Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has released her first single as a solo artist after leaving the chart-topping band last year.
The 30-year-old singer shared the hip hop-inspired Boyz, which channels Sean “Diddy” Combs’s 2001 track Bad Boy 4 Life.
https://t.co/Ly0sxSLGVX pic.twitter.com/0fmFdKlJBZ
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 8, 2021
The song, co-written by Nelson while she was going through a painful break-up, also features a verse from rap superstar Nicki Minaj.
“Being nice a little boring when you in between the sheets,” Nelson sings. “I love bad boys for life.”
Before release, she had warned fans the song may be divisive.
The accompanying music video is set in Southern California and includes a cameo from rap mogul Combs, who appears as a frustrated neighbour after Nelson hits a golf ball through his window.
Nelson is seen cruising through the streets in a low rider car while accompanied by a baseball bat-wielding backing dancer.
She later poses alongside Minaj.
She said of the new music: “I just want to be myself and be real. I want my fans to hear that they’re my stories because they genuinely are. No-one has come in and told me what to write about. This is the music I’ve always wanted to make.”
Nelson left Little Mix in December 2020 after nine years in the hugely successful girl group, who have sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
She blamed the toll that being in the band had taken on her mental health.
This week Nelson confirmed she no longer speaks to her former bandmates, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards.
Romford-born Nelson had been open about her struggles when she was part of Little Mix.
She received praise for the 2019 BBC documentary Odd One Out, in which she revealed abuse on social media got so bad that she attempted to take her own life.
Nelson signed her solo deal with Polydor Records.