Perrie Edwards has confirmed that Little Mix are actively planning a reunion for 2026, telling an interview in London this week that the chart-topping group will return '100 per cent' — but 'definitely as a three,' without former bandmate Jesy Nelson.
For context, Little Mix announced an indefinite hiatus in 2022 after a decade together, following Nelson's earlier departure from the group in 2020. The band, formed onThe X Factorin 2011, went on to become one of the UK's most successful girl groups, with hits includingShout Out to My ExandBlack Magic, before the pressures of fame, solo ambitions, and, in Nelson's case, serious concerns about the music industry led them to step back.
Speaking toAttitudemagazine, Edwards, 32, said the three remaining members, herself, Jade Thirlwall, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, had already started informally plotting their Little Mix comeback.
'Oh, 100 per cent,' she said when asked if a reunion was on the cards. 'I'm ready and raring. We always message each other and are bantering like, 'So how long until we do a reunion? Are we going to do one? Where is it?''
She added that the conversation between the three tends to be less about if and more about when. 'I'm like, just give me a ballpark time. Do you know what I mean? Just let me know when.'
When the interviewer pressed on whether that reunion would involve all four original members, Edwards was unequivocal. Asked if it would be the original line-up or a slimmed-down version, she replied: 'A three. Definitely a three.'
There has been no public suggestion from the band that relations between Nelson and the others are driving that decision. Instead, the picture painted in recent months is of a former member who has consciously stepped away from what she has described as a damaging environment, now focused on caring for her young family.
Any Little Mix reunion inevitably has to reckon withJesy Nelson's departureand what followed. Nelson left the group in 2020, citing mental health struggles. She then attempted a solo career, releasing the singleBoyzin 2021.
The track, and particularly its music video, drew heavy criticism, with Nelson accused of 'blackfishing,' adopting aesthetics associated with Black culture, and facing a wave of online backlash that quickly overshadowed the music itself. The controversy marked a sharp break from Little Mix's broadly positive public image and appears to have reinforced Nelson's disillusionment with the wider industry.
In her Amazon Prime documentary, Nelson, now 34, gave a stark assessment of why she no longer sees a place for herself in mainstream pop.
Source: International Business Times UK
