Jesy Nelson samples P Diddy on her first single since leaving Little Mix

The singer is expected to release her debut album next year

Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has released her first solo single, Boyz, less than a year after quitting the record-breaking girl group.

Street-smart and dripping in attitude, the song is based around a hefty sample from P Diddy's Bad Boy For Life.

The release was reportedly delayed for several weeks so the hip-hop star could appear in the music video.

Nelson has previously described the song as an "in your face" club anthem that could divide fans' opinion.

"You're either going to love it or you're going to hate it and I would rather that than people be like, 'Meh, okay…'", she told Noctis XXI Magazine.

In reality, it's not a million miles away from Little Mix's more strident R&B songs - think Power, Salute or Wasabi.

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Nelson's trademark vibrato and butter-smooth harmonies are instantly recognisable, although her accent falls awkwardly between Texas, Jamaica and her home town of Romford.

Lyrically, the song was inspired by a "particularly painful break-up" that left the 30-year-old wondering: "'Why do I like bad boys, what is wrong with me? Why am I attracted to anyone that looks naughty?'"

Inspired, she contacted production duo Loose Change - who were behind Little Mix's platinum hit single Touch - and pitched them her idea.

"You'll think I'm a nutter but I really want to write a song about why most women like bad boys and I want to use the Diddy song," she recalled telling them.

"And they were like, 'Let's do it'."

Warning: The following video contains language some readers may find offensive.

The track sees Nelson declaring: "I like the tattoos and them gold teeth / Tough to make me feel like I'm a baddie," backed up by US rapper Nicki Minaj (who also makes an ill-advised attempt at a trans-Atlantic accent).

On first listen, it's a little chaotic - but once you get used to the contours of the song, it lodges in your brain.

In the pantheon of former-girl-band-solo-singles, it's up there with Cheryl's Fight For This Love or Mutya's Real Girl, without reaching the heights of Beyonce's Crazy In Love or the lows of Victoria Beckham's Not Such An Innocent Girl.

It's a confident, if imperfect, start to Nelson's solo career.

Diddy and Jesy have a tense encounter on the front steps of her house during the music video

Diddy also makes his promised cameo in the glossy, high-production video.

The hip-hop mogul plays Nelson's neighbour, who complains after she smashes golf balls into his property.

"Hey Jeezy, Little Mix, whatever y'all calling yourselves these days, check it out. I live next door - the golf balls through the window? They're not going to work," he says.

But he softens in her presence, eventually saying: "Welcome to the neighbourhood and love to you and your career."

Little Mix have sold an estimated 60 million albums worldwide, with about a third of those sales in the UK alone

The star quit Little Mix last December, saying the move was necessary to protect her mental health.

"I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard," she told fans at the time.

In her first interview after leaving the band, Nelson further explained that the constant comparisons to her bandmates had prompted her decision to quit.

"I was bigger than the other three, and there's never really been that in a girl group," the singer told Cosmopolitan. "I was classed as the obese, fat one."

Looking back, she said: "I can't believe how miserable I was."

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More recently, the star has said that "taking control of her life" has helped her get back to health.

"I've looked after myself," she told Glamour. "That's the most important thing you can do and that's what I've done.

"I know this feeling is real because my mum sees it, my sister sees it. They've got Jesy back, the Jesy who disappeared for a decade and went down a black hole of misery and real mental health problems."

"I can't believe how miserable I was," said Nelson

She added that she hadn't spoken to her ex-bandmates since leaving last year.

"It is weird because for so many years we were as close as sisters, together every hour of the day for weeks, sharing beds, laughing, crying, just 24/7 the four of us together and then nothing," she said.

She also admitted that she has not met the newborn babies of Edwards and Pinnock: "No. I've sent a few texts, but that's it. I can't explain it, it's like there has to be this distance."

"Hopefully at some point in the future we can all come back together. I love them. They are my sisters in so many ways, but for the time being we just don't talk."