Contents

Cover

Title Page

Introduction

1. Life Before X Factor

Little Years

The Big Audition

Bonkers Bootcamp

Big Bonding

Judges’ Houses

2. Showtime!

Moving on In

Makeover Madness

Going Liiiiiive!

All Change

Girl Bands Can

The Final Countdown

Oh My Goodness! We Woooon!

3. Life After X Factor

Cracking Christmas

New Year, New Life

Road Mixers

Super Stylin’

Flying into the Future

The Big Little Mix Q&A

Thank You

Copyright

About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to the first ever official Little Mix book! We’ve had so much fun writing about our younger years, style secrets, the tour, our X Factor days and each other, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading it every bit as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.

Life with Little Mix has been non-stop since we won The X Factor. It’s been amazing travelling around together and working on our debut album, and it feels so incredible to be getting our music out there whilst, hopefully, spreading a positive and uplifting message!

We just want to say thanks once again for all of your unbelievable support since day one. It may sound like a bit of a cliché, but without all of you we wouldn’t be writing this right now. As a band we’re happier and closer than ever and we’ve got such massive plans for the future. We’d love you to be there with us every step of the way.

Lots of love,

Jade, Leigh-Anne, Jesy and Perrie

Jade practising her tap and ballet

LITTLE YEARS

JADE: I was always quite a shy kid, until I got to know people. The only time I felt really confident was when I was performing. I started doing it when I was six, going to dance and theatre schools, and I loved it. I’ve got an older brother called Karl and we were really supportive of each other. I would always go and watch him playing football, and he would watch me perform. He’s still really supportive and protective now. He always said I would be a singer and he believed in me from the start. In fact, all of my family have been amazingly supportive. I feel so, so lucky. My mam is my best friend – she used to take me everywhere, to every show. She must have spent a lot of money! I’m also really close to my dad. They’ve been there for me every step of the way.

When I was younger I used to sing at the old people’s homes at Christmas and they used to go, ‘Eee, pet, you’re going to be a star one day!’ I loved doing little shows like that because it made the people who lived there smile, and it was great experience.

I was a proper swot at school. My mam worked at my primary school so there I had to behave! I was quite an all-rounder. I loved maths and English and I always wanted to be the best I could be in whatever I did. I kept changing my mind about what I was going to do as a career. At first I wanted to be Diana Ross, then a forensic scientist, then a lawyer, then an English teacher and then an artist.

I was top of everything in secondary school but I still had no idea what I wanted to do long term. I loved dancing and singing, but I didn’t see it as a realistic career, so I was always looking for a plan B.

I had loads of friends in primary school and I met lots of people through doing performing arts, but it was different when I got to secondary school. I was the only person from my primary school to move there, so I was totally on my own. It was awful. I went from being really popular to knowing absolutely no one. I really closed off from people and became super-sensible and quiet. I used to have my tie done right up to the top and all of my hair scraped back. I was like a normal spotty teenager. I worked really hard and went to all of my lessons, and people must have thought I was soft, because for the first two years at that school I got picked on quite badly. I was still going to tap and ballet classes until I was about 13, and I did drama at school, so that was my outlet when I was feeling upset or lonely. It gave me something to look forward to.

There was a time when I was bullied so badly by one girl that I bunked off school to avoid her, but in the end I told one of the teachers and thankfully it got sorted out.

I joined the choir and then in Year 9 my music teacher asked me to get up in assembly and sing, and despite being terrified I went for it. After that I gained more popularity and got more friends, and it was such a relief. My friends Holly, Anna and Sarah are still my best friends now. I know I can always rely on them totally. They really helped me be more confident with my singing and were so encouraging to me.

I started appearing in lots of musicals and plays, both in school and out of it, so that helped me to meet people too. I tried everything I could to get as much experience as possible when it came to performing, and it was a real release for me. By the end of secondary school I was head girl and everyone knew me because I’d been on The X Factor. I’d managed to take something really swotty and make it cool.

When I was 16 I started performing gigs in local pubs and clubs. I can’t even count how many shows I did back then. I did everything that came my way. Around the same time I started going to house parties and being much more sociable, so I guess I had more of a balance. Singing always came first for me, though.

