Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 33: Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Pop superstar Leigh-Anne Pinnock joins us for lunch this week to talk all about her brand new solo music. The Little Mix member, turned actress, turned mum of 2, has embarked on a brand new chapter of her career and we couldn’t wait to hear all her fabulous stories. Over mum’s home made chicken shawarma and a strawberries & cream cake, Leigh-Anne reminisced about her time in Little Mix, meeting her now husband in Marbella, her dream nachos as her last supper, her grandparents delicious Bajan food she ate while growing up, being pregnant at the same time as her bandmates, and we shared tips on which celebrity rears the best Christmas turkey (JB vs JO!). Leigh-Anne’s brand new EP ‘No Hard Feelings’ is released this Friday on May 31st and it’s glorious! Before we sign off we just wanted to quickly remind every listener in the UK to register to vote by the 18th June, it’s so, so important! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here in Clapham. Lenny has been on the food duties and also looking after my children whilst I went to Menorca which actually is fabulous. It's not actually, it is fabulous. It's my pleasure to be with your children. It was my pleasure to be away from them and it was really nice. I ate really good food. I read two books. That book you gave me, Mum. Was awful.

No, it's not awful. It's very good. It's about motherhood. Yeah, were you trying to tell me something about myself? It's just that I look at books that are recommended by people. Soldier Sailor. Soldier Sailor. It's very good, by the way.

Bella Mackey put it down. And it's been in all the top books at the moment. And I think Sarah Jessica Parker, she is also a big reader. So she often has piles of books. It was, I'm just about to finish it. It's excellent. Yeah.

Would I like it? It's so evocative that it made me, it reminded me a lot of kind of the beginnings of having a baby and stuff which I think I felt uncomfortable with but it's fantastic but yes I was like wow this reminds me of like wandering up Dalston High Road very not knowing what you're doing exhausted and yes but it's fantastic but yeah it wasn't it isn't I wouldn't say light read um but it's beautiful um but yeah so basically I went to Menorca with my husband it was gorgeous stayed in a beautiful hotel um made some friends shout out to my new friends um who gave us a lift to a beach um called Jessica

and Laura Laura was less willing to give us the lift and she was very open about it she said I wouldn't have given you a lift um but Jessica was well up for it they were best friends that had met at college and they do a holiday together every year oh there's lots of people Americans pure Swifties so we listened to the whole of the Swifty collection they had no idea who I was until they decided to play my back catalogue in the car just to see whether they liked it or not whilst I was sitting in the car with them. And what's the verdict? I think they liked it. I think they maybe liked more mid-tempo Jessie stuff.

Okay. But they were so fun. How did you meet them? Were you hitchhiking? No, I know. No, they were in the reception of our hotel and they were like, we're going to the same beach. Anyway, we basically ended up hiking together

and it was a really lovely day. So shout out to them and also she gave she she did a cookbook in her lockdown just for herself she's big big foodie host hoster and um she said that her spag bol she puts beer in instead of wine listen don't knock it till you try it i'm just putting it out there let's just let's just say Seattle's a long way from Italy that's all I can say what would she know anyway we had such fun doing the Jordan live episode and thank you so much for all your messages in um I don't know should we do another live tour I don't know maybe we just do much smaller venues smaller venues and great guests I think that's the key Jordan was a particularly fabulous human Jordan is welcome whenever yeah

should we have him back or do another I think we should have him back and have his girlfriend Jade back and we've Jordan's got a particular connection with I know we're kind of like six degrees of separation of little mix yeah um leanne pinnock is coming on this podcast today she has an ep out called no hard feelings it's about six songs it's got that tune amazing tune forbidden fruit on it it's got the opening song stealing love is so good and then it's got her newest single which is oh Oh My God or OMG. And she has twins. She's doing this all. She's fabulous.

She's coming here. And what are you cooking? I've never done it before, so let's hope it works. But I thought it might be a nice lunch thing. Chicken shawarma, which has been marinating since yesterday, with a Greek salad. Yeah. Well, tomato and baby cucumber, red onion, feta salad. Yeah. Well, tomato and baby cucumber, red onion feta salad.

Yum. Then a herby salad, but not like yours, because it's just a green salad. I think I've overdone the green goddess. Okay, well, it's a green salad. I'm just going to put oil and vinegar on. And then I've made tzatziki. Yeah.

And I've made a tahini dip. Do you wish you were somewhere else apart from London right now? Do you think that's... Potentially the Mediterranean? Yeah, probably. And then I've tried to do a strawberry cake. It looks so delish. It looks amazing.

It looks very big. So it actually has strawberry pulp inside the batter, the actual cake mix. Did you pulp it yourself? pulp inside the batter the actual cake mix did you I had to I had to reduce strawberries down to put inside the batter and then I've put it with cream get her on baker yeah no the actually the man who does it it's an it's all American recipes and they say use pink coloring to make it look pink but I thought no and they also do a cream cheese and strawberry pulp topping. You didn't do that. I just thought strawberries and cream.

