Perrie first captured our hearts in 2011 as she made The X Factor’s hall of fame. Lending her powerhouse pipes to Little Mix for the next 11 years, she transformed from girl next door to global superstar. Behind the scenes, she became a mother to her two-year-old son and built a home for her next chapter. Ready to break out as a solo artist for the very first time, Perrie is writing a brand new story. How it will end? We’re not quite sure—but her debut album makes for one hell of a plot. 

Perrie’s world looks a little different day-to-day. I say this because I have just spent the last week thrown into the thick of it—from glitz, glamour and flashing lights to Lemsip, Nando’s takeaway and a video call in bed. We’ve been on quite the journey…dancing on set to Destiny’s Child at her Rollacoaster photo shoot, then toasting champagne and passing canapés at her album playback, and so, naturally, we opted to discuss it all from the comfort of our respective bedrooms over Zoom. “I haven’t done a photoshoot like that for so long so it felt amazing to be back on set,” she reminisces. But I’m getting ahead of myself—allow me to provide some context. Introducing: Perrie. 

“Growing up, I never liked my name because it was different and unique. You don’t like that feeling when you’re younger, you just want to blend in.” You would never have known it in her X Factor days when she first introduced herself to the world at 17 years old (hair impressively backcombed and traced by a sparkly headband), but Perrie Edwards – desire to blend in aside – was soon to make herstory: forming a quarter of the only girl group to ever win the series, Little Mix. Selling over 60 million records worldwide since their inception, the band became the behemoth of the Pop world—continuing their reign until a hiatus in 2022. Becoming a mother to her son, Axel, and fianceé to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the interim, the now-30-year-old star is more sure of herself than ever. To mark the milestone, she's set to debut as a solo star for the very first time, parking her Little Mix days and surname in the process. “In my gut, I now feel like a Perrie. I feel like Perrie is more of a statement on its own.” And she’s right, in more ways than one. 

Change is a scary thing, a notion not lost on Perrie who admits: “I fear the unknown. I’d rather go see a fortune teller and look into a crystal ball because not knowing the outcome of something is terrifying to me.” But then again, no back-street crystal-laden shop in Camden could have predicted her stratospheric trajectory, even now. “At first it all felt so daunting, I remember being in a session with Jin Jin who I worked with a lot in the band and I said to her, ‘I don’t know my sound! I don’t know what I want to release, I don’t know who I am!’ And she just said, ‘Babe, that’s the best part. Experiment with every sound and genre. When it feels right, run with that.’” Having been one of the lucky few to have listened to a portion of the album – not yet mastered, yet already masterful – the advice certainly paid off. 

So, cutting to the chase, did Perrie find her sound? Yes—but even as a writer, it feels difficult to define; something I find to be synonymous with the star herself. Growing up with musicians for parents, Perrie’s exposure to music was somewhat of a smorgasbord; her palette, in short, is broad. Her taste for music comes from more than a genre or melody…the secret ingredient remains in the feeling. “At first I was prioritising authenticity, then came what felt right: sound-wise, genre-wise, word-wise and vocally.” Having dabbled in Punk Rock (“it felt really good but then it just didn’t make sense as a collective with the rest of the songs I’d written”), she finally found herself with a handful of songs. “I became obsessed with them and I realised they needed siblings—they needed relatives in the album. I wanted it all to flow when you listened to it the whole way through.” For me, it flowed a little too hard.

I may have broken a glass during her playback (not my finest moment) while dancing to a particular track – the title of which is currently embargoed, I’m sorry – that evening. “I wasn’t kidding when I introduced it and said it takes over your body,” Perrie laughs as I fess up. “Songs like that are stand-alone tracks. They’re stand-out, energy-packed Pop bangers—if I do say so myself. So I kept those but with others on the album, I still wanted to bring the singer-songwriter vibe…I wanted that guitar and vocal influence present.” With each track keeping you on your toes whether in melody, tempo or topic, Perrie achieved her ultimate goal. “I needed the more soulful ballads to have their partners in the tracklist. I didn’t want anything to be too mismatched. But at the same time, as long as it was authentic to listen to, I’m happy.” 

Staying authentic remains easy for Perrie. “I love it. I feel like other music speaks to me, I relate to so many songs and so many artists and they have helped me through certain periods of my life or have taken me back to a particular feeling. Music does that, it’s meant to do that. So I find sharing it all quite empowering and I just hope when I release my album, people can relate in the same way,” she shares. “I think everything that I felt in the moment on the days of the sessions is what I got across. One day, I’d be like, ‘I really feel like I need to write about Axel.’ Other days I’d say, ‘I want to write about Alex and how amazing he is to me.’ Then there are friendships and past friendships that I unfortunately don’t have anymore, my anxiety…I wrote songs about everything. It’s so therapeutic to pour your heart out about a certain situation in your life—and all of a sudden it becomes a song.” What’s more? She didn’t do it alone. 