I first decided to try out for The X Factor in 2008. I was 15 and even though I did a lot of performing I was still a really nervous person. Singing was what gave me confidence, so I decided to give The X Factor a go. I didn’t really know what I was doing; I literally just turned up and sang. I made it through to the first stage of Bootcamp, but then unfortunately I was sent home. I was heartbroken and I cried for weeks.

Simon told me to keep coming back as I was only young, but I took a break the next year to concentrate on my GCSEs.

I nearly didn’t try out the next year either. I thought because Joe McElderry had won they wouldn’t want someone from the same place again. But my mam encouraged me and I felt happier about doing it because I kind of knew what I was doing. I got to the end of Bootcamp that time, but I didn’t cry when I got cut because I’d already decided to come back the following year.

That same year I won the Pride of South Tyneside Young Performer of the Year 2010 Award, which felt like an amazing achievement and spurred me on to try for The X Factor one last time! At that time I was doing A-levels in English literature, fine art and media studies, and I was planning on doing a fine art degree, so that was going to be my back-up if I was cut from The X Factor again.

I was doing quite a lot of gigs around the North East. I mainly sang Motown tracks, because I grew up listening to that music thanks to my mam and my Great Auntie Norma. I was also teaching singing and dancing at a theatre school, so it was all good practice for the show.

Jade putting on an early performance

Jade on her fourth birthday

JESY: I grew up around Essex with my younger brother Joe and my older brother and sister, Johnny and Jade. We lived in 12 different houses growing up, and even had a stint in Cornwall, but we moved back when my brothers got scouted for West Ham football club when I was 10.

We all really loved performing, and when I look back at videos from when we’re younger we’re all singing and dancing along to songs, and using whisks and hairbrushes as microphones. I always thought Jade would end up being the performer, but she’s now a football coach for West Ham and my brothers do building work with my uncle.

I was a funny little thing when I was small. I had really curly hair and I was quite eccentric. I looked a bit like Peter Andre’s daughter Princess. I was always telling stories and putting on funny little accents. Looking back you could tell I was always going to be a performer. I was really confident and outgoing.

I guess I’ve always been quite theatrical and I started off wanting to be an actress, so aged eight I began going to a Saturday theatre school. Once I was in a performance of Annie and had to sing on my own, and my voice went all funny because I was so nervous. I think that really affected me and gave me a fear of singing. When you’re dancing, nerves can be a good thing because they can give you extra energy, but when you’re singing your throat dries up and you feel really panicked, and there’s nothing worse.

When I was about 12 I went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, which was in Marylebone then. Rita Ora was in my class, and Vanessa from The Saturdays was also there at the same time as me. That’s when I first started beat boxing. I don’t do it properly, I just kind of mess around, but I really enjoy it. There were three boys in school who used to do it all the time and I thought it was so cool, so I got them to teach me and I’ve done it ever since.

I loved Sylvia Young’s, but a part of me didn’t want to be branded as a stage-school kid because I always wanted to be myself. I didn’t like being given elocution lessons and being told to speak properly. We’re all different, and the world would be boring if we were all the same. I didn’t want to be something I wasn’t.

After I left there I couldn’t get into the schools I wanted to go to because they were full, so I went to one near my house that I hated. I got picked on and I couldn’t wait to leave. One of my teachers told me about this new school in Dagenham called Jo Richardson’s which was just being built and was going to be specialising in music and dance. I ended up going there for the last three years of my schooling, and that’s when I got even more into music and drama.

At school the subjects I tried hardest in were the ones I loved, like drama, singing and dancing. I used to lose concentration in science and maths. To me there was no point in trying hard in those lessons, because I didn’t want to be a mathematician or a scientist. My science teacher told me off for not working hard enough, and I turned round and said that I didn’t need science because I wanted to be a singer. He looked at me like I was mad, but I knew in my heart it was all I wanted.