We're British, aren't we? Yeah. So it's strawberry cake with a British twist. Amazing. And if there's any left over, Graham will be very happy because we're watching the cup final tomorrow. Do you need to talk about Marcus not being put in the squad for England? I'm heartbroken for him.

I think Gareth has made a big mistake. Maybe we should get him on. Maybe he'll like to come on if he's got a bit of time. It's been a big week, hasn't it? Watch the Euros for this. General election announced. Well, and I'm bloody well away. You're away, I'm away.

I know, don't worry. We will be doing postal votes. Postal votes. And can I plead with everyone to register to vote we will whatever your vote please register and if you can't vote that day you can get a postal vote or a proxy you know what we'll put it in our notes for this episode which makes it a bit weird but just to remind you if you if you need access now's the time to register just register you can do postal you can get somebody else to do it for you You just need to be a bit ahead of the game.

So please, can you just sort it out? Yeah. Right. So, Leanne Pinnock, coming up on Table Mug. Hi, Leanne. Hi. How are you? I'm good.

Thanks for being here. It's like, I feel... Well, we've had your friend, Jade, in that seat. Yes. We had Jade? I'm good. Thanks for being here. It's like, I feel, we've had your friend Jade in that seat. We had Jade's boyfriend last week on the live. Oh, I saw that, yeah. So it's only right that we've got you now. It's been a while. And we had John Batiste on and you've collaborated with him. Oh my gosh. We've had, you know, so it's time you're here. Yes. I mean, I walked in, I feel like I'm home. Good. How are you? I'm good, yeah, lots going on. Exciting things happening. Yeah, it feels like it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I can't believe I've been solo now for like over half a year, like it's wild. But you know, I feel good. it is it feeling good I mean I listen to the EP I think it's amazing

thank you I think you need to do a track with Tyler or something like that don't you think I feel like a lot of people say that I feel

but I love which is Tyler darling make me sweat make me water make me lose my biggest song of the year my yeah my daughter sings it

and my son and I'm a bit like they don't know what this my two year olds sing it yeah yeah you're like it doesn't matter how sexy it is it's a great tune you can't deny the hook what do your kids think of the music have you been playing the demos to them and did they tell you are they like because i feel like children are the best day in ours they really are aren't they yeah if they can catch on to melody, then I know it's going to be a good one. Oh, is that right? Absolutely. So what's their fave on the EP? On the EP, I would say actually Forbidden Fruit. Ah, yeah. Because one of them can always catch on to their Forbidden, Forbidden Fruit. One of them always sings that bit. But yeah,

they are definitely the best A&Rs. They kind of love everything I do, to be honest. They're my biggest fans. Are they more obsessed with you than your husband? Ooh. What a question. Well, I don't know. I mean, my children are definitely more obsessed with my husband. Girls or boys? Both.

Wow. My daughter's quite into me. Yeah. So we have long distance relationships. So he lives in Saudi. He plays football there. Wow. My daughter's quite into me. Yeah. So we have long distance relationships. So he lives in Saudi. He plays football there. Right. So for the last two years, we've been apart, basically.

Like seeing each other for like maybe two days a month. Crikey. It's been hell, to be honest. No, no. Any resentment? I try not to. Yeah. Because.

I think that's a positive answer I really try not to because obviously we know what he's doing it for I mean he's doing it for us so but oh so hard though

like having two and a half year olds and so yeah and what so he must have gone there when they were about six months

basically how long I know how long's his contract so it actually ends this summer so he's home next week I'm so excited and then what's next?

just family, value, beautiful time but we don't know so that's also the thing about being with a footballer you just don't know where you're going to be and I can't move with him anywhere because obviously I can't have a career wherever he's going to go I have to be obviously local to home.

Oh God, let's hope it's not China next. No. You don't think so? I can't do it anymore. I can't do it. Could he play for a British team? Yeah. I think we have to obviously just wait and see.

It's kind of hard for players to go. I think he needs to get his coaching ticket as well. Maybe you need to go and speak to Victoria Beckham. I know. Because she did that stint in Madrid to go and speak to Victoria Beckham. I know. Because she did that stint in Madrid. How did she handle it? Would you not do it? Yeah, but she wasn't making music.

Well, she was making music. It was a different time though, wasn't it? She was dress designing by then, wasn't she? No, she was making music. Okay. Did you watch the documentary? Yes. I need to watch it, yeah.

Oh God, it's hard, man. Who did he start with? So I had it good because he did i did because he played for qpr he did watford and that was local so i had like a couple years of us living together this is all right yeah and then obviously yeah we had the babies and then he had to go where did you meet him so we met in marbella wow that's great a club. That's great. What song was playing? Oh, good question. Don't know.

How many drinks in were you, Liam? A lot of drinks in. Can he dance? He can't actually. Oh my God. And you still went out with him? I still went there. I think it was like the sort of bad boy look.

