Jesy Nelson is an English singer, famous to be a member of the British girl group Little Mix. They rose to fame through The X Factor UK, where she and her band mates won. Then, they became one of the best-selling women’s bands of all time. However, in December 2020 she left the band and started her solo career.
The single Boyz is the start point of her new journey. The song includes the participation of the celebrated Nicki Minaj.
Jesy Nelson’s new life and her mental health issues
The reason why she left the wildly famous band is to protect her mental health from the “constant pressure of being in a girl group,” as she said. The fans were and are compassionate about the artist, that spoke up about the extreme pressures of life in a successful girl band.
In 2019, she also released a documentary about her mental health problems. She also won a National Television award. And now she claims to be happier, since she is finally making the music she wanted to. She is inspired by R&B and rap. However, this inspiration brought her many problems…
The accusations of blackfishing and the apologies
Together with the song, Jesy also released a music video.
During the clip, Jesy Nelson and Nicki Minaj sing about their love of bad men. The clip also recreates the P Diddy’s iconic 2001 video of the song Bad Boys for Life. Boyz is in fact a sample of the rapper’s classic.
Fans consider the release of Boyz a powerful starting point. They appreciated the song and demonstrate their approval on all of her social platforms. But critics disagree. Her single is, in fact, considered one of the worst career launches in music, mainly because of the controversies of her music video.
The singer was in fact accused of blackfishing due to her music video due to the ambiguity of her aspect in the music video. In fact, they criticised the colour of her skin, her hairstyles and clothing saying she tried to appear as a black woman. Therefore, Nelson publicly apologised through an Instagram live with Nicki Minaj, saying that it was never her intention to “offend people of colour with this ‘Boyz’ video.” She also said: “For me personally, [the] nineties, 2000s hip-hop and R&B, is the best era of music that was made. I just wanted to celebrate that. I just wanted to celebrate that era’s music because it’s what I love.”
Jesy Nelson will present her new single later this month on The Graham Norton Show. She will also discuss both the accusations of blackfishing and the reason why she left the band.
