Jade Thirwall is putting the pedal to the metal.
After taking time to cultivate her sound and artistic positioning, the star has announced her debut solo single ‘Angel of My Dreams.’
Ahead of its July 19 arrival, Thirwall – who is now doing by simply Jade for her solo career – covers the new issue of Beat.
Beyond a striking shoot lensed by Jesse Laitinen, the 31-year-old seizes the moment to open up about her journey to this point, landing her solo deal, and her debut album being inspired by Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, and more.
Pics and quotes after the jump…
On Being the Last Little Mix Member to Go Solo:
“I’m happy to be taking that spot. I definitely wanted the most time to work on my music, and who I’m going to be. I didn’t sit and go, “I’m going to be last!”; it just happened. It’s been exciting watching the rollout of everyone else [from the band]. And realising from their music that we’re all very different.”
On the Group’s Ethos Post-Hiatus:
“When we first started doing our own stuff there was this unspoken rule of just letting each other get on with it. We’d been joined at the hip for so long, literally every day with each other. So we all knew without saying it that we had to learn how to survive on our own.”
On Landing Her Label Deal:
“I had already written a bunch of stuff with the usuals, like MNEK and Biff [Stannard], pop royalty. Then I took that music to different labels and realised that everyone kind of does the same thing, so I was like, “I might as well stay with [Little Mix’s final label] RCA!” Even that was strange to do because we’d come off The X Factor and you don’t get a choice about who to sign with. It’s all, “Here’s the label, here’s the management, here’s your accountant.” Even with our music, every decision made [in the band] was a decision made together. I didn’t know how to decide on something for myself. I’d never had that thing of, “If you mess up, it’s just on you.” The first few months were about building up confidence, so that by the time I went to the US to start chatting to labels, it was like, “OK, now I know what I want.” I’m really proud of myself for that whole stage in my career, because I was going into these rooms and saying, “This is my music, this is who I am, do you want some?” [Laughs] I didn’t want to go to a label and say, “Can you help me figure out who I am?””
On Her Album References:
“It’s evolved since then, but there was a bit of Madonna, Britney, Kylie, Janet and Diana Ross. In my mind, I wanted to be a culmination of all of those people, because that’s what I grew up listening to. I knew I wanted to be the pop girlie. I’m obsessed with pop, I always will be, so it was how do I become the next pop girlie that stands out and has something different. Sometimes [in the studio] I was feeling cunty, other days I wanted to do a house-y banger, then another it was like “Let’s get into Janet’s ‘Feedback’ world.”
On Her Debut Single:
“I was in LA and I was feeling a bit lonely anyways, and then someone called to say that the head of my label, the man who signed me, was leaving. I spiralled hard. I went to the studio thinking about how fickle the music industry is, and thinking about how much I love this job but also how much I hate it, too. I explained the concept to [producer] Mike Sabath, where it’s this kind of love-hate with the industry but making it sound like it’s a relationship. Originally, it was supposed to sound more like a loving relationship that was toxic, but then I thought, “No, let’s let them have it; let’s tell them what it’s about in the verses.””
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Greatest DANCERS in music:
1. Michael jackson
2. Omarion
3. Usher
4. Chris Brown
5. Normani
6. Ciara
7. Janet Jackson
8. Beyonce
9. Shakira
10. Jennifer Lopez
you wanna that bey once stan so bad
What are you smoking? Omarion before all those people? Ciara said herself that Janet’s choreography is difficult and very intricate when she did the tribute in 2015. Usher might be older, but his style is not one Omarion could touch. And as much as I don’t like Beyonce, I’d be crazy to place her so far down on your list. More like…
1. MJ
2. Chris
3. Janet
4. Beyonce
5.Usher
6. Ciara
7. Normani
8. JLo
9. Omarion
10. Shakira
This is a list of the top 10 PERVERTS in music, starting with a kiddie toucher and followed up by a woman beater and a bunch of skrippers.
Another ashy flop. She thinks she is better than other dark skinned chicks🥱 only bad taste UK people will approve this 💩
The UK hands down has better taste in pop/dance music. We have MUCH better rap and our R&B is generally better too but they also have a lot of good R&B artists.
Jade was their main writer on LM so I’m eager to see what she does solo, the snippet sounds interesting
Normani is so much better
these h o es aint solo materials….Little mix are only popular in European countries,