I don't know. Like the rough around the edges sort of. Did he approach you or did you approach him? He approached me. I think it was like eyes locked and then yeah kind of a bit of both a bit of both

and then when he said I'm a footballer you were like uh uh or were you like okay I think at the time like so I did that holiday because I wanted to get away from everything and there's a lot going on and I kind of just wanted my mum came my sister some of my friends it was like a sort of I needed a blowout basically um so I didn't expect to meet somebody I didn't expect to meet the my husband you know the man of my dreams um it was weird because as soon as I saw

him I just knew so I didn't care I didn't care that it was football I didn't like I mean I think I had that because I remember there's actually an interview of me saying I'd never get a football and then some of the fans have kind of like put it together like that I said that um but yeah I didn't really care I think when you know you I guess. Can we bring it back to the beginning? By the way, your sister's here. I didn't know that your sister manages you. Yes. And we'll talk about working with family in a minute.

And how fabulous it is. How fabulous it is. But, well, yeah, actually, how is it working with your sister? Like, have you worked with each other for a while? Were you starting to work together when little mix were about so when when we knew sort of limits was coming to an end i think we had the conversation that we were gonna start like she she had to come on board she's got so many good ideas and i was watching her in her current job and thinking like you just you need to come on board with me and like we need to do this together um Sarah do you want to go on the mic both

in housing but she wasn't she wasn't happy and um she was bringing so much value to me in terms of ideas and like just I thought yeah you need to you need to come on board with this and obviously I mean going solo was like the perfect time for her to come. But yeah, I can't say anything before. It's like the whole having my best interests. No one's going to have you like your family. So yeah, it makes sense. I mean, she's blimmin' annoying.

I would get some fun. What happens when she challenges you and doesn't agree with you on something? How do you get through that? Do you put each other's hair? Do you throw a chair at each other? We used to fight back in the day. I've got a fake tooth from my big sister. Could you let your sister manage you?

I'll never forgive her about this because, you know, veneers, you can't get whitened. So I literally could get my teeth whitened, but my veneer would stay the same colour. But you can change your veneer for a lighter colour. get my teeth whitened but my veneer would stay the same color you can change your veneer for a lighter color i don't want to change my veneer my one veneer it's not like i went and did like veneers i got one fucking veneer because you're not to do that wait what happened she got my head on the side of a bath and went like that and her look her new her and i was just i was about seven So my new tooth had just come through And I was so panicked I got my friend round, Claire Orme

And we went through the bath water With a tea strainer To try and find the tooth That was very stupid That was a bit stupid That was very stupid Wait, she literally just went Dush, yeah

And then I took you to You see her, she looks like Butter wouldn't melt So you and Sarah don't have that But you do disagree Well, she did hit me on the head With a plank once a wooden plank yeah so i am well right i wanted to wear her coat for school and i think yeah her coat and um where'd you find a plank sarah so her bedroom door uh one of the little wooden window things had been smashed in so the wood was kind

of just right yeah yeah you know so um i basically just punched it through and opened the door because she locked it and went to get her coat because she wouldn't let me in so i went to get a coat and then i punched through the door because i really wanted to wear this coat and then she picked up one of the planks and then... Yeah. But I guess you're not doing that kind of thing now and it's working all right. No, no, no, it's working all right. She's looking at you being like, shut the fuck up. Be careful, don't cross us, Sarah.

But she's very strong-minded and, like, yeah, if she feels something, she feels really strongly about it. But I feel like we have that relationship where, like, if I don't agree with something, like, yeah, like, I, you know, stand up for myself. You've grown up with being in the lim up for myself you've grown up with being in the limelight and we've grown up with you and I feel like the beauty of a little mix to just bring it back to little mix for a moment it's like that you all had such strong personalities

but that you were unashamedly yourself and I I loved that how old were you when you auditioned I auditioned when I was I think I was I was, I think I was, I was nine. I think I was 18 actually when I first, first auditioned and then got into the group when I was 19. Right. So you weren't like, like 15 or? And were they all the same age? Were you all the same age? Roughly. So I think, yeah, Perry was the youngest. She was actually like 17. And then Jessie was the oldest, like me and her are kind of the same age. So yeah, about 19.

Let's talk about food for a moment. I was going to say your sister, who's here, Sarah, gorgeous Sarah, manages you. But what is a memorable dish from your childhood that, you know, something that reminds you of being at home? was around the dinner table apart from sarah yeah what were you eating well i vividly remember sundays so we was um a lot of the time we went to my uh grandma's so that's my mom's side and they're bayesian so my granddad was was bayesian so my mom's side and we'd have like gungo peas a beef stew um he made the best coleslaw like oh my gosh how what was in it well the special ingredient was was sugar like it has to be sweet but i just i don't know we've been trying to recreate this coleslaw for years and like i don't know what he did but it was just it was unbelievable um and yeah I guess um so my dad's side is Jamaican I remember going to Jamaica every year and just curry goat and rice and peas and just yeah and did your did your parents cook yeah so so mum was really good um mum I think obviously um like her Bajan side she would side she would do the Gunga pea stew

so good what does a Gunga pea look like? it's like the little white one with a black dot on it the black eye peas but it's not black eye peas no that's a different one so Gunga peas is more of a Bajan thing and then rice and peas is more Jamaican

which is the kidney bean in the rice yeah um can you cook I can actually yeah I thought she said no I actually can she cook oh can we just stop no she needs to season everything can we just stop so so she's literally the chef. Okay. Like, she's amazing at cooking. But, I feel like when I really,

like, have a day and I put a lot of love into it, I can cook some really good food. But I feel like a lot of it is trial and error.

