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Jesy Nelson

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Jesy Nelson
Nelson in 2019
Nelson in 2019
Background information
Birth nameJessica Louise Nelson
Born (1991-06-14) 14 June 1991 (age 30)
Romford, Greater London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2011–present
Labels
Associated actsLittle Mix
Websitejesynelsonofficial.com

Jessica Louise Nelson (born 14 June 1991) is an English singer who rose to prominence as a member of the British girl group Little Mix. They became the first group to win The X Factor, and would go onto become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time.

Nelson initially auditioned as a solo act on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011. After being eliminated as a solo performer, she was later brought back with three other contestants to form the girl group Little Mix. Nelson released six studio albums with the group and achieved five UK number-one singles.[1] Following Nelson's departure from the group in December 2020, she signed to Polydor Records as a solo artist in 2021.

In 2019, Nelson presented a BBC Three documentary based on her experiences with body image and online bullying titled Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out. In her documentary she also spoke about the impact cyber bullies have had on her life and mental health after she rose to fame with pop band Little Mix. The documentary broke multiple records, becoming BBC Three's top factual title since the channel moved online, it was the top programme on BBC iPlayer in its week of release with 1.87 million requests within seven days, and on BBC One was watched by 3.3 million viewers.[2] The documentary also won the Factual Entertainment Award at the 25th National Television Awards.

Early life

Jessica Louise Nelson[3] was born on 14 June 1991.[4] She was raised in Romford, East London to parents John Nelson, a businessman, and Janis Nelson, a Police Community Support Officer. Her parents separated when she was five. She is the second youngest of four children with an older sister Jade, an older brother Jonathan and a younger brother Joseph.[5][6]

Nelson attended Jo Richardson Community School and Abbs Cross Academy and Arts College in Hornchurch, London.[7] She also attended the Sylvia Young and Yvonne Rhodes Theatre Schools. One of her classmates at the school was Rita Ora.[8] Prior to auditioning for The X Factor, Nelson worked as a barmaid in Dagenham.[9] In 2020, Nelson said that as a child, she had small roles as an extra in About a Boy (2002) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).[10]

Career

Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan, and successfully auditioned as a soloist for the eighth series of the UK version of The X Factor in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland, but failed the first challenge of the "bootcamp" section to progress through to the Girls category (solo females aged 16-24).[11] Nelson and Perrie Edwards were put in a group called "Faux Pas" while Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock were to be put in a group named "Orion". Both groups, however, failed to progress. Both groups failed to make it through to the next stage. A later decision by the judges recalled two members from each group to form the four-piece group Rhythmix, sending them through to the "judges' houses" section.[12] They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.[13] On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the band's new name would be Little Mix.[14] On 11 December 2011, Little Mix were announced as the winners, making them the first band ever to win the show.[15]

After winning the show, Little Mix signed a record deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell. Since joining Little Mix, Nelson has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor.[6] Nelson released six albums with the group; DNA (2012), Salute (2013), Get Weird (2015), Glory Days (2016), LM5 (2018) and Confetti (2020) The last of which was released a month before she left the group.[16] In December 2020, she announced her departure from the group due to prolonged issues with her mental health. She said: "I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard."[17] In May 2021, she announced that she had signed a record deal with Polydor Records and that she is releasing solo music later in the year.[18] In early August, Nelson wiped her Instagram account, in anticipation of her solo debut, which is widely considered to be a track titled "Boys".[19][20]

Personal life

Nelson has said that being bullied at school may have contributed to her suffering from stress-induced alopecia as a teenager.[21][22] In her BBC documentary Odd One Out, Nelson was vocal about her struggle with body image. She said she would starve herself before TV performances or video shoots, then later binge eat. She said that abuse from online trolls on Twitter drove her to attempt suicide in 2013, stating: "I felt that I physically couldn't tolerate the pain any more."[23]

Nelson had a 10-month relationship with Diversity member Jordan Banjo which ended in 2013.[24] In 2014, Nelson began dating Rixton lead singer, Jake Roche. The couple became engaged on 19 July 2015,[25] but broke up in November 2016.[26] She had a brief relationship with Chris Clark in 2017,[27] followed by a 16-month relationship with musician Harry James that ended in November 2018.[28] In January 2019, Nelson began dating Love Island contestant Chris Hughes.[29] On the one-year anniversary of their relationship in January 2020, she said: "I can honestly say I've never been more in love and happy in all my life."[30] In April 2020, Nelson and Hughes broke up due to personal reasons.[31] Four months later, she announced that she was in a relationship with actor Sean Sagar.[32]

Nelson has 15 tattoos, including a quote on her upper right arm: "Music is the strongest form of magic".[33] Her estimated wealth in 2020 was £5.8 million.[34]

