Jesy Nelson hires Little Mix songwriter to help revive her solo career after backlash
JESY NELSON’s solo career didn’t get off to the best start but she’s pulling out all the stops to make sure 2022 is her year.
I can reveal she has teamed up with the songwriting genius behind the last single she released with Little Mix, Sweet Melody, to help get things back on track.
The song was their fifth No1 and is now one of their most popular tunes, so I can see why Jesy would turn to its writer Tayla Parx to give her a much-needed hit single.
A source said: “Jesy flew out to Los Angeles earlier this month and has been working with Tayla, who is a songwriter as well as an artist in her own right.
"She has an incredible track record when it comes to writing smash hits, so Jesy is hopeful they will be able to cook up something great together.
“They knew each other via industry friends, so it seemed like a no-brainer to reach out and get her on board.
“It’s been a tough few months for Jesy but it finally feels like things have turned a corner.”
Tayla is the brains behind some of superstar Ariana Grande's biggest and naughtiest songs including 34+35, Thank U, Next and 7 Rings.
But Jesy won’t want their collaborations to pan out in quite the same way as Sweet Melody — as she has admitted in the past that a major panic attack on the set of the hit’s music video was the catalyst for her leaving the girlband at the end of 2020.
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Jesy said: “The last music video we did was the breaking point.
“We’d been in lockdown, and (that had been) the first time I could have a break and be at home around people that I love.
“It was the happiest I’d ever felt, and I didn’t realise that until I went back to work.”
Despite being marred with controversy, Jesy’s debut single Boyz, featuring Nicki Minaj, peaked at No4 in the charts and has been viewed more than 20million times on YouTube.
The track was the first time Diddy allowed anyone to sample his 2001 hit Bad Boy For Life.
Jesy has had a tumultuous start to life as a solo artist and needs to get her career back on track. Getting Tayla on board should give her career a much-needed boost.
Graceful pose
LADY GAGA gets a leg up on her acting competition as she prepares for the Oscars and Baftas.
The Rain On Me singer to grace the front cover of Deadline magazine, following her critically acclaimed turn as Patrizia Reggiani in the crime drama House of Gucci.
She is expected to be in the running for Best Actress gongs when nominations are announced next month and it sounds like it is deserved because she really pulled out the stops on set.
Gaga explained: “When I did the bathtub scene, when I went under, they had to yell ‘cut’ because they were like, ‘Get her out of there!’
“I was fine. I can hold my breath for a long time. I’m a singer. I feel protected by art. I feel art has saved me my whole life.”
On how she perfected the part, she said: “I studied animals to play her. I studied a house cat for the beginning of the film.
“And then at the funeral, when she sees Al Pacino's character, she suddenly turns into a fox because she’s hunting now. And I watched foxes hunt.”
On tour with Ed
HEADING on tour with Ed Sheeran would be many artists’ dream, but James Bay admitted he “lost himself” while on the road with him.
The two-time Brit Award winner was Ed’s opening act for the 2019 leg of his Divide Tour across Europe but said he ended up feeling “lonely” and struggling to write any music.
He explained: “To be really f***ing honest with you, I lost myself a bit.
“I’m going back to 2019, I was rolling around the world, I got invited on tour with Ed Sheeran and I was having a nice time on the surface.
“But inside I felt weird and I did some writing and it was all a bit of a blur.
“When I was feeling weird I was feeling lonely and I felt like I couldn’t connect with anybody. It’s a difficult thing.”
The experience inspired a song called Everybody Needs Someone which will feature on his as-yet untitled third album which is expected later this year.
Thankfully he is now back on track and became a dad in October to a daughter called Ada, with his long-term girlfriend Lucy Smith.
Speaking on stage during a concert at Lafayette in London on Wednesday, he said: “A whole load of other stuff happened in the last couple of years - I had a baby, that’s beautiful.
“It’s a rollercoaster ride. Everybody backstage that I know quite well, I’ve bored them to tears with stories and pictures. It’s a crazy beautiful thing.”
Where am I exactly?
US superstar will have to dig out her A-Z when she returns to the UK this summer – because she has little idea where she is performing.
I can reveal that the chart-topping singer, who has had No1 singles Genie In A Bottle, Lady Marmalade, Dirrty and Beautiful, will jet over in August for arena shows in London and Liverpool. But then she will take to the stage at Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre.
A close source to the singer, who released the saucy picture below as she announced the tour, revealed: “Christina is all about good energy and is already enlisting some of the world’s best stylists to amp up her costume game for this epic return to the stage.
"She did confess she has no idea where Scarborough is but she is partial to some English seaside fish and chips.
“She loved her last UK tour and is super excited to be back on the road again. She has spent the past couple of months rehearsing a show that will blow away fans.”
Tickets will go on sale next Friday. Christina has been in the studio recording her forthcoming Spanish album, which will be released in three parts.
Ella's dates
ELLA HENDERSON is heading out on her first headline tour in seven years.
She will kick off her Everything I Didn’t Say tour in Newcastle on October 15 and travel across the UK with other shows in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff and London.
Her second album is due out on March 11 so everyone will know the words by the time she hits the road.
Mel C's spicy book plan
THE SPICE GIRLS had better watch out.
has written a tell-all autobiography which could expose secrets about the world’s most famous girl group.
Mel who has also had a successful solo career, says she will explore the pressures of fame as well as her experiences of bullying and mental health struggles.
That might be a hint that it could be tough reading for her bandmate MEL B, who Mel has claimed in the past made her time in the girl group tough.
Melanie explained: “It’s taken a long time to feel ready to tell my story.
“The past few years have given me an opportunity to reflect on the incredible career I’ve had and the huge obstacles I’ve managed to overcome.”
The book, Who I Am, is due out in September.
Ezra is back
GEORGE EZRA has returned with the single Anyone For You.
He said: “It is s a patchwork of lyric ideas found in old notebooks and chance moments shared between musicians in the studio. It’s joyous and infectious, and I smile every time I sing it.”
The single will feature on George’s third album, Gold Rush Kid, which is due out on June 10.
He will play intimate shows in Manchester, Edinburgh and London in late February and early March, with tickets on sale at 9am today.
Other new releases include American rapper Gashi and Cheat Codes' song Memory, Bloc Party's The Girls Are Fighting and High from The Chainsmokers.
Sam's the man
leads the nominations for the Bandlab NME Awards.
He is up for six gongs, while Little Simz, Wet Leg and Wolf Alice are in the running for five.
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Halsey will receive the Innovation Award at the ceremony at the Brixton Academy in South London on March 2.
Tickets are available online.