Later on I got really into street dancing. The Diversity dance troupe who won Britain’s Got Talent used to put on shows around the country, and one day I was in Lakeside Shopping Centre with my mum and they were performing. I told my mum I wanted to do what they did, but I never imagined I could. I went along to one of their classes and that was it. I was hooked. I joined the sister girl group called Out of the Shadows, and from then on it was all I wanted to do.

Before I auditioned for The X Factor I was working in a bar and really enjoying it. I’d had quite a hard time from other girls at school, which gave my confidence a bit of a knock, but working in the bar and meeting so many people and having to interact with strangers really helped to build it up again. But I knew I couldn’t do it for the rest of my life. I kept thinking about auditioning, but the only person I’d ever sung in front of was my best friend Solitaire, so I was really nervous about other people seeing me. I’d watched the show and seen the massive queues of people and thought I’d never have a chance. In the end she convinced me to go for it, and the next thing I knew I was filling out the form.

Jesy and her brother Joe on holiday

Jesy in a school photo aged five

Jesy aged ten

LEIGH-ANNE: It may seem hard to believe, but I was really shy as a child, and I always used to say to my dad, ‘I don’t like peoples!’ I loved my mum and my dad, Debbie and John, and my older sisters, Sarah and Sian. But I was quite closed off from other people. I didn’t have any hair for ages, so I used to look like a boy. Then, when it did grow, I got this huge afro that used to stick out all over the place!

My sister Sarah is an amazing performer, and we used to put on shows with my cousins. I remember we did a Spice Girls routine when I was about five. I was trying to copy everything Sarah was doing because I was so in awe of her.

The whole time I was growing up in High Wycombe I used to tell people that I was going to be a star. I think people thought I was crazy, but my family always believed in me. I took part in every play I could at school, like Grease and Oliver!. I also took part in a Stars in Their Eyes competition at primary school where I sang ‘Ooh Stick You’ by Daphne and Celeste. I also went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School on a Saturday when I was 11, but it wasn’t for me so I didn’t stay long.

School was okay for me generally. I got teased a lot at primary school because I was never one of the ‘cool’ kids. I did hang around with a cool group, but I never really felt properly part of it. For some reason boys in particular were mean to me. But by the time I reached secondary school things changed a lot and I had a really solid group of friends who I’m still incredibly close to now. My best friend is called Hannah and she’s the most supportive person ever. We’re so close and we’re always there for each other. I’m a bit of a party girl and we used to go raving together, to house parties or clubs. Hannah and I used to do spontaneous things like go to London for a night without knowing where we were going. I’m very much a live for the moment kind of person.

I loved music, drama, English and French at school. I was quite a good girl and rarely got into trouble. I did so many things growing up. While I was at secondary school I tried out acting, I played the drums for a while, learnt piano, had singing lessons – you name it, I gave it a go.

I took part in loads of talent shows, and I was also in a choir called Street Dreams and we used to busk in supermarkets to raise money for charity. I still support them now because they’ve done so much for me. I was also in a music company called Songbirds, which gave me some good experience.

Leigh-Anne in a school photo aged four

Leigh-Anne as a baby

After leaving school I got a job as an Aim Higher mentor for Year 8 students at my mum’s school. I would help them to maintain their targets and concentrate on their studies and watch their progress. It was a really rewarding thing to do.

I stayed on for sixth form at my school to study for my A-levels in music, English and psychology, and while I was there I was made head girl. We had to have interviews for it and I must have done pretty well! My job was to be a good role model and set a good example for the younger students. That was good, because before I used to hate public speaking, and it really helped me to build up my confidence.

Just before I auditioned for The X Factor I was working as a waitress at Pizza Hut in High Wycombe, and I was planning to study educational studies at university if music didn’t work out. I wanted to do a Postgraduate certificate in education and go into primary school teaching.

I used to save up all of my tips and travel to London to spend time in a recording studio called Atomic Studios with a producer named Jerome. I’d posted on Channel AKA a recording of ‘100 Days’, a song that I’d made with an artist called Rampant. I started getting a bit of recognition off the back of that, and Jerome’s brother rang me up and asked me if I wanted to go into the studio and work on some tracks.

