Jesy Nelson has responded to backlash following the release of her new music video for ‘Boyz’.
The 30-year-old released her debut solo single on Friday morning, less than a year after she quit Little Mix.
The singer collaborated with Nicki Minaj on the song, which heavily samples P Diddy’s 2001 song Bad Boy For Life.
P Diddy even makes a cameo appearance in the music video, which has already been viewed over 4.6million times.
But the video has been met with a lot of criticism, with many accusing Jesy of “blackfishing” – which is when a non-Black person alters their appearance to seem Black or racially ambiguous.
In an interview with Vulture, the Romford native said: “I love Black culture. I love Black music. That’s all I know; it’s what I grew up on. I’m very aware that I’m a white British woman; I’ve never said that I wasn’t.”
“I take all those comments made [about blackfishing] seriously. I would never intentionally do anything to make myself look racially ambiguous, so that’s why I was initially shocked that the term was directed at me.”
Jesy launched her solo career just months after she announced she was leaving Little Mix.
Sharing the news in an emotional Instagram statement at the time, the singer wrote: “The past nine years in Little Mix has been the most incredible time of my life. We have achieved things I never thought possible…”
Jesy explained being in the band had taken its toll on her mental health and that she wanted to spend some time with her loved ones and “do things that make me happy.”
Speaking on the latest episode of Fearne Cotton’s podcast Happy Place podcast, Jesy admitted she felt “miserable” and “trapped” in the group, and said being compared to her bandmates “every single day” was “draining”.
