Little Mix's 'Shout Out To My Ex' Is More Than a Revenge Anthem

Little Mix were premiering their a cappella track "The End" live in August of 2015 when Perrie Edwards broke into tears singing the lyric "love isn't fair." At the time, her breakup with former One Direction member Zayn Malik—whom she had been with for four years, two as fiancés—had just made headlines. She was trying to promote her band's album while dodging reporters' questions about her personal life.

While Malik started dating model Gigi Hadid two months later, Edwards' every move was still connected to Zayn. If she posted a selfie, media outlets claimed she was getting "moody" about her split. If she wore a leotard onstage, others said she was flaunting her "revenge body." If she was seen goofing off with her bandmates, she was said to be laughing away the pain of rejection. I wrote about those examples and the media's sad double standard then, but a year later, those headlines don't seem to be going away.