Jerome used to make all of my beats for me, and we’d write together. I’ve been writing songs for years and years and I love it. I also worked with a guy named Varren Wade, who used to be in a band called Fun-Da-Mental, and with a girl named Katie Pearl who sang on the funky house track ‘Something in the Air’.

I was really happy with the music I’d been working on as a solo artist, then one day Jerome said that I should be in a girl band. He probably meant it to be encouraging, but it made me cry, because I thought it meant that he didn’t think I was good enough to make it on my own. I couldn’t see myself as anything but a solo artist, but I didn’t know what was around the corner …

Dreaming of being a star. Leigh-Anne singing karaoke at home on her eighth birthday

My dad had been telling me for years that I should audition for The X Factor, but my mum was putting me off because she was worried I’d be crushed if it didn’t work out. Funnily enough, my dad then suggested that I get a girl band together, but I still wasn’t into the idea. Some time later I was having one of those days when I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life, so I sat down at my computer and filled out the X Factor application form. I just thought I had nothing to lose. Then I got a call to say I had an audition, which was a real shock. And that’s when it all started.

PERRIE: I was born in South Shields and I loved performing from a very young age. I get my love of singing from both of my parents because they both perform. My mum and dad broke up when I was young, so it was just me, my older brother Jonnie and my mum a lot of the time. But my mum and dad have always been super-supportive and we’re really close. It’s always been cool having two houses to hang out in as well. My brother Jonnie and I used to fight like cat and dog, but he was like a fatherly figure in my life and he really looked after me. We get on really well now.

We moved around quite a lot and even went to New Zealand for a while. We were there for just over a year when I was about 11, but we ended up moving back to the UK because sadly my granddad had a stroke so Mum wanted to be able to look after him. It’s a lovely place, though, and I’d love to go back one day. I had some of the best times of my life there and I have so many amazing memories.

Perrie aged two with her nan

I had a really nice time growing up in the North East. I come across as quite ‘out there’, but in fact I was really shy as a child. I could talk when I was about eight months old, and my mum said that people used to find it dead weird that I could have conversations that young.

Perrie in her favourite red coat, aged two

One of my earliest memories is from when I was a toddler. Mum was wheeling me through the Metro Centre in Gateshead in my pushchair and we saw some other young kids. They didn’t have dummies so my mum said to me, ‘Look Perrie, they don’t need dummies because they’re big girls. Are you a big girl?’ I took my dummy out and threw it into a nearby pond because I’d seen people throwing money into it. Then I decided I wanted the dummy back and I screamed and screamed, so my poor mum had to take off her socks and shoes and go into the pond and get it back.

I first decided I wanted to be singer when I was about six. I was in the launderette with my mum and I stood up on one of the laundry machines and starting singing ‘The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow’ from Annie. All these old ladies who were in there washing their clothes were giving me 20p coins and I thought, ‘Ooh, I’d like to do this for a living!’

I loved school, and when I was in primary I was real hard working and well behaved, but things started to slide a bit when I got to secondary school. I hated maths and science – unless they had the Bunsen burner going – and I was always trying to get out of PE. I used to stay with my dad every Wednesday, and I’d try and get him to write letters for me so I didn’t have to do it, but my mum would always find out and make me go. I could always get away with lots more with my dad than I could with my mum. He’s so much fun.

I wasn’t at all sporty and I ran like a headless chicken. Sports Day was often on my birthday as well, and if so I wouldn’t go in to school because it totally ruined the day for me.

I loved English and I really enjoyed writing stories and poems, which I guess is a bit like writing songs. I joined the choir in my early teens but I never got the leads because I was too shy. Then later on I took drama for GCSE and I was Alice in Alice in Wonderland, which helped me with my confidence.

After school I went to Newcastle College to do Advanced Performing Arts and in the first year I had a real laugh. But in the second year I was in different classes to my friends and I felt really lonely. I was also always being told by my teachers that my voice was ‘too pop’, which was frustrating. But my form teacher, Steve, was so encouraging and he always made me feel like I was on the right path.

All I wanted to do as a career was sing, but I had to do dance in my classes as well so I got a bit knocked when I didn’t do very well. But Steve helped me to get past that and keep focused on what I wanted.