Yeah. You know? But, I think I'm pretty good. So, what would you be cooking if we were coming round and you,

maybe, the twins had gone to mini village in beckonsfield and they okay you know that you had some time what would you be cooking for us i would probably want to do a jamaican dish so i'd do brown stew chicken yum yeah so have you have you had it i don't know but i've seen actually dawn cooks that a lot yeah on her facebook page it's always brown stew yeah so that one is a trial and error thing like sometimes you might get it and bang on then other times it's just so what's the brown in brown the brown in so you have brown in sauce what's that it's just called brown in um you just it just makes the chicken brown yeah i think it's just like a sugary syrup isn't it yeah okay oh wow but you can also brown it with uh just butter and brown sugar uh-huh so

it's caramelized in a way yeah yeah yeah it's yum um so i think yeah i'd probably spend all day doing it but i would do that for you and i'm really good at doing rice and peas as well actually yeah and that's hard yes give us a tip how do you do yours is it like i think it's the just not having too much water in it like the water's got to come just above the rice yeah and i don't i don't really do measurements with with jamaican food with brown sugar i kind of just guess. Because you know it now. Maybe. Do you use coconut milk? Yes. Or desiccated coconut. I've used coconut milk

if I've ever done it. What's the coconut, like you're talking about? Shaved coconut. No, the block. Yeah, the block or coconut. A coconut cream. Yes.

You buy it in a block. Cream of coconut. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would normally do the tin, I think. But then that's what's hard, getting that ratio with that and the water. So it's not too sloppy.

Yeah. Okay. Have you been to Jamaica? Yeah. So we've been going every year. Where do your family live? The family there? My granddad lives in Kingston.

Wow. Yeah. So we've literally been going every year since I was born. It's my favourite place in the world. I got married there as well. Did you? Whereabouts? We got married in Ochi so um yeah so every we'd go when we were younger and I think our granddad was obviously quite protective so we couldn't we wouldn't walk

out when we were young anyway you know but um as I've got older like I've discovered more and more places to go um so now yeah we stay like all around like Portland's beautiful there's a place called Frenchman's Cove which is like like a stunning beach, like just amazing. Um, but there's those little places in Kingston that I want to, um, I want to venture into. Yeah. No, I love it. It's my favorite place in the world. How many people came to the wedding?

We had, I think it was like, was it 80? Yeah, about 80. Does your husband have connections with Jamaican? Yeah, so he's Jamaican as well. Yeah so it just felt right. What was first dance? First dance was I don't know if you heard

of Division the singer. Division what the the the the Yeah I know it's 1984 yeah yeah

I know one of them yeah. So the song called The Line yeah was our first dance yeah that's our song. So lots of growing up, lots of Bajan and Jamaican food. And then can you give us a memorable kind of food from your little mix days?

Was it a rider, staple or somewhere that you all wanted to go? Yeah, well, everyone used to like kid and say that i was like the one that loved all the posh food and like the girl like they love cheesecake factory in america have you ever been there yes i have and nando's and things like that and there's me that wanted sushi and all this stuff yeah yes um but i'm trying to think one thing that we loved collectively. Oh, so we used to go when we used to go to L.A. In-N-Out Burger would be our. Do you like it? Do you know, I went with your Sam.

Yeah. When we travel with the kids. Dropped off. I didn't like it at all. Really? I felt like it tasted like it'd been chewed before they served it up. Did you get animal style? I don't know what we got.

We left the airport and we thought we all better eat. The cheese and the onions. Yeah, I didn't like all that. So I just feel like it tastes really fresh. It does taste freshly made. Have you been to LA recently? Yeah, not too long ago, actually. I went for a write-in.

Let's talk about that then. on to the on to the EP you you've always been a really celebrated writer within Little Mix it was you and Jade that kind of did a lot of the writing yeah did it with my dear Shun Goodsoe oh gosh and Camille obviously yeah so you you were writing a lot of the Little Mix stuff. And so how was it? Did you and Jade write on this stuff together? Have you written together for your stuff or not? No, we haven't. You needed to kind of go and kiss a few different frogs, yes.

