Leigh-Anne Pinnock's Shares Her First Crush, Big Splurge & More

It was my first like girl's holiday,

and I just remember telling everyone,

I'm gonna be on the show.

I'm gonna be on X-Factor, I auditioned.

Just watch out for me.

[upbeat music]

Hi Teen Vogue, I'm Leigh-Anne Pinnock,

and these are some of my firsts.

My first CD, I think, was Busted,

their first album.

Yeah, I was pretty obsessed with that one,

but I just remember blasting it in my bedroom

every second I could get.

It's so random, because I don't really even like pop rock,

So I don't know why it was my favorite album at the time.

It's so weird.

My first job was retail, worked in House of Fraser.

So I was working on the men's wear section,

doing a bit of both cashier work

and restocking the clothes and whatever.

It was just so boring, like,

hated every second of it.

I'm really happy I do what I do now, just saying.

First time I was really starstruck

was when I saw the beautiful Rihanna.

And we was on the X-Factor,

and I was trying everything to meet her.

I just remember I was walking in the hallway,

she kind of crossed my path, and she was like,

Oh my God, your hair is awesome.

And I died, actually.

Couldn't speak, didn't know what just happened,

couldn't believe it, made my whole entire life.

Oh, my first role model.

Probably Mel B, from the Spice Girls.

Because I could look at her and be like,

well, I wanna do that.

Like, I look like you, I wanna,

I wanna do that too.

Like I can do that.

Loved the spice girls, obsessed.

Me and my sister used to always do dances to them.

I was just talking to my sister.

She did Stars in their Eyes in school, in primary school,

and she was Scary, she was Mel B.

Yeah, I just used to look at her like,

Oh my God, she's such a queen.

My first pet was an Alsatian,

called Khalifa,

who was amazing, super protective.

And my dad's best friend, which was really cute.

My first crush was Lil' Romeo.

Obsessed with him.

Don't know what it was, I had his posters.

Just absolutely adored him,

and I feel like, it was the Romeo show,

which was when the real love started.

Yeah.

My first car was a little black Corsa.

I literally felt like, the baddest girl ever.

Finally I had freedom of blasting my music,

and it was so run down, beat down,

but I didn't care.

Oh, actually, I remember just getting through

to like bootcamp or something on the X-Factor.

And I went out to the car and there was beans all over it.

I was like, which hater has put beans on my car?

I was like, oh my goodness.

But whoever did it, I mean, I showed you all, didn't I?

So ha-ha.

First concert was Craig David.

And I just remember sitting right at the back.

But yeah, it was still amazing.

Cause he's just, he's great, he's wicked.

But yeah, we were pretty far back, far away.

My first best friend was a girl who, Shenice,

and whom, we went to primary school together.

And we were literally inseparable, joined at the hip.

Did everything together.

Just remember we used to like, make up little soap operas,

and play moms and dads,

and play the Sims all the time.

And like, we had our own little TV show as well,

and we called it Show the Fantasy

We made like little theme tunes and, yeah,

we were pretty cringe, but we loved it, it was fun.

First time I was ever really embarrassed.

One vivid memory that really sticks out was when I was doing

like, a little talent show thing from my hometown.

I was singing Sinéad O'Connor.

I literally did the most horrible bomb-est note ever.

And then I went to sing it again, and I did it again,

and then I did it again.

I kid you not, like, so my whole throat just closed.

Oh, it was horrible.

Honestly, it was the most embarrassing moment ever.

But, you know what, I carried on,

and I didn't let it defeat me.

So I was obsessed with Mariah Carey.

She's the reason that I wanted to be a singer,

a hundred percent.

Going to have to say, probably any Mariah Carey song,

but, Always Be My Baby was like my go to.

When I first heard Mariah Carey,

and I just thought, yeah, I need to be a singer.

Probably sounded like a strangled cat

when I was singing her, but you know what?

I didn't care, I was absolutely obsessed with her.