While I was at college I decided to try out for The X Factor. I’d heard that they were doing auditions in Newcastle. My mum encouraged me to apply, so I went for it, thinking I had nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Perrie on her mam’s knee

THE BIG AUDITION

JADE: For some reason my audition in 2011 felt totally different to any of the ones I’d done before. I kept thinking in my head, ‘It’s third time lucky,’ and I knew that if I didn’t get through this time that was it, I wouldn’t try again. It’s horrible when you get knocked back and there’s only so many times you can go in for something and keep getting turned away.

I was terrified about being told no in the very first round. If I fell at the first hurdle it would mean I was worse than I had been the previous couple of times I’d tried out.

Every other year I’d gone along trying to impress the judges and thought too much about what I was going to wear and sing, so I decided to totally be myself. I was wearing giraffe-patterned trousers and a little waistcoat and I probably looked a bit weird, but I didn’t care!

Thankfully all of the judges said they liked me. Louis remembered me from before, and Tulisa said I must have had a lot of determination to keep coming back again. I sang an acoustic version of The Beatles’ ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’, and Gary said he really liked it – and my voice and what I’d done with the track. I was so relieved. Kelly said she liked my voice but didn’t think I was confident enough and that I should be in a girl group. I automatically pulled a face, then I remember Kelly saying, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with being in a girl band?’ I thought she meant like a Kandy Rain-type band with sexy outfits – I would have hated doing that!

In the end I got four yes’s and I should have been happy, but I kept thinking about what Kelly had said and wondered if she was right.

I was so happy I’d got through to Bootcamp again, but because that’s where I’d been sent home before I felt wary and scared about going.

JESY: When I arrived for my first audition, which is one of the ones you do before you get to see the judges, there was literally a sea of people. I thought there was no way in hell I was getting through. I even asked my mum, Jan, if we could go home, but she was so encouraging. She believes that if you don’t try, you don’t get anywhere. She’s always wanted me to be happy doing what I want to do.

I always like to be a bit different and a bit eccentric with what I wear, and I knew I had to stand out, so I wore some army combat shorts, stripy socks, Mickey Mouse trainers and a Donald Duck top.

I didn’t want to sing something like Adele, because I knew everyone else would be doing that, so I chose a track called ‘Bust Your Windows’ by a lady called Jazmine Sullivan. I’ve got quite a soulful voice, so the song really suited me.

I was terrified doing that audition, because you have to go into a little booth with one person and sing to them. They’re so close up to you and it’s really embarrassing. You can hear all the other people auditioning around you too, which is so off-putting. I’d been told that they only give out a certain number of golden tickets – which guarantees your entry into the next round – so when three of the people ahead of me got golden tickets I calmed down a bit because I thought they’d probably given them all out anyway.

I walked in and told the guy in the booth my name and started singing. I could see him tapping his foot, then I beat boxed, and I think that’s why I got through – because it was different from what other girls had done. He handed me a golden ticket and I was in total shock. The guy told me to prepare some more songs for my main audition but to wear the same thing.

I had to be up at 6am to get to my main audition with the judges. My friends Shane and Solitaire and my mum were with me for support. I was third on stage out of everyone at the London dates, and I was terrified to the point where I was shaking and could hardly breathe. I couldn’t bear the thought of the audience booing me or something. That would have been awful.

In the end it was all such a blur. I didn’t see anyone in the audience, so it felt like it was just me and the judges in the room. After I sang I wanted to cry, because I knew it had gone wrong. Gary Barlow really didn’t get me at all, and I remember being gutted. To me he seemed to be the Simon Cowell of the panel – the one that everyone wants to impress. He said he didn’t like the audition and didn’t think I had any potential whatsoever, and at that point I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I was mortified that everyone would see that bit when it was on telly.

Tulisa and Louis both said I had a lot of potential, and Kelly said she could see me in a girl group. Even that left me feeling really disheartened though because I thought it meant I wasn’t good enough to do it on my own.

I came off with three yes’s, but because Gary hadn’t given me a thumbs up I still burst into tears. Dermot was hugging me backstage and asking if they were happy tears, but they weren’t. I was absolutely gutted that he’d said no.

