Jesy Nelson suffers major career setback after comeback single fails to enter UK top 100.

Freelance Reporter Aimee Smith

Former Little Mix and Solo artist Jesy Nelson has been dealt a career setback after her new single Bad Thing failed to make a major impact on the charts. The singer latest single Bad Thing was released on April 14, the former Little Mix singer's second single after controversy over her first solo attempt, Boyz, released in October 2021.  

However, the ballad has not been included in the Official Singles Chart Top 100, since it was updated on Sunday (April 23), and the music video has yet to hit one million views. The 1970s-style video, set in the dark underbelly of London’s East End, chronicles an abusive relationship, with a domestic abuse charity praising the piece for the realistic depiction, The Mirror reports.  

The singer said "I don’t feel like anyone’s heard this side of me before, it’s a real, raw, honest, vulnerable side to me," she confessed ahead of the single becoming available to buy and stream.  The now 31-year-old singer, from Brentwood, sparked controversy in 2021 when she unleashed her collaboration with Nicki Minaj – to the chorus of accusations she was guilty of appropriating black culture in her accompanying music video.  Nelson then parted ways with record label Polydor, with a source saying the popstar was on good terms with the label but the two parties had been "going in different direction.

The single has so far garnered 424,000 views of its music video on YouTube and under 426k streams on Spotify, figures dwarfed by those of her fellow pop stars.  Lewis Capaldi, who scored his fifth UK number one with Wish You the Best, released on the same day as Nelson’s song – has over 9.8million streams on Spotify and more than 3.1m views of the official music video on YouTube.

The singer, who hasn’t been signed up by any other big label since, announced that she independently finished her first solo album in August.  “There’s things I’ve written on there that I’ve never spoken about, I’ve poured my heart and soul into this,” she shared on Instagram.  “I just hope you love it as much as I do and the people that have worked just as hard on it with me,” she added.  

Nelson quit Little Mix at the end of 2020, blaming mental health issues as the reason.  She recently sobbed over reports that she and her bandmates Perrie Edwards, 29, Jade Thirlwall, 30, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 31, were feuding.  “We haven’t spoken for two years but I honestly wish them all the best,” she said. “We’re all on our solo journeys, it’s such an exciting time for us all right now