself off and I've kept going. I've persevered, persisted, and ended up with this body of work that I'm so, so proud of. I really hope people can hear that story within the album. I hope it encourages people to bring out their ego side, bring out their confidence side, their side that doesn't take no for an answer. I think this idea that being the truest form of yourself and the most authentic version of yourself is the best version of you - and to own it.”

MILKY EXCLUSIVE COVER STORY ©

Writer: Vasili Papathanasopoulos

Photography: Niklas Haze

Creative Direction: Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Styling + Co-Creative Direction: Natalie Westernoff

Hair: Aaron Carlo

Make Up: Hila Karmand

My Ego Told Me To is out now.