In November 2020, Little Mix's publicist stated that Nelson would take an extended break from the pop group for "private medical reasons".[35] On 14 December 2020, Nelson announced her departure from Little Mix due to struggles with her mental health.[17]

In August 2021, Nelson spoke in an interview about her time on The X Factor and criticised the show for the lack of support she received after being subjected to online trolling. In the interview she spoke about the eating disorder she had developed through extreme dieting during her time with Little Mix, and the panic attacks she would experience.[36]

Online bullying and body image

Before Little Mix's sixth studio album Confetti was released, Nelson took some time out of the group's promotion schedule, citing a private medical matter.[37] On 14 December, Nelson announced she was leaving the group due to the impact on her mental health. In a statement, she said: "I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard."[38]

In August 2021, Nelson told The Guardian that since her first appearance on The X Factor with Little Mix she had been trolled about her physical appearance on social media: "The first thing I read about myself was, 'Is it me or does that girl look disabled?’ The next one said she really looks like a rat. And the next one was, 'God her face looks deformed'". Although the group supported Nelson's frailties, she stated that The X Factor should pair a therapist or psychologist with the musical trail with the coaches. Nelson said: "I didn't want to get papped because I'd gotten so insecure about the way I looked. [...] The more I read about myself, the more I went on extreme diets. I went to a therapist and she said, 'You know it's an eating disorder, right?'. My manager said, 'Jesy, you're so tiny, you've got body dysmorphia.'"[39]

Nelson said that she was often dressed differently from the other three members in the videos for the singles for the various launches because her body shape did not lend itself to the outfits. After the Covid pandemic and the decision to shoot the video for "Sweet Melody" Nelson had gained weight and did not feel fit for filming, deciding to go on a drastic diet without getting results.[40][39] Nelson said: "After the video I just got back in a really dark place and ended up back in hospital. That was when my mum said, 'No more.' Then the girls spoke to Mum and said, 'We think Jesy should come out of this now. She has to look after herself."[39][41]

What added to the hurt, she stated, was that there were people who made it clear they were glad to see the back of her. "Certain people on my team didn't care. I'm not talking about the girls [...] I felt there were certain people on my team who just didn't want me to be there."[39] In 2019, BBC Three released a documentary titled Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out, which details Nelson's experiences with body image and the impact of online bullying on her life and mental health.[42]

Accusations of cultural appropriation

In June 2018, Nelson posted an image of herself on Instagram wearing her hair in dreadlocks. The photo was later deleted but she was criticised over accusations of cultural appropriation.[43]

In May 2021, Nelson was accused of "blackfishing" (a form of cultural appropriation).[44] Her name trended on Twitter after some users realised that she is white, with them previously believing that Nelson was a woman of colour due to her appearance on social media. A BuzzFeed article was written about Nelson which documented how she had changed her physical appearance since joining Little Mix. The article suggested that changing features such as her skin tone and lip size had led Nelson to become "racially ambiguous",[45] also noting how her skin tone has frequently appeared darker than that of former bandmates Pinnock and Thirlwall, both of whom are women of colour.[45]

Discography

Songwriting credits

List of songwriting credits, with year released and album shown
Title Artist(s) Year Album Notes
"Change Your Life" Little Mix 2012 DNA Co-writer
"DNA"
"Wings"
"How Ya Doin'?"
"Little Me" 2013 Salute
"Move"
"Salute"
"Pretty Girls" Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea 2015 Non-album single
"Shout Out to My Ex" Little Mix 2016 Glory Days

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2011 The X Factor Contestant Winner, Series 8 [46]
2017 Glory Days: The Documentary Herself Tour documentary [47]
2019 Celebrity Gogglebox Herself One episode [48]
Eat in with Little Mix Herself Web series [49]
Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out Herself Documentary [50]
2020 The Voice UK Herself Guest mentor [51]
Little Mix The Search Judge Music competition series [52]
How To Be Anne-Marie Herself Documentary [53]
LM5: The Tour Film Herself Tour film [54]

Awards and nominations

Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Little Mix
Year Award ceremony Category Nominee(s)/work(s) Result Ref.
2019 CelebMix Awards Biggest Inspiration Herself Nominated [55]
2019 Metro UK Awards Celeb of the Year Herself Won [56]
2019 I Talk Telly Awards Best Documentary Odd One Out Won [57]
2019 OnSide Awards Gold award Odd One Out Won [58]
2020 National Television Awards Factual Entertainment Odd One Out Won [59][60]
2020 Visionary Honours Awards Documentary of the Year Odd One Out Won [61]
2020 PLT Awards Inspirational Influencer of the Year Herself Won [62][63]
2020 CelebMix Awards Biggest Inspiration Herself Nominated [64]

References

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