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Little Mix stars credit 'underdog mentality' for their success

Little Mix believe they've been successful for so long because they have an "underdog mentality" and constantly feel like they've got a point to prove.

Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and their former bandmate Jesy Nelson were put together on The X Factor U.K. in 2011 and went on to become the first group to win the competition, and to celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band, the trio is releasing a greatest hits album later this month.

Reflecting on the band's longevity in an interview with The Telegraph's Stella magazine, Jade put their success down to a range of factors, including their need to prove themselves due to their reality show background.

"It’s a combination of fate, hard work, friendship, and lack of ego," she said. "We all very much had the same goal of being equal, and the constant acknowledgement of the bigger picture, rather than the smaller, petty things. We’ve really worked hard and always had this underdog mentality. As a girl band coming from a show like The X Factor, it always felt like there was this point to constantly prove."

When asked what they wished they'd known 10 years ago, Jade shared that she wished she knew how to read a contract, because they didn't understand what they were signing as teenagers.

"I remember our mams (looking at contracts) saying, 'Girls, we don’t even know what any of this means,' so it was quite intimidating," Perrie recalled. "We’d ask about 50 billion questions in one accounting meeting, and we’d write it all down, or record it. So we just basically learned along the way."

"And gradually we brought in people who we trusted to guide us in the right direction," Jade added. "Obviously the more successful you get, the more power you have, and the more say in how things are dictated."

Between Us is due to be released on 12 November.