ALEXANDRA Burke showed off her stunning figure on Instagram after revealing she was told to bleach her skin to sell records. The X Factor winner spoke about the horrifying experience on Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s documentary Race, Pop And Power. Burke, 32, said it made her go “cold” to talk about how she was […]
ALEXANDRA Burke showed off her stunning figure on Instagram after revealing she was told to bleach her skin to sell records.
The X Factor winner spoke about the horrifying experience on Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s documentary Race, Pop And Power.
Burke, 32, said it made her go “cold” to talk about how she was once advised: “You need to bleach your skin because you won’t sell any records.”
She explained: “That’s what is so f****d up about this industry and that is what makes me feel, at times, where I go, ‘I don’t want to be in this industry.’
“Being told to bleach my skin. Being told that I’m ‘too dark’ to be in the industry …
“They took my confidence away so much that I couldn’t be me.”
The singer and West End star won The X Factor in 2008 aged 19.
Last June she said in a video posted on her Instagram account that one agent had refused to sign her because he already had one artist and did not “need another”.
She said that her experiences of racism as a teenager and beyond had been “heartbreaking”.
“I got told to bleach my skin and that was something I refused to do because it is absurd to me that somebody can even remotely say to someone, ‘Bleach your skin so that you can look whiter.’ It breaks my heart that I was told that,” she said.
She was also advised to “have hair that appeals to white people so people can understand you better”.
“You can’t have anything that basically is my identity,” she added.
“I love singing, I love what I do, but if it wasn’t for the love I have for music, I definitely wouldn’t be in this industry.”
Burke said she felt compelled to recount her experiences after the 2011 X Factor contestant Misha B said she had felt devalued by the music industry and that the television programme had projected “this angry black girl narrative”.
“I could have spoken up much earlier, but was too scared to,” Burke added.
The singer, who has had three singles including her cover of Hallelujah nominated for Brit awards, said that in her early days in the industry she had been told: “Because you’re a black girl, you won’t make it that far in the industry if you were white you would be bigger than what you are now, you could sell more records, you’d be a Brit award winner.”
Earlier this week The Sun showed the moment pregnant Leigh-Anne broke down in tears as she sobbed “I’m no longer scared to be me” after making her powerful documentary on racism.
Viewers were also in tears over the 29-year-old’s new BBC show.
Leigh-Anne admitted she felt “lost and invisible” and even feared she had only been put in Little Mix as the “token black girl”.
