Rag'n'Bone Man reached out to Jesy Nelson after she quit Little Mix

5 May 2021, 12:38 | Updated: 5 May 2021, 12:59

Rag'n'Bone Man and Jesy Nelson — Jesy Nelson has revealed that Rag'n'Bone Man is among the stars who reached out to her. Picture: 1. Press 2. Neil Mockford/GC Images

By Jenny Mensah

The former Little Mix star has revealed the All You Ever Wanted singer is among the artists to have messaged her after she announced she was leaving the band.

Rag'n'Bone Man is one of the many artists who have reached out and shown their support to Jesy Nelson.

The former Little Mix member has given an interview with Cosmopolitan, which reflects on her decision to leave the girl band amid mental health and body confidence issues.

One such artist was the Uckfield singer-songwriter, who praised Nelson for her Odd One Out documentary and revealed how much it had helped him.

Asked if anyone surprising got in touch when she quit the group, the singer replied: "So many people. Liam Payne from One Direction. And Rag'n'Bone Man messaged me and said,'I just watched your documentary and it’s helped me so much. I think you’re brilliant.'

"I didn’t see it as brave, but people were saying, 'Do you know how brave you are for doing that? You’re going to show so many girls that they can do whatever they want and if they want to make themselves happy, they can.'

"You’ve got to have faith that it’s going to be alright and not let fear get in the way."

Talking about the "breaking point," which made her decide to leave the band, she said: “I’d been in lockdown, and I’d put on a bit of weight but I didn’t care. And they said, ‘You’ve got a music video in a couple of weeks’ and I just panicked.

"I went on this extreme diet, with bloody shakes, and tried to eat as little as possible. On the day of the Sweet Melody video I had a panic attack on set because I didn’t look how I wanted to look and I found it so hard to just be happy and enjoy myself."

Jesy Nelson isn't the only pop star connection Rag'n'Bone Man has made lately.

The Human singer - whose real name is Rory Graham - recently joined forces with P!nk on their duet. Anywhere Away From Here.

Rag'n'Bone Man, P!nk - Anywhere Away from Here (Official Video)

The pair are due to perform it live at this year's BRIT Awards ceremony on 11 May, with P!nk performing remotely frtom the US due to current circumstances surrounding the pandemic.

The indoor ceremony and live show will form part of the Government's scientific Events Research Programme, using enhanced testing approaches to examine how events can take place without the need for social distancing.

Working closely with the Government to adhere to safety guidelines, this means The BRITs, as the first live music show at The O2 in over a year, will play an important role in paving the way for the return of live music.

4,000 people are expected to attend, but the majority of the tickets (2,500) will be gifted by record labels and the record music industry to key workers.

Meanwhile, Rag'n'Bone Man is set to release his sophomore album Life By Misadventure this Friday 7 May.

He plans to support the release with a tour later this year, which should be a great relief to him since he compared not playing live to "losing a limb".

Rag'n'Bone Man talks new Life By Misadventure album

Asked how it has felt not performing during the coronavirus pandemic, he told Radio X's George Godfrey: "Awful. I mean really It's like losing a limb."

The All You Ever Wanted singer explained: "Ultimately, I love writing and I love producing records, but the end goal is always to be playing it live on stage. And to have that end goal disappear before your eyes [...] it's really strange and really upsetting at times.

"You gotta have hope that it comes back."