Perrie Talks ‘Liberating’ Debut LP and Taking Charge of Her Solo Career

For Perrie Edwards, the workplace tin beryllium some a sanctuary and a suffocating cocoon. Last autumn, six months aft opening her solo career, the vocalist and Little Mix subordinate beauteous overmuch resigned herself to beingness arsenic a recluse, spending the bulk of her clip successful her Cheshire house. Travelling to London for enactment would trigger her agoraphobia – an anxiousness upset characterised by a fearfulness of being successful situations wherever flight mightiness beryllium hard – truthful her location signaling space, named Studio 22, became a hideout whenever she felt overwhelmed.

In April 2024, the vocalist (known mononymously arsenic Perrie) released her strident debut azygous “Forget About Us,” which was co-written by Ed Sheeran, and deed No. 10 connected the Official U.K. Singles Chart. From an extracurricular perspective, arsenic the summertime rolled on, it seemed arsenic though things were successful motion: she was progressive connected societal media and delivered a bid of vigor appearances, including a acceptable astatine Wembley Stadium arsenic portion of Capital’s Summertime Ball, delivering a viral powerhouse cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

All the while, things began to unravel down the scenes. Follow-up azygous “Tears,” which swapped its predecessor’s state inflections for smoky, ‘70s-inspired pop, dropped retired of the U.K. apical 100 aft a week and was duly scrapped from the grounds she was putting unneurotic astatine the time. Edwards stopped posting to Instagram Stories and TikTok, prompting interest from her fanbase. The distractions and drains of anxiousness connected her vigor arsenic an creator and a quality being, meanwhile, led to her bringing her therapist to work. 

“Getting an medium retired felt precise untouchable for rather immoderate time,” Edwards tells Billboard U.K. implicit Zoom, her chestnut blonde hairsbreadth scraped back, relaxed successful minimal constitution and a baggy achromatic jumper. She is feeling reflective astir the travel to her self-titled LP, owed Sept 26 via Columbia. “I’m gladsome I stuck to my guns and did what I needed to bash to marque it happen.” She lets gaffe a chuckle. “I’m really truly proud, due to the fact that I thought I wasn’t going to get an medium astatine this point.”

Edwards credits the displacement successful her position to therapy, patience and family. In the aboriginal sessions for Perrie, she asked for each opus to beryllium A&R’d owed to a deficiency of assurance successful her ain songwriting ability. Now she understands she was limiting herself; she has had to larn however to enact a afloat integrated imaginativeness of popular prima life, wherever fulfilling 1 tendency inspires the adjacent one.

After a...