Leigh-Anne Pinnock has admitted she felt "invisible" in the early days of Little Mix.
In an interview with ASOS magazine she confessed that Beyoncé's creative director Frank Gatson, told her that as "the black girl, you have to work twice as hard."
"During the first couple of years of being in the band, I did feel invisible. I remember crying to my manager regularly, I just couldn't seem to find my place and didn't know why."
"I didn't feel like I had as many fans as the other girls. It was a strange feeling. I never thought that it was because I was the darkest member of the band. I felt overlooked."
"I did everything to make myself more noticed, convinced I wasn't good enough."
However, the singer doesn't feel alone anymore. She explained that many girls have been in the same position as her.
"I don't feel alone because I've seen lots of women speak out about this. I know there are girls of colour out there who have felt the same as me."
"We have a massive problem with racism which is built into our society. It's scary. But the more people that speak out, the more change we can start to make."
"Women like Chidera and Nia exude positivity, love the skin they're in and rock it! These are the types of role models we need in this industry."
Little Mix's Jade also weighed in turning the topic of conversation to sexism in the music industry.
"In the beginning, we were told we shouldn't be involved in our music videos. One producer told us we shouldn't be writing, we should just be given songs."
"We realised we as women have to work 10 times as hard, which is really b****y annoying cos we do write songs."
"Years ago we went to a radio event in America, full of VIPs. Someone from our US label Columbia said, 'Go and flirt with all those important men.' I was like, "f**k off." Why have I got to go in and flirt to get my song on the radio?"
Jesy admitted she had a lot of trouble with self confidence.
"When I first started out, I struggled. I never thought I would get over thinking people thought certain things about me. I still get upset when I talk about it."
"I'll never get those years back. I was so miserable, I should have been enjoying my f***ing life. This is why we feel so passionate about what we're saying on this album."
"The more we talk about it, the better it will be for kids growing up. We want people to know they're not alone."
While Perrie spoke on behalf of Little Mix's brand new album 'LM5' revealing that their mission is to empower women.
"You open a magazine or you're scrolling through a website and every girl is stick thin and a bikini looks unreal on them. I'm thinking, "Well, I ain't gonna look like that in Mykonos." You can't escape it."
"Things like Instagram or magazine covers are a tiny percentage of a lifestyle that people want you to see, it's never the whole picture. I think now more than ever the world needs an album like LM5."
"We're gonna keep f***ing preaching until it sinks in – we want to empower women and ourselves."
'LM5' is set to be released on the 16th November.