When I got home I became adamant that I wasn’t going to go to Bootcamp because there was no point. My mum was desperately trying to convince me that I’d be okay, but I wasn’t interested. In the end she told me I had nothing to lose, and I realised she was right. It would have been a massive opportunity missed.

LEIGH-ANNE: When the time came for me to go to my audition I was so nervous. I went along with a friend of mine called Jane, who was also trying out. We both got through the first round but then she didn’t get any further and I was convinced I would go the same way. I couldn’t believe it when I made it all the way to see the main judges.

When the time finally came to face Gary, Tulisa, Kelly and Louis I’d just got back from a holiday in Ibiza. I’d been partying quite a lot, so my voice was suffering a bit. I was also really tired, and I felt cross with myself that I wasn’t up to scratch.

I was wearing shorts, a vest top, socks and braces, and I was standing on stage looking out at the audience thinking, ‘I’m never going to get through this.’ I felt like I was watching the whole thing on TV. It was so weird. The first song I sang was Rihanna’s ‘Only Girl in the World’, and then I sang the Gershwin song ‘Summertime’, which I’d heard sung by Ella Fitzgerald. I was so pleased that I got to sing two songs, because I think if I’d been judged on just one track I wouldn’t have made it. Thankfully the feedback was really good. Gary said a star had been born, Louis said I had a lot of potential, Tulisa said I reminded her of a little Rihanna, and Kelly said she could see me in a girl band. That was what Jerome had told me. I couldn’t believe I was hearing it again!

I got four yes’s and I was like, ‘Come on, this is going to happen for me!’ I knew if I got past that point I could go all the way.

PERRIE: I remember being in bed at 4am one morning and my mum came and started nudging me to wake me up. I’m not a morning person so I wasn’t happy! She told me that the Newcastle auditions had been cancelled so we’d have to travel to Glasgow there and then. I had to prepare a song to sing and find an outfit in next to no time.

I was so nervous that I nearly backed out, but my mum said, ‘I’ve never asked you to do anything for me, but I want you to try and do this.’ I really didn’t want to go, and I only agreed because I didn’t want to let her down – and I said I wasn’t going to tell anyone I was going.

I was wearing a little hippy dress and a headband and I felt like I must be sticking out like a sore thumb because everyone else was looking really cool, or wearing fancy-dress costumes to try and get noticed. I thought I looked too normal stood next to Superman!

In the end I got given a golden ticket after my first audition, which meant that I was through to the next round. That’s when I thought there could be something in it after all!

Eventually I made it all the way through the initial three auditions, and then I had to wait to find out if I was going to sing in front of the judges. I was so happy, but so, so terrified.

When I got a call from The X Factor inviting me to audition for the judges I wanted to jump up and down and scream. I was shopping at the time with a friend of mine and I told her I’d got a call about a job interview. I still didn’t want people to know I was auditioning, in case I didn’t make it.

It was the best feeling being able to go home and tell my mum that I’d got through. She was so excited for me, and I was very happy – she’d promised to buy me an iPhone if I did well. It was a big incentive for me, because my phone was absolutely rubbish.

My family and I travelled all the way to Glasgow once again for the main audition, and everyone in the waiting room was singing dead loudly while they waited for their turn and seemed really confident.

I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there. I was so timid and shy, and I was getting interviewed constantly. I was literally shaking, and I turned to my dad and said I didn’t think I could go through with it. He turned round and said, ‘Look, even I’d be nervous if I had to do those interviews. You’re not used to doing them, but you know you can sing, so being on stage will be the easy part. Get up there and show them what you can do.’ That totally stuck in my head.

Just as I was about to go out to perform I heard the X Factor theme music belting out and I thought I was going to be sick. Dermot was chatting to me and being really sweet, which made me feel calmer, but I was still feeling breathless.

When I was standing at the side of the stage waiting to go on, I saw the judges and it didn’t feel like it was real. One of the researchers told us that the judges had given out loads of no’s and wanted to see something special, so I walked out with a big smile on my face and waved to try and make an impression.

