Little Mix have said they are ready to tackle the “double standards” for men and women in the music industry.
The girl band, who on Friday released their fifth studio album, LM5, say women who try to take control of their careers are treated differently to their male counterparts.
In an interview with The Sun, the band – made up of Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson – said they are perfectionists who know what their fans want to listen to.
Perrie said: “It’s double standards when you’re young women. When we started out it was almost like, ‘This is your lane, stay in your lane. You’re the faces and the name’. We’re not. We’re the brand.
“We’re businesswomen. It’s our baby. So everything we do creatively comes from us. It is frustrating that if a group of guys were to say, ‘We’re not going to do that song, we’re going to release this song’, it’s like, ‘Maybe we should listen’.
“Whereas when we do it, it’s like, ‘Oh they’re at it again, they’re whining’.
“But we’re not. We’re perfectionists. We take everything we do so seriously. It’s important to us.”
Earlier this month the band split from Simon Cowell’s record label after the music mogul said he was no longer working with their management group.
This is it! #LM5 is out now and available around the world. It's the album we’ve always wanted to make! We can’t wait for you to hear the full album ♥️Hope you love it as much as we do!!https://t.co/mbXSoK0aG2The girls x pic.twitter.com/5T1ACjEzXO
— Little Mix (@LittleMix) November 16, 2018
Following the split, Cowell insisted there had been no falling out, adding, “they are the hardest working bunch of girls I’ve ever worked with. They deserve everything they’ve got”.
After LM5’s release on Friday, the band released a statement on Twitter to say it is “the album we’ve always wanted to make”.
Little Mix found fame after appearing on the X Factor in 2011.