Jesy Nelson's representatives have reportedly denied rumours that the release of her debut solo album has been delayed due to the recent "blackfishing" row.
The singer, who has gone solo after quitting Little Mix last December, was accused of "blackfishing" - a term for when non-black people attempt to present themselves as being black - in the video for her debut single 'Boyz'.
Nelson dismissed the claims, although she found herself caught up in a row with her former bandmates after it was alleged that she was warned about the perception of blackfishing during her time in the group.
According to a report in The Sun today, record executives had been planning to release her album before Christmas but in light of the controversy they have bumped it on to 2022.
"There was lots of excitement that the album would be ready in time for Christmas. Jesy spent months in the studio at the top of the year after leaving Little Mix and had loads of songs ready to go," a source told the newspaper.
"But the rollout for Boyz took a long time and the team and Jesy don't want to release an album after only putting out one single. The hope now is that a full collection will follow next year.
"Jesy was still working on new music as recently as last month, when she was in Los Angeles. She just wants it to be the best it can be."
Nelson's team laughed off the claims, however, with a source telling The Mirror: "To claim that an album would be released after one single release is literally laughable and obviously was never part of the plan.
"Jesy is still in the studio recording new music and a second single is in the works. Anybody working in the music industry knows that an album would never follow one single release.
"Jesy has been subject to severe trolling over the past couple of weeks and has kept a dignified silence despite the vindictive swipes against her."
Released in October, 'Boyz' peaked at number four on the UK singles chart.
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