I sang ‘You Oughta Know’ by Alanis Morissette, and Tulisa stopped me pretty quickly. She and Louis didn’t really like me, but Kelly said I’d blown the roof off the place, and Gary also liked me a lot. Tulisa said she wasn’t blown away by me, and I was thinking that I was going to be sent home.

I sang Beyonce’s ‘Ave Maria’ a cappella, and just before I hit a high note Kelly Rowland threw her pen in the air, and it hit Tulisa on the head! Everyone started arguing about me again and Kelly was whacking the table. Even though Louis and Tulisa weren’t totally sure about me, I got four yes’s in the end, and I ran off screaming and crying.

My family and I went and stayed in a hotel and had a nice dinner and it was so good. It was the best way to celebrate and one of the happiest moments of my life.

Jesy getting ready for The Brits

BONKERS BOOTCAMP

JADE: Before going to Bootcamp I decided to go for some hypnotherapy to calm my nerves. I never used to get nervous when I sang in pubs and clubs, because it was all about having a good time and most people were drunk when you sang in front of them, but when you do The X Factor you’re being judged and it means so much. I learnt different techniques to calm myself, and one of them involved tapping different parts of my body – I must have looked a right weirdo doing that before I went up on stage!

The first night of Bootcamp was crazy. Everyone had a big party in one of the hotels, and funnily enough some of the only people who left and went to bed early were me, Jesy, Perrie and Leigh-Anne. We all knew that opportunities like that don’t come along often, and I didn’t want to blow it for the sake of a party.

The next day a huge chunk of the contestants got sent home, and when I looked at who it was, most of them were the ones who had been partying late. I think it was a bit of a test for everyone involved.

I was put in a few groups with a real mixture of people. I was hanging out a lot with Johnny Robinson, who is so lovely. I was moved from group to group and told no three times, and my head was all over the place. It was one of the best and worst experiences I’ve ever had.

X Factor tour outfits

Several of us were told that we were good but we weren’t strong or confident enough, and that’s when they decided to try and put together some girl groups. At first I didn’t like the idea at all, but as soon as I was put with Jesy and Leigh-Anne it felt right, because we were already sort of friends.

I was aware of Perrie as well, because she’s from the same area as me and we know a lot of the same people. I’d tried to track her down but I hadn’t been able to, then I ended up sitting next to her when they were divvying up the groups and we got on straight away. She was worried that her look was really different and she didn’t fit in with anyone. At one point she was crying and I really felt for her. I remember wishing that she could have joined up with us.

Jesy then got moved into Perrie’s group, and all of a sudden we were rivals. Leigh-Anne and I had never heard Perrie sing, and when we did… wow! We thought we had no chance compared to Perrie and Jesy’s group, but then neither of our groups got picked.

At that moment I just knew we were going to get put together. For some reason I had this gut feeling. It sounds cheesy but I do think it was fate.

JESY: I both loved and hated the whole Bootcamp experience. It gives you so much more passion when you see how passionate everyone else is about it. I grew in confidence so much too. I met loads of brilliant people, including Derry, who told me he’d auditioned so many times and got no’s and still carried on. That showed me how silly I was to nearly give up so early on. I think in this industry you’ve got to keep going even when people say no.

I got knocked back three times before we got put in the band, so it was disheartening at times, but I kept picking myself back up again. I was so determined to show Gary that I did have potential.

At first I was put in a group with loads of boys for the initial task, and when we performed before the judges Gary was smiling when it came to my part. He later said that he had seen a lot of people at auditions that he didn’t think were good enough to go through, but he’d since changed his mind about them after seeing them at Bootcamp. I was like ‘Yeah!’ – I was well happy.

I was feeling hopeful after that, but then Louis called us back on stage and said none of us had star quality. My heart sank. The thought of going home and telling everyone I hadn’t got through was so horrible. I went off stage and I was sobbing. All the cameras were in my face but I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I went into the toilet and sat there and cried and cried. My sister Jade called me, and I had to tell her I’d been sent home. She offered to come and pick me up and I was so grateful – I just wanted to get out of there.

