Jesy Nelson has debuted “Boyz,” her first solo single since announcing her departure from Little Mix last December.
The track, which samples Diddy’s 2001 hit “Bad Boy For Life" ft. Black Rob and Mark Curry, has a verse from rapper Nicki Minaj, who was featured on Little Mix’s 2018 song “Woman Like Me.”
“Boyz” arrived with a video Nelson co-directed with Harry James. Watch it below.
Nelson told fans last November that she was taking “extended time off” for “private medical reasons.” A month later, she announced her departure from the group. At the time, Nelson said: “The truth is recently being in the band has really taken a toll on my mental health. I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard.”
In an interview with Cosmopolitan published in May, Nelson said the decision sparked “a mix of emotions” and she was surprised by the support she got from fans. “I … just sat in bed and cried because I was overwhelmed with how lovely everyone was being,” she said. “It was a shock to me. I couldn’t get over how much people were supporting me and understood.
“I was on a weird rollercoaster of emotions. I felt sad, because it was 10 years of my life that I was giving up. I felt scared, like, ‘Shit, what’s going to happen now?’ At the same time, I had glimpses of happiness, of, ‘I can do what I want now.’ I don’t feel trapped.”
Little Mix, formed in 2011, has enjoyed massive success in their native UK but only one single – 2016’s “Shout Out to My Ex” – cracked the Top 40 in Canada.