Jade Thirlwall: Little Mix inspired by Me Too movement

Jade, who is from South Shields and recently celebrated her 26th birthday in the town by taking part in the annual Boxing Day Dip, said frustration around the treatment of women, particularly of her own mother, inspired a move into more topical subjects in Little Mix's music.

The singer, who performs in the band alongside Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson and Perrie Edwards - who is also from South Shields - told The Guardian she now feels freer to share her political opinions.

Thirlwall said the Me Too movement gave her increased confidence in her voice as a woman, and a desire to speak out about perceived inequality.

She said: "I remember years ago I did a political tweet and got absolutely annihilated by mostly male MPs who were furious that a pop star had an opinion.

"Now I feel more confident to write about things. With Woman's World, I remember getting in the studio and the whole #MeToo thing was happening and I was really angry.

"I started talking about my mum and how she was always seen as less equal even though she worked just as hard as the men around her.

"I thought it was about time we did a female empowerment song that was very specifically about what was going on in the world."

Woman's World contains the lyrics "you gotta work much harder than every single man, that's just the way", and "just look at how far that we've got, and don't think that we'll ever stop".