One of the researchers came in to see me and gave me a cuddle and asked me if I’d do an interview, but I didn’t want to be on camera crying. She said she’d come back in ten minutes, and I was planning to do a runner so I would get away without doing it. Then she came back in and said it was best for me if I stayed. I was in two minds, but she said it was for my own good, so I was intrigued.

Jesy and Leigh-Anne at the sound check for the tour

In the end I agreed and when I walked out I saw about 30 people standing around. We got told they were going to choose some people to put in a group, and I was praying they’d choose me. Originally the thought of being in a group would have horrified me, but now the idea of having to go through the whole audition process again the following year felt so much worse. I would have done anything to stay.

When my name got called out I was so happy. My poor sister was waiting outside for me. She was desperately trying to call me while I was waiting to hear my fate, but I didn’t answer my phone. She must have felt as confused as I did.

I was put in a group with Jade and Leigh-Anne, and we sat up until four in the morning rehearsing that night, even though we had to get up at six. Then I got taken out of that group and put with three other girls, including Perrie, and I was gutted because one of the girls was very open about the fact that she didn’t want to work with us. Jade, Leigh-Anne and I had worked so hard together and I thought we’d had a really good chance at making it through.

In the end both of our groups got rejected so I decided that was that. Then out of nowhere Jade, Leigh-Anne, Perrie and I got put together and I could not believe it. I kept thinking, ‘How many chances am I going to get?’ But as soon as we sang together it just worked.

I know Jade’s already said it, but it was like fate. Leigh-Anne and I shared a room at Bootcamp, then we met Jade and became really good friends with her, and then we met Perrie when I was put in the band with her. It was so strange how it worked out.

I would hate to be a solo singer again now. I don’t know how people like Amelia and Mischa get on stage and sing on their own. I would be so scared. The girls are like my safety net, and I don’t get nervous the way I used to, because I know we’ve all got each other’s backs.

LEIGH-ANNE: I carried on waitressing after my audition, and I also applied to university so I would have something to fall back on if The X Factor didn’t work out. But I couldn’t wait to get to Bootcamp.

When I got there I was surrounded by all these amazing singers and I started to doubt myself, because I didn’t see why I would get chosen out of all of those talented people. Then when I had to perform I don’t know what happened, but something came out of me and I started jumping around on stage and really going for it. Something clicked and I knew I had to get through it. It felt like my one shot to do it. Then we got put into groups and we had to perform together, and I enjoyed that so much more than I thought I would. For the first time I began to wonder if there could be something about being in a girl band after all.

I was so gutted when I got a no after the first Bootcamp challenge. I got my belongings together and was ready to leave, but then a group of us got asked to stay, and I knew that I was going to get asked to be in a girl group.

I was put with Jade and Jesy, and then they took Jesy out and put a girl called Shanty in our group. She was lovely and we worked really well together, so I was gutted she didn’t go through. But I shared a room with Jesy at Bootcamp and we’d got on so well and been a great support for each other. Also Jade and Jesy had been told before that they’d be good in a girl band, so we’d planned to stick together so the judges could see how well we worked together.

Jesy got put in a group with Perrie and we knew it was either our group or theirs that would go through, because we were too alike for them to choose both. I was stunned when we were both given no’s, but then they called Jesy, Perrie, Jade and me back on to the stage and said they wanted us to be a band. That’s when I realised one hundred per cent that I had to be in a group – especially with the other three girls. I loved having other people to support me.

After being so introverted as a child, it’s so weird to think that now I perform to thousands of people and I don’t get nervous. My confidence is growing all the time, and I credit the girls with a lot of that because they’ve boosted me whenever I’ve got down or doubted myself.

I used to get so nervous when I was a solo artist, and I never felt I properly performed. I would just stand there feeling really nervous. It was like there was something missing. Now I feel as if I’ve found my place. I know where I belong and there’s a special spark between us all. I was meant to be with these girls.

We were so happy when we found out that Tulisa was going to be looking after groups, because she’s the judge we really wanted to work with. We felt she believed in us from the start and she was so down to earth and lovely. She was like the final piece of the Little Mix puzzle.

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