Yeah, I think like, I mean, we were together for 12 years. You know, like in each other's you know what's that word um yeah so I feel like when the time came for us to actually go solo it was like this is this is our time yeah we need to just see what this is like on our own you know so who have you been writing with in this one who's like main collaborators um so for well for the album in general I think my writing family now Kasa uh progression yeah so he's done a lot of stormzy stuff recently um and he's just you know when you can go to someone who'd be like i want this today and he'll just do it he's one of them yeah he's amazing

um and he did um i'll still be here and that's beautiful thank you it's really beautiful um and then um abby keen who is Ray's little sister writer Ray Ray Ray yeah so Abby Abby's her little sister

and she's a phenomenal writer the whole family yeah I think there's like how many is there I didn't know that is there four sisters

and they're all writing they're singers writers oh my god that's amazing phenomenal like oh my god it's gonna be a dynasty

yeah I love that they're so talented good for your dynasty yeah I love that they're so talented so yeah so Abby has been involved a lot she's amazing Dio another incredible songwriter

Dio I've heard about Dio yeah she's wicked right just amazing energy and Taylor Parks was on this EP as well

I've heard of Taylor Parks yeah Taylor Parks she did Sweet Melody for us but she's done she did like Thank You Next oh you did Thank You Next okay so you'd work with her in Little Mixed Up yeah yeah um so just amazing people um and I actually did a writing camp in Jamaica as well how was that for you a writing camp for you yes how many how many different so for people that don't know what a writing camp is, can you explain? Yeah, so you get your favourite writers and producers and you all go to a place, could be anywhere,

and there's different rooms going on and everyone just writes music and has a good time. And you chose Jamaica. Did you go to G-Jam? Yes, we did actually. What was it like? Yeah, it was nice. What was G-Jam?

It's like the famous spot in Jamaica to write, right? It's like places to stay. It's a hotel and there's like villas and then there's like studios as well. The studios. Yeah. But no, it was amazing. I think like it's quite hidden. That's one thing I would say, like you don't really see Jamaica because you're kind of

like huddled away. But for you, you've been there so many times you're probably like oh yeah no yeah yeah definitely and to like all be together and like it was the best energy like there was no egos or anything like it was just an enjoyable fun like amazing like experience it was good did you bring the kids as well i did oh my god you're a hero that's a bloody that's amazing yeah how old were they as well? I did. Oh my God, you're a hero. I did. That's amazing. Yeah, how old were they as well? This was like just after the last tour that we did

and I went straight, basically straight there. So they were like nine, 10 months. You're amazing, Leanne. That's like, it's no mean feat to launch a solo career after, during having twins and leave. It's pretty amazing. Were you surprised you were expecting twins? Are there twins in your family?

So Andre's actually got twins in his family. Yeah. So his nan, both his nans, both his nans had twins. So it was kind of inevitable for us, but like you just don't think it's going to happen to you. So I just remember like when the um when the sonoc was on me and um well actually when when we first went for our scan like we didn't even think it was happening like I don't know like we wanted it so much and just just didn't even think it could happen to us you know like it's just such a

dream and and then um she was like oh um have you got twins in your family and then me and him looked at each other and then we were like what she's like there's two sacks in here and then we just burst out laughing like we just laughed at each other like just crazy was it an easy pregnancy or is it at the beginning yeah and then when you get big and then I just it yeah it was a lot yeah and I'm so small as well I had a huge belly and I was it was a lot um and I think as well like because I had a c-section and like the recovery after that and like no one really like warns you or like tells you exactly what you're in for and major surgery literally um yeah so I think that was a lot like the recovery of it like you can't even like pick

your baby up you know I had to rely on Andre and bless him like just yeah it was it was quite hard like all of that but um yeah I mean best thing ever I think we were both pregnant at the brits at the same time oh were you pregnant at the brits yeah or had you announced it were you were you visible i feel like you me and perry yeah yeah yeah we won the award yeah yeah yeah yeah but it was crazy um i remember telling my manager at the time sam and then she was like, no kidding, because I'm pregnant too. And I was like, what? And then, and then I got a call from Sam and Perry.

And then Sam was like, Perry has to tell you something. And I was like, what? And then she told me that she is pregnant. I was like, this is crazy. And then my sister was pregnant at the same time as well.

Oh my God. So we were all pregnant. How many sisters have you got just one two is she has she had any um so my eldest has three kids okay yeah so we're quite a big family like lots of cousins yeah which is just so nice yeah i love it cousins are really important aren't they and children love talking about their cousins yeah it's really interesting yeah I think Leanne wants to know what we're eating oh okay go on all right well I've never made it before yeah I've made chicken shawarma oh so it should be quite maybe not spicy enough for you but I've tried with the spice and

it's been marinating overnight wow and then I've done a greek salad with it and an ordinary green salad and i've got a tahini dip and satsiki to go with it all right yes great i've actually been loving like middle eastern cuisine right now like yeah lebanese yeah obviously just coming up from saudi as well and having like proper traditional food what's the food like in Saudi? Like, is it? So it's, um, the dish called kabsa and it's just like the rice and the meat. Um, but the hospitality there is just so beautiful as well. Like we went into this, um,

really sort of traditional, gorgeous restaurant and we all sat down, um, and all the food was just laid out and it was just, oh, it was just so good. Um, it was camel on the menu.

