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Huge pop star prepares to set the record straight on her solo career with tell-all documentary
The star spent part of last year working on a record before taking a break and quitting social media
AS far as solo music debuts go, Jesy Nelson had a rotten start.
The singer — who has always come across to me as kind, polite and supremely talented — was poorly advised from the off and saw her big moment embroiled in controversy and criticism.
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But after taking time out of the spotlight, those close to Jesy tell me she has been offered the chance to put across her side of the story, warts ’n’ all, in a documentary.
A source said: “Jesy has had a really rough ride since leaving Little Mix.
“So much has been said about her and she wants to go on the record and speak directly to her fans about everything that has happened.
"Jesy’s solo career has been a difficult road to navigate.
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“Last year she had to put the brakes on her album and now she is preparing to forge a fresh path.
“This documentary could help her set the record straight and allow people to see what it has been like for her.
“A production company is in touch and has been working with Jesy about what she would want the doc- umentary to look like. It’s been nerve-wracking but exciting for her.”
Following the difficult reception to track Boyz, which saw her embroiled in a “black-fishing” storm in October 2021, Jesy walked away from her record deal with Polydor.
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She spent part of last year working on a record before taking a break and quitting social media.
The singer travelled to America, Asia and around Europe to get away from the UK but returned towards the end of the year to get herself together ahead of her next comeback.
Jesy released a previous documentary, Odd One Out, in 2019, which was hugely well received and earned her a National Television Award.
In it, she spoke movingly about the pressures of being in Little Mix and how her life had been turned upside down by nasty internet trolls.
I’m sure if she gives the green light to this tell-all it would do just as well.
Perrie's solo single chosen
AS Jesy Nelson gears up for the next step in her career, her former Little Mix bandmate Perrie Edwards is on the verge of releasing her first solo tracks.
Perrie said: “I didn’t want to decide on a single and release it until my album was finished, or pretty much done. I feel like now it is in a very good place.
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“We have decided the first single, second and third. They are all different sounds.
“When I got in the studio I didn’t know what genres I wanted to do, so I experimented a lot.”
Perrie has signed a bumper deal with Columbia Records, the label that helped produce the first five Little Mix albums alongside Simon Cowell's now defunct Syco.
I can’t wait to hear what she’s come up with.
FINALLY, EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy is getting the pop culture admiration she deserves.
Fans of the actress, who plays Sonia Fowler in the BBC soap, spotted Lil Nas X stealing her style in the music video for his new song J Christ.
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The singer is seen on screen wearing a choker with “sex” printed on the front – just like Nat did during a night out in London back in 2003.
He’ll be playing a trumpet next.
Celebs who came to Tea
CILLIAN MURPHY looked like he’d had a bit of a shock at the Bafta tea party over the weekend.
I can only imagine the Oppenheimer star had caught a glimpse of actress Bella Ramsey – who arrived at The Maybourne Beverly Hills hotel dressed as a reject from Beano’s Bash Street Kids.
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Luckily Emilly Blunt, who was serene in a green mesh dress, was on hand to reassure him, along with The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki, who looked chic in a classic black gown.
Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton were also invited to the star-studded do.
The couple had their first child in late 2022.
But if they’d been suffering from sleepless nights, you couldn’t tell.
Rita finds new shape with Keith
HER third album You & I peaked at No6 six months ago, but Rita Ora is hoping to give it a resurgence after re-recording one of the tracks, Shape Of Me, with Keith Urban.
The song will be out on January 29.
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On working with the country music veteran, Rita said: “With Keith, it was a natural, organic thing.
“I really started to get to know his daughters and his wife (Nicole Kidman) and just seeing all the feminine presence.
“Shape Of Me is about my mum and I felt like, verbally, Keith would really resonate to that.
"It also has this country twang, so it made sense.”
Rita suggested the idea to Keith after meeting him on The Voice Australia.
She is never not hustling.
ARIANA GRANDE is preparing to knock Noah Kahan off the top of the charts on Friday.
Her comeback single Yes, And? is on course to become her eighth No1.
