Jesy Nelson has been met with a wave of backlash after she dropped the music for her debut breakout single.
The former Little Mix member launched her solo career after leaving the girl group last year and there has been a lot of hype around her song 'Boyz'.
Many accused the Caucasian British artist of blackfishing, which is 'when White public figures, influencers and the like do everything in their power to appear Black'.
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Minutes after the music video for 'Boyz' dropped there were loads of comments on social media about how Jesy seemed to have changed her appearance to fit with the song's aesthetic.
She's now been asked during an interview with Vulture about the blackfishing issue and she doesn't agree with the comments.
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"The whole time I was in Little Mix I never got any of that. And then I came out of [the band] and people all of a sudden were saying it. I wasn't on social media around that time, so I let my team [deal with it], because that was when I'd just left," the artist said.
"But I mean, like, I love Black culture. I love Black music. That's all I know; it's what I grew up on. I'm very aware that I'm a white British woman; I've never said that I wasn't."
She was also asked about allegations that her Instagram account was deleting negative comments that referenced blackfishing.
Jesy replied saying her management team deals with that and she tries to spend as little time on social media in order to protect her mental health.
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The allegations of blackfishing in her recent music video are even more damning considering she was asked about this issue by the Guardian only back in August.
She responded to the social media commentary on the way she presented herself by saying it was news to her.
"I would never want to offend anyone, and that was really upsetting. I wasn't aware that's how people felt," she said.
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