Oh my God. Did you try it? I did not try the camel. No, no, no. Which bit of the camel do they cook? The hump? I don't. I know.

But there's certain things that I just can't. Poor camels. I can't, yeah. So we, mum's just preparing the food. Whilst she just prepares it. Last supper. Starter, main, pud. Drink of choice hit me oh oh wow okay starter i'm gonna say oh god i don't want you to judge me i'm not gonna judge you okay come on cocktail what that's not loads

of people do that okay from a particular a particular place? From a pub? Or like, do you want like, do you want small prawns or big prawns? I would say the small ones. Yeah. Like, you know when you go to America

and you ask for a shrimp cocktail and you think you're gonna get a prawn cocktail and it's just like big shrimps with like a dipping? No. Not for me. No, thank you.

No. Has to have the iceberg lettuce, has to have a bit of avocado, paprika, just like, yeah, just, have you ever made it at home?

Yes, for Christmas. That's like our starter, I'm sure. I love that. Yeah. That's such a good starter. A bit of salmon as well, smoked salmon with it. But yeah, that would be my starter. Mum, I love that for the starter for Christmas.

Prawn cocktail. I say the dew. Okay. And it's nice and light as well. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well actually why don't I interject is your Christmas dinner so you start with prawn cocktail do you do

a traditional Christmas dinner what's your traditional Christmas edit or do you add any Bayesian or West Indian so we would have a turkey and I actually get my turkey From JB You know he's JB from JLS

He has a turkey farm Yeah Sorry That's excellent pop trivia When I tell you His turkey is like Because you know people Will say oh but turkeys are dry

Now his turkey is I see You see I get mine from J.O Jamie Oliver Oh really And he's got a turkey farm Oh does he And it's bloody good

Try JB's Okay I'll try JB Yeah That's brilliant Yeah yeah yeah So so good mine from jo jamie oliver and he's got a turkey farm oh does he and it's bloody good okay i'll try jb okay that's brilliant yeah yeah yeah so so good why did he go into turkey farming i don't know he just has i don't know if it's just i think he has it it's just a farm for i just want to know whether there's like a pop group whatsapp where everyone's being like right where are you getting your turkeys from they're like look just just go jb go JB. I'm sure Perry gets hers from JB as well. Love this. But yeah, no, they're really good. So then we'll have rice and peas as well.

I'd have that over roast potatoes, to be honest. I'd have rice and peas over roast potatoes. Do you have the roast potatoes as well? We have roast potatoes as well, yeah. And then we have lamb too. Oh, right, nice. Yeah, and then... Do you have macaroni?

Oh, do we have macaroni for Christmas Day't have macaroni for christmas day no but boxing day we'd usually have like curry goat and then we'd have yeah mac and cheese and do that but um yeah what else um my mum makes a really good cabbage red cabbage yum banging i love her cabbage um yeah okay back to your last supper yes so we've got the prawn cocktail yeah are we starting with a little aperitif do you do you drink i do i do occasionally um be your drink of choice and where would it come where would it come in the well it just kind of depends if i'm doing am i drinking i'm on a if you'd like to drink i feel like yeah you're drinking i'm drinking you're doing that marbella night okay it's, what were you drinking on that Marbella night?

Okay, because I can tell you the drink that I actually like to drink, which is a Paloma. Oh, love them. Thank you so much. Oh my God. So good. They're very, because they're not too sweet. Yes. Yes.

Just the right amount of sweetness. Do you like mezcal or do you like tequila in yours? Probably tequila. Okay. Yeah, Paloma. Where do you get tequila in yours? Probably tequila. Okay. Yeah, Paloma. Where do you get a good Paloma? Can you make one? I've never tried making that.

I feel like it's not going to be hard. That looks so good. That looks really good. Okay, so Paloma. I like that. Yes. Okay, mains. Main.

Oh, this is hard. Okay, there's two. You don't want two. You want one of them. I want as many as you want, babes. All right, mains. Main. Oh, this is hard. Okay, there's two. You don't want two. You want one of them. I want as many as you want, babes. All right, okay. So it would be curry goat. Who is cooking the curry goat?

Are you getting it from somewhere? My grandma. Okay. Is your grandma still alive? Yes. In Jamaica. It's my granddad's wife, but we call her grandma as well. Yeah.

So she'll be cooking it. Yeah. And she, oh God, she makes an amazing breadfruit salad. Grapefruit salad? Breadfruit. Breadfruit? Yeah. So breadfruit's like a-

I don't think I've had breadfruit. It's like a carb. Like a starchy carb. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever had breadfruit, mum? Yeah. It's not my favourite.

Is it not? But you have to have it in a certain way. So my grandma makes a breadfruit, mum? Yeah. It's not my favourite. Is it not? But you have to have it in a certain way. So my grandma makes a breadfruit salad. So like a potato salad, but with breadfruit. It's beautiful. Is it sweeter? It's just got a slightly different taste. Different taste.