It will be a battle until the end though, with Noah only 2,000 sales behind Ariana, as it stood last night.
Come on, Ari. You’ve got my vote.
Paul not so gladi about film
HE made a name for himself in the 2020 BBC series Normal People, but Paul Mescal’s life will undoubtedly be turned upside down when Gladiator 2 comes out later this year.
The Irish actor plays the Empress’s son Lucius, and has admitted he is far from excited about the global fame that beckons.
When asked how he felt about his first big Hollywood blockbuster, he said: “I don’t know what the difference will be. Maybe that’s naive.
“Is it just that more people will stop you in the street? I’d get profoundly depressed if that’s so and hope it isn’t true.
“I’ll have an answer this year, but if (the film) impacts my life in that way, I’ll be in a bad spot.
“I’d have to move on and do an obtuse play nobody wants to see.”
Either that or borrow that brown bag Shia LaBeouf used to wear on his head.
Sheer's his next
THERE is just no stopping music machine Ed Sheeran.
His seventh record, Autumn Variations, went straight to No1 last September and it seems the follow-up isn’t far off.
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Ed said: “I’m finishing up the next record.
“A day in the life is I get up, I go to the studio, I come home and I go to sleep, that’s about it. I’m with my family a fair bit, but regarding downtime, my job is my hobby so I don’t feel I’m going to work, I’m just doing the thing I love.
“My downtime is just my hobby.”
After finishing his mammoth Subtract tour last year, Ed has been locked away at his Suffolk family home, an oasis locals have dubbed “Sheeranville”.
As well as his main house, Ed has three other properties on his estate, plus a pub, gym and wildlife pond.
Any nosy neighbours – and Ed has plenty, given the number of complaints he’s had about his building work over the years – have all now been shut out too.
One local told me Ed has grown a huge hedge to stop anyone being able to moon over his pond, which had people fuming about whether it was actually a swimming pool.
Can’t they just leave the man in peace?
Oh, Carmila
lCAR parks don’t ooze glamour, but Camila Cabello turned her local NCP into a catwalk.
The singer posted photos on Instagram, adding: “You’re sorry, baby? Me too.
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“Least you see me like this when I leave you.”
Camila, I think you could have picked a better background than a load of grubby motors.
Studio cam shows lighter side of Billie
FOR a woman who said she’s not been able to have an ounce of fun for the past seven years, Billie Eilish now seems determined to prove she can have a laugh.
The Bad Guy singer, who has been writing her third record with her brother Finneas, is putting cameras into her music studio to capture their every move.
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Billie said: “For Happier Than Ever (in 2021) we didn’t really record anything, but this new one, we’ve been having a camera in the corner for every single second of writing it, which is blackmailing ourselves.
“It’s just us candidly being siblings and joking and talking s*** and stuff.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if that was later spun up into a documentary.
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The album is due out later this summer, with Billie saying she is also planning to write the script for a musical with her brother.
On the Awards Chatter podcast, Billie added: “I’m so excited to see where (his ideas) go.”
The week in bizness
TODAY: Nine years after Love Island launched, ITV2 has rounded up some of the show’s biggest characters and herded them off to South Africa for an All Stars version, which begins at 9pm. I want infidelity, back stabbing and bitching – all the perfect ingredients for top trash telly.
WEDNESDAY: The latest Cirque du Soleil show, Alegria, will open at the Royal Albert Hall with a star-studded launch ahead of a two-month run. David Jason, Jessie J and MEL B were among the guests for the production last year, so there are bound to be plenty of celebrities walking the red carpet.
THURSDAY: Nominations for the Bafta film awards will be announced ahead of the 77th annual ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall on February 18. Barbie and Oppenheimer are expected to lead the pack, but it’s all to play for in the British Film category, where those two blockbusters, which dominated last week’s Golden Globes, won’t be eligible.
FRIDAY: Green Day will drop their first album in four years, Saviors, which is set to be a major return to form. The rock group has teamed up with the producer Rob Cavallo, who worked on their hit records Dookie and American Idiot, so I’m expecting big things.
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