Jade Thirlwall ''hated'' the idea of being in a girl band.

The 27-year-old singer has admitted she was opposed to joining an all-female group when she was told she was going to be in Little Mix - which is also comprised of Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock - on 'The X Factor' in 2011, because she associated girl bands with ''sexy women and bitchiness''.

However, she ended up hitting it off immediately with her fellow 'Woman Like Me' bandmates and she soon realised it was ''a different ball game''.

Speaking on the 'What We Coulda Been, with Chelcee Grimes' podcast, she spilled: ''When I first got asked to be in a girl band I hated the idea.

''I just pictured like bitchy girls and Pussycat Dolls vibing at the time. And I'm not very sexy at all.

''When someone says girl band to us, that's what I associate it with, sexy women and bitchiness within a bunch of girls.

''But once I met Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Perrie I knew it was a ­different ball game.''

The 'Break Up Song' hitmaker also admitted it's ''a really bitter pill to swallow'' that the girls haven't had the same level of success as they do in the UK, across the pond.

Jade added: ''We've got the fan base, but for some reason it doesn't click and for us, that's a really bitter pill to swallow that we're not humongous over there.

''We'll sit and moan to each other like, why hadn't this happened?

''And then you have to take a seat and be like, 'Shut up, hun. You could have a very different life to what you're living now, you're very successful.'''