Little Mix star Leigh-Anne will headline Manchester Pride this weekend, and tells the MEN what to expect from her show, and what’s up next
Leigh-Anne is headlining Manchester Pride 2025(Image: Niklas Haze)
I’ve asked Little Mix star Leigh-Anne what we can expect from her upcoming solo Manchester Pride headlining performance this weekend, and it’s the answer we all wanted.
“Oh it’s going to be a party!” She laughs. “There’s so much energy in this show, so much colour, I’m just really excited to get up on that stage, it’s going to be a good one.”
The MEN catches up with Leigh-Anne over zoom, in her very glamorous dressing room, as she fills us in on her developments of late after serving up the second of her new, independent solo tracks this week.
She released the first of these last month, Been a Minute, to much acclaim, and on Thursday came the second, a pulsating, fizzing dance anthem in the making, infused with the sounds of her Caribbean heritage titled Burning Up.
Stay connected with our City Life newsletter here
Leigh-Ann says of her new fiercely independent direction: “It just feels great to put out my art I guess, and see the reaction as well, it feels really good.
“It was definitely something I needed to do for myself. Being in the industry for so long, I needed to create with no barriers, no noise, no politics, I just wanted to put my heart out there and be proud of what I’m doing and have complete creative freedom.
“I’ve got an album coming, we are working on it now and it’s coming out soon, I just can’t wait. This is a body of work coming together and yes I can’t wait!”
While Leigh-Anne first found fame on The X Factor, going on to achieve global girl band domination with Little Mix, as a solo artist she has quickly amassed over 110M+ global streams, earned two UK Top 40 singles, and already completed a sold-out UK and Ireland tour.
Little Mix pictured in 2021(Image: Getty Images for Warner Bros)
But the arrival of Been A Minute and Burning Up mark the beginning of a bold new era that sees Leigh-Anne firmly in control.
She says: “For me in this moment right now I’m just enjoying the freedom of putting out a track when I want, deciding exactly how it’s going to look like visually, putting my album together myself, literally, tracklisting it myself.
“It’s also quite a lot – imagine going from a group where you have that reassurance, team work do you like this idea? But now I’m trusting my instincts, my gut, it all falls on me now.
“It’s a very empowering thing but also quite daunting, it’s something to get used to I guess but I’m taking it in my stride, this is definitely how it’s supposed to feel for me.”
Leigh-Anne Pinnock attends The London EDITION’s iconic Pride Brunch hosted by Jean Paul Gaultier, Gigi Goode and Henry Holland on July 6, 2025 in London(Image: Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Ge)
It all sounds like quite a contrast from the group dynamic of the past – but Leigh-Anne, 33, doesn’t hesitate to tell me that Little Mix will “definitely” reunite before too long which will be music to the ears of the band’s army of fans since announcing their hiatus in 2022.
But will it be hard to go back working in a band after the solo years?
She muses: “Yeah, do you know what it will be interesting because I don’t even know how that would look.
“Obviously yes we will definitely be doing a reunion and come back together at some point because how could we not, right? But yeah it’s funny you say that I really don’t know how it would look, because we’re all so very different in terms of our individual musical taste, we’re all putting out very different things, so what does that now look like if we come back together? How does it look and sound like?
“But I think we just do it you know – Little Mix is Little Mix. I think we did a really good job of evolving, and we’d do it again.”
Leigh-Anne on stage(Image: Getty Images for Bauer)
She adds that all the girls stay in touch, “We are literally sisters, the support, we will always support each other and we’re all fans of each others as well which is special I think. And how many girl bands can say that? You know, we left on a high and the fact we stayed so close, I feel happy and proud about that.”
As for her set for Manchester Pride this weekend, yes, we can expect a “tribute” to Little Mix within it.
“I don’t think I could do a show without a little tribute do you?” she laughs. “It always goes down so well, and I think sometimes I forget the impact that we’ve had. I did a show the other day in Cornwall, at Boardmasters, I said do we have any Little Mix fans in the audience and woah, the response. It hasn’t even been that long!”
She continues: “”I love putting on a show, we have to have choreo, we have to have outfits, staging, screens, everything just needs to be wow – that’s where everything comes to life on stage, it’s my favourite place to be as well.
“And also thinking of how we can change the song for live, surprise people, add little musical bits here, dance breaks there and whatever. There’s defintely a lot of musical changes in some of the songs which is exciting. We do a jungle mix moment in Don’t Say Love, we take you to Carnival for Been a Minute – it’s a journey!”
On Saturday night, Leigh-Anne performs at the top of the bill of artists that will celebrate Manchester Pride and she says: “The gay community have really supported us from the beginning so it’s going to be fun.”
As to what Pride means to Leigh-Anne? “Pride means to me being unapologetically you, it feels safe, a safe space, I think it means love and that’s why I’m so excited to headline and be able to experience that and it’s one I’ve been really excited about it’s going to be beautiful. And I cannot wait to give you a SHOW!”
Join our Manc Life WhatsApp group HERE