Leigh-Anne Wants To Be ‘Friends’ On New Single

Leigh-Anne

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British singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, like her fellow former Little Mix groupmates Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards, has been hard at work staking out her place in the music industry as a solo artist. In 2023, she released one-off solo singles to mark her debut as a soloist and seemingly tease her debut LP, though she changed directions and released an EP instead last year. “I thought I’d release three singles and go straight into dropping it,” she told Dork last year. “As the process went on, though, I just felt like I wasn’t ready for the album.”

Leigh-Anne’s debut album My Ego Told Me To is on the way and slated to arrive early next year, and the pop songstress has spent this year drumming up hype for the album with the singles “Been a Minute,” “Burning Up,” and “Dead and Gone.” But she’s also taking some time to have fun independent of the album rollout; today she released “Friends,” a one-off single with Jamaican producer Rvssian, who also produced one of the songs on My Ego Told Me To.

“’Friends’ is one of those tracks that you can’t help but vibe and move to,” Leigh-Anne said of the track. “He played me the demo and I fell in love with it instantly. I went in, made it my own, and I instantly loved it. This one really captures that sweet spot where pop and bashment blend perfectly. I’ve always loved bringing my own pop stamp to Caribbean-inspired sounds, and this track encapsulates exactly how those worlds can live together.” Leigh-Anne herself has Jamaican and Barbadian heritage and counts Jamaica as a beloved second home.

“The song takes me back to when I’d just learned to drive me and my girls would pile into the car and head down to London just to party,” she added. “That carefree vibe, the laughter, the love it’s all there in ‘Friends.’ At its heart, the song is about the people who truly show up for you, the ones who’ve got your back no matter what and learning to spot who doesn’t. For me, it comes from growth. I’ve been through enough to know energy doesn’t lie, and now I’m surrounded by people who really see me and ride for me. That’s what this track truly celebrates.”

That mentality is evidenced throughout the dancefloor-ready track. “Are you on or you off of the team? / If you’re with me then show me you mean that,” she sings. “Real friends / Where my day ones? / ‘Til we worldwide / No fakes though.” Though “Friends” isn’t on her forthcoming album, it aligns with the vulnerable nature of the project as she sings about wanting to surround herself with people who love and appreciate her. “This record is me stripping some of those layers away and just being open about my story,” she told Dork of the LP. “It’s scary, but I hope it allows people to come into my world more.”

My Ego Told Me To is out Feb. 20. Leigh-Anne will go on tour across Europe and the U.K. in April.