Oh my gosh, I would literally blast it in my bedroom.

And my sister, especially,

Shut up, Leigh-Anne!

She was such a hater,

but she was always telling me to shut up.

But I'm glad that I never did.

Cause yeah, I'm here now.

My first live performance was probably in primary school.

I think I was about nine years old.

It was probably horrendous, because I was just super shy.

Looked to the floor, didn't even look in the audience.

Just yeah, so shy.

The first song I ever wrote was, ugh, horrendous.

And it went a little something like,

♪ Cheated on me ♪

♪ He treated me bad ♪

♪ You were in the wrong and you made me strong ♪

♪ See, I love you ♪

♪ Did you love me? ♪

♪ Now, I'm not too sure ♪

♪ Cause you cheated on me ♪

There you go.

Number one record.

The first time I was recognized in public.

I remember a time when I was in River Island,

and this little girl saw me.

This was like just after the show.

And she literally just started crying,

like was hysterical, like, Oh my God.

And I was just like,

why are you doing that over me?

Like, I just couldn't believe

why she was acting like that about me,

because obviously it was so new and like, yeah.

It was like, such an amazing feeling,

knowing that people see us like that.

I was like mind blown by that.

My first major disappointment.

Well actually, I auditioned for the X-Factor when I was 15.

I was 14.

I think it was the first year they put it underneath,

under 16's could do it, and I didn't get through.

And I was so gutted.

I really puffed myself up, I was so excited.

And then it was a no.

So yeah, that was probably like my first,

when I was on 14.

First recording session, well.

I used to go, when I was a bit younger,

maybe around, maybe like 14, 15?

When I was kind of first getting into it.

But yeah, I've been writing songs since I was little.

I had the songs all in my email.

Some of them actually aren't too bad.

Some of them I'm actually quite proud of.

The first vacation I went on my, well, my friends too.

Ibiza, and it was me and my best friend, Hanna.

It was my first like, girls' holiday.

It was just before the X-Factor.

And I just remember telling everyone,

I'm gonna be on the show.

I'm going to be on the X-Factor, I auditioned.

Just watch out for me.

Do you remember the film Fantasia?

The Disney one, and it was quite strange.

I feel like I went to see that when I was younger,

like on a school trip or something.

I can remember that, when I was quite young.

Really weird film.

I have no idea what my first word was.

Probably mama or dada,

because I was a daddy's girl, probably that.

First red carpet.

I felt like it was on the X-Factor.

And I think might have been,

Twilight?

Went to the premiere of Twilight

and that was just like, wow.

Because I think like, when you're growing up

and obviously I wanted to be a singer,

like, that's like the dream.

Like red carpet, cameras, pictures,

like paparazzi.

And you kind of just like dream of things like that.

It was just so overwhelming.

Like I couldn't believe that I was actually there.

Oh, first big splurge,

was buying myself a MacBook.

And I couldn't believe that I could afford a Mac book.

Because after this show, we've gotten like,

a little bit of money that we'd never seen in our lives.

And I'd also, actually, I remember going to River Island.

I'm in a shop in the UK, and just did a massive shop.

And I couldn't believe that I could actually,

just buy all these clothes,

like it was just surreal.

First thing I would do if I had a billion dollars.

Oh my goodness.

I would give a lot of it all to my family.

Buy them all, well, big houses.

Those charities.

I would probably build like animals sanctuaries, yeah.

I'd use it to help people.

I experienced a lot of negativity growing up.

People saying that I couldn't do it.

And a lot of it came from my hometown,

but it never stopped me.

I didn't, I never ever listened to them.

And I kid you not, like every single person that I met,

I told them I was gonna be a pop star.

I told them that I was going to be a super star.

And I said it to myself every day, and I just,

that was all that I wanted to do.

And I know I was planning to go to uni and all these things,

but I just knew, in my heart and in the back of my head,

that it was always going to be.

It was always going to be this.

Never questioned it.

Thank you all for watching, I love you guys.