{"id":610935,"date":"2026-09-09T17:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/610935\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:56:09","slug":"jade-on-life-after-little-mix-mercury-prize-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/610935\/","title":{"rendered":"Jade on Life After Little Mix, Mercury Prize Nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAt the end of 2021, the British girl group Little Mix<\/a> announced an indefinite hiatus that would begin the following summer once they wrapped their \u201cConfetti\u201d tour. They broke the news on X, denying an official breakup and confirming \u201cplans for more music, tours and performances in the future.\u201d Despite these plans, the girls cited the need for a break following a 10-year-long \u201cnon-stop adventure\u201d that left them needing to \u201crecharge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSmall wonder \u2014 it had been a long ride. The group formed on \u201cThe X Factor\u201d in 2011 and quickly made a splash in the U.K., when their cover of Damien Rice\u2019s \u201cCannonball\u201d charted at No. 1 following their live performance. During their career, they racked up five U.K. No. 1 songs, 19 songs in the top 10, and one No. 1 album (\u201cGlory Days\u201d). Stateside, the girls did not achieve those same numbers, but were still well received, becoming the first British girl group with a debut album to chart in the Top 5 in the album\u2019s first week.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the aftermath of such a powerhouse group, Jade<\/a> Thirlwall, by then 29, had to decide what came next. Sticking to music was a given, but what that would look like without two of her closest friends by her side was unclear.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had pretty much written a whole record by the summer after the hiatus,\u201d she explains to Variety, just after her Lollapalooza set last month. \u201cI\u2019d got in my head that I\u2019ve got to strike while the iron\u2019s hot, got to stay relevant. Thankfully, some of my people around me were like, \u2018Just wait and keep writing.\u2019 In hindsight, I listen to some of that music, and it does just kind of sound like Little Mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf the group\u2019s three members, it took her the longest to embark on her solo career, but she\u2019s fine with it. \u201cI really had to exist on my own for a bit, and be like, okay, who am I now, you know? It\u2019s like when you break up with someone, and you all of a sudden have to find your identity again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tExperimenting with her musical identity was only the first step. The real crux of her career boils down to the unexpected, and for inspiration, she turned to artists who, like her, had come out of groups and needed to take a risk to capture the world\u2019s attention. This time, as an individual. \u201cYou get one chance to cement yourself as a solo artist coming out of a group; it\u2019s a lot of pressure. My logic was, I\u2019d rather come out fucking swinging with something brave and bold and might miss, but at least you can\u2019t say I\u2019ve not tried to do something big.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor example, \u201cI was really inspired by Gwen Stefani\u2019s \u201cWhat You Waiting For?\u201d because she came out [as a solo artist] with that banger. I loved that the concept was about her not knowing what to write for her first record. Genius!<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo I was really drawn to artists that had come out of groups, and I think the thing I loved about those artists was they came out swinging and they took a risk, like Gwen did,\u201d she continues. \u201cYou know, Beyonc\u00e9 had no business bringing out a whole fucking brass band for \u2018Crazy In Love,\u2019 and doing that walk in the video,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd come out swinging she did. Thirlwall\u2019s debut single \u201cAngel of My Dreams\u201d was released on July 14, 2024, just over two years after Little Mix\u2019s hiatus began. The fast-tempo electropop song \u2014 and accompanying music video \u2014 details her \u201ctoxic, love-hate relationship\u201d with the music industry, a theme she continued exploring in her debut album \u201cThat\u2019s Showbiz Baby!\u201d just over a year later. At the root of it all her perception of fame.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think [it\u2019s] a drug. It\u2019s addictive. And I think even the strongest artists that think they\u2019re above it, or that they\u2019re not bothered by being famous, have that human part of [them] that craves validation or attention, especially in this pop industry. It\u2019s literally part of the job to remain relevant and have people talk about you. It\u2019s really hard to not sort of base your life around that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe speaks from experience, saying that being back on a promotional run, this time for her solo album and without bandmates by her side, sucked her right back into things like \u201cworrying about numbers, trying to feel relevant\u201d and \u201cchecking all the comments.\u201d In fact, the stress landed Thirlwall back in therapy, something she\u2019d started while in Little Mix but had since taken a pause. All the things she thought she\u2019d healed from post-Little Mix got \u201cretriggered,\u201d and it became clear that she wasn\u2019t as far removed from that fame-plagued caricature as she thought.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut she says with a smile that it was a lesson she needed. \u201cI really do have a much healthier relationship out of the back of \u2018That\u2019s Showbiz Baby!\u2019 I know going into this next record, some might argue that it\u2019s even more pressure, but this is the bonus round again. And I think every time something does well, I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, great! Alright, let\u2019s do the next thing.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that she\u2019s found that success \u2014 most recently in the form of a Mercury Prize nomination \u2014 she jokes that she\u2019ll \u201calways remember\u201d the producers and writers who didn\u2019t want to work on her first solo project. \u201cThere are people that have gotten in touch since, being like, \u2018Do you want to do a writing session?\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018Hell no!’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe laughs again, before turning serious. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have predicted this amount of critical acclaim. I really don\u2019t take it for granted at all. I feel overwhelmed that I managed to create something that was so authentically me, and people have been like, \u2018Yeah, we like that.\u2019 In the U.K., [the Mercury Prize] is one of the big \u2018uns, and it\u2019s just a beautiful ending to that era and campaign.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like the universe saying, \u2018Stay true to yourself\u2019 \u2014 especially going into the next record.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the end of 2021, the British girl group Little Mix announced an indefinite hiatus that would begin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46,16899,16900],"class_list":["post-610935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jade","tag-little-mix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}