Yeah, it's not sweeter. And the texture is different? Not in the salad that she makes. Can you stop talking and eat it before I go? Yeah, help yourself, babe. Thank you so much. Why, you've done this EP, No Hard Feelings, it's so good. So why an EP and not the album?

Because I feel like this ep feels incredibly coherent and i was like hang on but just just add four more add four more tunes and then you've got yourself an album yeah so that was i think the way of thinking at the beginning yeah um i just don't think i was ready to put an album out i feel like the music that i'm trying to do is so different to anything in Little Mix. And I think I would have been naive to think that everyone was going to come along with me. I really do feel like I'm trying to build a fan base here.

A new fan base. Build something new, yeah. And build on what I already have. So yeah, I think this EP for me is just about solidifying who I am as an artist. Like my music and just letting people know who Leanne is, really. I feel like you spell it out really loud and clear, and I love it. And it does feel different to the Little Mix stuff.

But it feels totally like you are in control of this. Not that you weren't not in control of little mix i'm not saying that but i really feel like i understand you as a solo artist yeah from this ep yeah yeah exactly that's that's the that's what i want you know i really want that and um i'm still working on the album and um so excited for it but i really do think this was the first step for me before that but i do think that you need to have some of these tunes on the album is that you're like no i've got bangers i have bangers i've got more bangers i do i mean i don't we will see but i think this collection of music just lives in its own world so yeah we'll see i mean i've got a lot of music there's more salad here

this is yummy mum oh my god I think it works don't you this rice is gorgeous what's the fruit in that sorry it's got cinnamon golden sultanas

it's got cardamom cinnamon that's good I tried to get cardamom from the supermarket the other day goodbye did oh that's annoying

I can give you some what were you making I wanted to make some sort of pilau thing, just a chicken pilau. But I feel like cardamom is like a key ingredient in sort of Middle Eastern vibe. I love that you're just making a pilau on a Tuesday. I'll give you some. You're a superwoman. I do like to cook.

Main for your last supper. We have curried goat from your grandma. Yeah. Is that the main? Are we having, and we're having something else too because you said. Oh, and. Yeah. Nachos.

Yeah. Nachos of all the trimmings. What are your trimmings, Leanne? The trimmings are guacamole, fresh, obviously. Nachos. Yeah, coriander, red onion, tomato aren't they just the crisps? there's so much more than just the crisps

they have a lot of stuff that is delicious but if they are homemade and just done beautifully are they the shells? no they're the crisp you put loads of stuff on so cheese um i make a good chicken tinga which i have with it yeah what's chicken tinga so it's

like um shredded chicken in like a sort of mexican style tomato sauce will you have that on top of it or will you so i tend to have it on the side uh-huh so i bake the nachos in the oven um what cheese are you using mix mix different cheeses so red aster mature uh and then maybe some mozzarella um yeah the key is to mix the cheeses okay this sounds so basic but when you get a good, like, my nacho. Your nacho is the best. They're the best. Sarah, are they very good? Oh, what?

What? Why are you shaking your head? They are good, but I think mine are better. Oh, interesting. I think mine are better. We're going to have to have a nacho one. This is what you have when you go to the cinema. No, not like that. You cannot have nachos out.

They're just not the same. You have to nachos out. They're just not the same. You have to home make them. And you get all the bits. You have the pico de gallo, which is like the tomato, red onion, coriander. And then the, yeah, the guacamole, sour cream. Oh mum, that looks amazing. Wow.

Oh my gosh. That was enough for everyone. Are you a baker? I think baking's hard. Me too. I used to love it But I wasn't Yeah I'm not necessarily

Very good at it To be honest Do you? I'm not good at it I'm like you I throw things in See what works But you can't do that

With baking No You can't Can't do it Wow Right so for your pudding Yes What are you going for Liam?

Pudding I love ice cream Love ice cream Which flavour? Likeudding. I love ice cream. Love ice cream. Which flavour? I could just eat ice cream all day. Favourite flavour? I just love a vanilla. But I love mint choc chunk.

Hold on. Ben and Jerry's, though. Hang on a minute. Mint choc chip. I love mint choc chip. Because it tastes like toothpaste. No. You need to have a good one. No. Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's mint choc chip. I love mint choc chip. Because it tastes like toothpaste. No. You need to have a good one.

No. The Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's mint choc chunk. And they used to do it. Would you like some of this, Liam? I would absolutely love some. Thank you.

They used to do it at the cinema. You know when you have like the Ben and Jerry's station. So I would literally go there just for mint choc chunk ice cream. And a shit film. Yeah. Yeah, literally. But then they recently started doing it. They started selling it in tubs. literally go there just for mint choc chunk ice cream and then yeah yeah literally um but then

they recently started doing it that you could they started selling it in tubs i think it's called minter wonderland or something but yeah obsessed mint choc chunk see have you tried have you tried the jude's mint choc chip no is that good i might try that okay good so you've got a sweet tooth, is it ice cream? Ice cream, but my dessert, I think... I love a crumble. With a bit of vanilla. Yeah, vanilla ice cream. I also love a sticky toffee pudding, recently. Why, where did you have it?

