Little Mix have made history today with their huge win for ‘British Group’ at the 2021 BRIT Awards, becoming the first girl group ever to walk away with the award.
The trio – made up of Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock – beat out competition from the likes of The 1975, Biffy Clyro and Bicep.
The historic win didn’t go unnoticed by the group – two of whom are pregnant – and made sure that their acceptance speech recognised the barriers they’ve had to face.
“It’s not easy being a female in the UK pop industry,” Pinnock said.
“We’ve seen the white male dominance, misogyny, sexism and lack of diversity. We’re proud of how we’ve stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women and are now using our voices more than ever.”
Thirlwall paid tribute to previous girl groups from UK history who were snubbed by the award, most famously the Spice Girls, who remarkably never took this particular trophy home despite being the most successful girl group of all time.
“The fact that a girl band has never won this award really does speak volumes,” she said.
“This award isn’t just for us. It’s for the Spice Girls, Sugababes, All Saints, Girls Aloud, all of the incredible female bands. This one’s for you.”
The Spice Girls’ Twitter account celebrated the win for Little Mix, writing “Congratulations @littlemix doing it for the girls!”
In addition, Little Mix also paid special thank you to ex-member Jesy Nelson, who announced her departure from the group towards the end of last year.
Last week, Nelson opened up about the departure, saying her breaking point was filming the music video for their track ‘Sweet Melody’.
“I went on this extreme diet, with bloody shakes, and tried to eat as little as possible,” she said.
“On the day of the ‘Sweet Melody’ video I had a panic attack on set because I didn’t look how I wanted to look and I found it so hard to just be happy and enjoy myself.”
Watch Little Mix’s acceptance speech below, and find the full list of winners here.
.@LittleMix accept the award for ‘Best British Group’ at the #BRITs. pic.twitter.com/eFWXHhbrA5
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 11, 2021