“I feel like all the collaborations happened organically. With Ed Sheeran, he had a song and he rang me about it and we discussed the concept,” she notes, both nonchalant and in awe. “I loved the melody, loved the vibe—I look up to him so much, I think he’s one of the most talented humans put on earth. He’s also such a nice and genuine person, so that’s why I felt comfortable to be like, ‘I love it, but conceptually, it’s not me. I’m not at that stage in my life right now. Would you be okay if I tweaked the lyrics to suit me and my life?’ And he was just like, ‘Of course!’ He wanted me to have full ownership of it, so I went away and did that.” For another heart-charged hit, she enlisted six-BRIT-Award-winner, Raye. “Getting in the studio with her was ridiculous, she just oozes stardom, I can’t explain it—I think she’s one of the greatest artists of our generation.” She reflects for a while longer as I point out she’s worked with some of the industry’s biggest heroes (with more collaborators soon to be announced). “I’ve been very lucky that the people I have idolised have been really nice to work with—there’s been no big egos or intimidating moments, I think that’s what made the experience so special for me.”

For Perrie, the curation of her debut album has been one special moment to the next. And so ensues the ultimate question brimming across her fandom’s lips: Why now? Or, for the particularly eager, why not sooner? “Well, Little Mix did the last tour, we went on our breaks and for me, I just wanted to be a mum. I think people can be quite judgemental about that, but being a mum was the most incredible and magical thing that has ever happened to me—I just wanted to live in that chapter.” Taking her first break since 17, watching her baby grow and all the “firsts” that entails, it was her fiancée that sought to bring her back to her one other passion in life. “Alex built a studio in our house. Honestly, when he mentioned that he was doing that for me, I was like, ‘Where did I find you?!’ He knew I wanted to be a mum and wanted to be at home, but he also knew my passion and loves are music and singing. So he just said, ‘Let’s connect the two.’ I feel lucky that I’m able to do that—I’m aware it’s not something everyone can do. I think my son was around one when I started the writing process. I feel like I did it at a good time and nothing was rushed, I wanted my music to be genuine to me.” 

She also, in turn, wanted it to feel genuine to her fans. “I always take into consideration what my fans would want to hear from me, and it’s tricky because everyone is different and wants something different. Even at that playback event we did, I played six songs and everyone in the room had different favourites. It’s about taste and what you relate to the most—which is why I wanted the album to have variety so that there was something there for everyone.” She flicks back her hair. “I’d like to think I know my fans very well, I know certain songs will stand out most to them,” she adds, smiling. 

But with all the excitement and anticipation, putting yourself out there in such a raw – and for the first time, isolated – terrain still has its hitch. “I’m not going to lie, it’s so scary. Seeing Leigh-Anne [Little Mix alumni] out there made me first of all so proud of her, but it also makes me see, ‘Wow! She did it!’ I’ll message her and be like, ‘How are you doing these performances so well without looking scared?’ And she’ll reply, ‘Babe, I was so terrified.’ She never looked it, so that gave me the confidence to put myself out there, too. It’s healthy, it’s good for you. But that aside, I’m shitting myself.” Having already had her life play out in the public eye since her teens, Perrie has learnt a thing or two about navigating the industry. “One quote I always swear by is, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ You could feel so confident and happy, then you compare it to someone else and those positive thoughts can be quickly spun the opposite way. It’s a scary industry to be in, everyone’s looking at you and you’re constantly being scrutinised and it can be very intense. But for me, if I surround myself with positive people and my fans and they’re nice to me and nice to each other, I feel happy—I won’t let anything affect that.” 

“I have a lot of self-doubt, so I have to talk myself out of it. The more I enjoy all these scary things, the better they will be. I’m just throwing myself in and seeing what happens.” As we close our conversation just weeks away from the official release of her first solo single, “Forget About Us” – of which snippets have already been teased across her social platforms – it would seem the hysteria provoked is proof enough that the star has nothing to worry about. Regardless, you can assume for damn sure she’s no longer interested in blending in. And I think I speak for all of us when I say: Perrie, it’s very nice to meet you. 

Photography by Holly Mcandless-Desmond at Dust Bunnies London

Styling by Jordan Kelseyat Canvas Represents

Interview and words by Ella West 

Editorial Director Charlotte Morton

Editor-in-Chief Ella West

Creative Director Jeffrey Thomson

Art Director Harry Fitzgerald

Assistant Art Director Bethany Griffiths

Production Director Benjamin Crank 

Production Assistant Lola Randall

Hair by Aaron Carlo

Makeup by Cassie Lomas at Creatives Agency using Gucci Beauty

Nails by Michael Do

Photography Assistant Kenneth Liew

Fashion Assistant Zoha Khan

Fashion Interns Melanie Dos Santos and Habon

Special thanks to CTRL Creative Studio