Just like a local pub near me. Did a really nice one. And it was delicious. It was really good. I think this is nice, Mum. It's quite kind of dense it feels kind of good for you

almost it's got strawberry in the actual sponge wow but I don't think you can taste it what's the cream is it literally

just plain cream just cream yeah but they did it with a cheese cream cheese topping

with strawberry in it but that is gorgeous is there a taste or a smell that can transport you back somewhere? Happy or sad? A smell? Do you remember the Britney Spears perfume? Yes. Yes, I do.

What was it called? Fantasy. The pink bottle. Pink, yeah. And it had like a butterfly or a heart on the top or something right

yeah it wasn't called toxic no it wasn't very good Lenny it was fantasy um I remember that reminds me of school

everyone just wore it like it was just a staple smell yeah um so I just remember my school uniform and just being at school

ours was impulse vanilla vanilla secrets or something. And the boys were Lynx Africa. Oh, yeah. I remember that Britney perfume. I was once at Glastonbury and my friend's girlfriend had only bought that. And we basically, I don't think, were showering that much.

And she'd just spray it around you. So I just smelt of Britney. Britney's perfume, but also could have done with a shower too. It was a knot. Oh, amazing. So that's what my reminding of her. Okay, so that's your smell. Have you got a taste for me?

Taste? My godmother's chicken. What was her chicken? Because she was Bajan. So just seasoned to perfection I remember going there and her um her saltfish fritters as well banging is it weird being solo and not having your girls around you and checking in with each other when you're doing interviews not that this should feel like an interview but like is it does it feel like you're doing interviews, not that this should feel like an interview, but like, is it, does it feel like you're flying the nest in a weird way?

Kind of, do you feel? Yeah, no, definitely. I think especially at the beginning, like, cause we would like,

I just remember if there was ever a hard question, we'd be like, Jade, you're answering that. Do you talk to each other? You already do. How often? So Jade came over the other day,

but we chat all the time like yeah whatsapp and whatever but do you think you'll get back together i think so yeah yeah i mean like the last tour like it was just left on such a high you know like we're so tight all of us and like supportive of each other and like i mean it's incredible really it didn't stop really it was relentless it must have been exhausting it's's gone wild actually When I look back on it Like It was like

Two year cycle So We put an album out And then we tour We put an album out And then we tour Like And it was just like

Constant But We loved it though Did Yeah Did you enjoy the touring Yes That was best bit

What was the best venue You played at Best venue I think we loved the O2. I think we did that on the last tour. We did it like five times. Bloody hell. Sold it out.

I know, it's crazy. Have you been seeing the Girls Aloud stuff? Yes. It looks like they're having a really good time. It looks amazing. That could be you in 20 years. And I think it will. Because like I said, we are super tight.

And we have an incredible fan base so yeah do you have a karaoke song do you like karaoke I used to but then I became a singer and now I don't that's the same as Jessie yeah so what was your karaoke song pre was it the song that you auditioned for no it was I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston. Big song. I know it's a big song, but I attempted it every time. And did you do the note? I did. Wow. I don't know how good it was, but I did.

It was when I was little. I was young. I won't ask you to sing it. Please don't. Yeah, karaoke just doesn't hit the same level. It doesn't, does it? Is that your engagement ring? Yes.

Oh my God, mum is such a magnum. No, but I love that ring. It's so beautiful. I always wanted green. It's an emerald. It's a sapphire. A sapphire, but a green sapphire. How did you know you wanted that?

Because green is like my colour that I just live by. Like everything's green. My car. You're like Kermit. Like my house. But green is the colour that I surround myself with. Really? like everything's green my car you're like Kermit like my house like literally but green is the colour that I surround myself with

really? like I think it's like a lucky colour as well Leanne thanks so much for coming on oh thank you best of luck with the music

I think you're going to be absolutely fine because it's so good thank you so much and it really feels like you know what you're well of course you know what you're doing

but it does feel really original and it feels like we need somebody from the uk doing that kind of music come on thank you so much thank you for having me such a pleasure Leanne Pinnock coming over, eating all the food, appreciating it. Loved the rice, Mum. Good. She's gorgeous. Lovely. Lovely girl.

She's so lovely. Really gorgeous. And I'm really excited for her. I think she's so comfortable within her own... She knows who she is, doesn't she? Yeah. And that is really refreshing because it's just being confident in who you are.

New music's coming out this month. The EP's great. It's called No Hard Feelings. And if you... I'm sure it's sold out, but Lafayette's her next gig. I think it must be mad to go, like, from being in the O2 to them being like right let's build a fan base she's already got a fan base she's brilliant um but I'm really excited for you Leanne um and I'm gonna go off and you're going to take some cake haven't I yeah I'm gonna

get a big tupperware okay it's quite a lot of cake yeah I mean I'll save some for Graham but that is it thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next week