Jade Is Finally Living Her Solo Pop Girl Fantasy

With the release of “Angel of My Dreams,” the former Little Mix triple threat is solidifying herself as a hitmaker in her own right.

In Camera Roll, musicians offer InStyle an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse at a weekend in the life of an artist, from rehearsing for a major gig to choosing their favorite onstage look. Here, Jade peels back the curtain on her debut single.

What do Cher, Rihanna, Madonna, and Beyoncé have in common? They’re wildly talented supernovas, no doubt, and each with but a single name to identify them. Enter Jade, the English singer-songwriter motivated to become pop’s next mononymic success story. Born Jade Thirlwall, the former Little Mix member has been painstakingly working on her solo debut since the group announced its hiatus in 2022. Dropping her surname was a no-brainer.

“It was intentional,” Jade tells me in mid-September, as she walks home from the studio in London, where she's been editing the “Midnight Cowboy” visualizer just a few days after sitting front row at London and Milan Fashion Weeks. (Her Zoom profile name is “Shady Jadey,” because of course it is.)

“I was so used to saying, ‘Hi, I’m Jade from Little Mix,’ for so long that removing that off the end felt really important for me. Also, just from a practical point of view, Thirlwall, nobody ever spells it right. It’s just long. I dunno! All the icons have a one-word name, in my humble opinion.”

Jade has no reason to be humble right now, though. In July, she dropped “Angel of My Dreams,” a synthy dance-pop bop that begins with a sample of Sandie Shaw’s 1967 Eurovision track “Puppet on a String” and brilliantly references Jade’s own love-hate relationship with the music industry. (She won The X Factor and consequently charted globally with Little Mix hits like “Shout Out to My Ex” and “Black Magic.”) “Angel of My Dreams” has been dubbed one of Billboard’s “best singles of the year,”  and its highly-choreographed video inspires one TikTok stitch after the next. Jade’s second single, “Fantasy,” co-written by Pablo Bowman and Mike Sabath, dropped in October.

Below, Jade opens up about pop music and what keeps her motivated.

What was your goal with the release of “Angel of My Dreams,” your debut solo single?
I knew I needed to surprise people. I really didn't want to play it safe or do what was expected. So that was the main thing for me, to gag and goop—that was the agenda, basically. This is essentially a reintroduction of who I am on my own. I’m really proud I took that risk.

You know you’ve made it when drag queens in New York have “Angel” on repeat. I can attest. 
Truly! When I saw advertised a Jade-themed night, I was like, What!? We’re in. That’s all I’ve wanted. I don’t care about anyone else.

When the “Angel” beat drops after the “Puppet on a String” sample, the chaos of your journey in the industry begins, lyrically and also visually in the video. 
It slows back down again at the end of the song just to remind the audience and myself of why I do this and the love of music, and that I will always love it no matter what. I really wanted to pull from those epic, big 2000s-era girl pop moments. There are a lot of pop culture references in there that I’m obsessed with.

What are some of them?
There’s the Mariah Carey reference of her in her MTV Cribs moment, where she's in a mini dress at the gym, which is so iconic. There's the Victoria Beckham little moment with the leg up on the chair, which I think is just like a selfie on her Instagram.

You seem to be having so much fun with this release, constantly dancing to your own music on TikTok.
I don't take myself too seriously. I think “Angel” the video reflects that as well. There's always that sort of dark undertone of really knowing how deep this stuff goes, but there's nothing wrong with laughing at your trauma. My therapist would definitely disagree with that.

What was the rehearsal process for the video, directed by Aube Perrie, like? You gave us main pop girl energy and really went hard with the choreo.
There was a lot of preparation. It's such a mammoth video. It was a four-day shoot. The budget was budgeting, basically. So I'm glad the label [RCA] was very much on board with the amount of effort that needed to be made for this. [The video] has this Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” feel. It’s very clinical. The choreo—we only had a few days. It was pretty hard to dance so fast-paced, and while there’s only a small section that we use the choreography, it was really quite intense. The whole video itself is staged or choreographed. I wanted it to feel like West Side Story, like a musical performance.

Who are some of your favorite divas?
My OG pop diva is Diana Ross. She, to me, is the original pop star, especially as a woman of color growing up. And I genuinely believed my mom was Diana Ross as a little girl because she looked just like her. I pull a lot from those iconic 2000 pop girlies—Britney [Spears], Gwen Stefani. God, there’s so many. Gaga, obviously. When I was looking at what the vibe was going to be, especially for this first song, I definitely was inspired by artists that had come out of a group and gone solo. What was it about those moments that were major? I am a pop fan. I’m a pop student. I live for it. Every week, me and my friends sit around the TV and we watch pop performances, music videos. That’s my pastime. I like to think I’m quite educated in the pop sphere. I bring it into everything I do.

There’s nothing better than music video night.
There’s nothing better! When the VMAs happen, me and my friends bring snacks and dissect every performance. Katy Perry, I will say, went off on that performance [this year]. I was gagged with how seamless Katy’s transitions were, with the harnesses and stuff, because I definitely think of the technical things as a performer. Like, Oh my God, how did she get those wings on so quickly? Chappell Roan’s performance was incredible, too—the creativity and the drama.

Chappell has been vocal about the challenges of overnight fame. How do you protect yourself?
It’s hard to strike that balance, especially when it happens overnight. I definitely experienced that when I turned 18 and all of a sudden I was thrust into this world—there’s no preparation or mental health support. Whilst Chappell’s been around for years, working on her craft, it did seem like overnight all the flowers were being thrown at her. How do you cope with that amount of press straight away? I have grown quite a thick skin, and I’m really inspired and I admire her stance on boundaries of what isn’t okay for an artist. I would have been terrified to set those boundaries, so I respect this generation.

Shifting gears, what inspired “Midnight Cowboy,” co-written by Grammy-nominated artist Raye?
I wrote this song about two-and-a-half years ago. Midnight Cowboy is quite an old American movie. I’m pretty sure it’s about a gigolo. That wasn’t planned, but when I researched the title of ‘Midnight Cowboy’ I was like, ‘Okay, gag.’ The inspo behind “Midnight Cowboy” was a bit sort of housey vibes, but that kind of era of like, “Pump Up the Jam.” Still the club, but I guess in my own little way. It’s a sexy song, isn’t it?

How are you thinking of performing these new songs?
I’m a very visual or performance-led artist, so when I'm in the room and I'm writing this music, I'm like, Okay, how is this going to translate on stage? How is this going to work with choreography? You’ve got to picture yourself on stage. What’s my costume? How am I going to do a dance break in this part? I wrote “Midnight Cowboy” with Raye and she really understood the assignment. She was like, ‘What can we give them that is going to be sick on stage and in a club?” I’ve been thinking about what songs can work in a club environment but also translate well with a band.

What’s “Fantasy” about and how did it come together?
I wrote it with my friend Pablo Bowman, who I did “Angel of My Dreams” with, and Mike Sabath. The song is about your sexual fantasies, feeling safe enough with someone to explore that. It’s kind of like a love song but it’s sexy.

It’s fascinating to see you sing about more mature subjects, because starting in a girl group in your teens, the lyrics had to be age-appropriate.
It’s quite liberating. Everything I’m writing about is stuff that’s obviously personal to me. In Little Mix, yes, sometimes we sang sexy stuff, but I remember we had a song called “A.D.I.D.A.S,” which meant “all day I dream about sex with you,” so whenever we had to sing a sexual song, we always have to give it a euphemism or metaphor so it wasn’t too vulgar for young fans. But I am 31. As a solo artist, I do want to explore what I want to sing about. With “Fantasy,” it’s still done in a classy way. Hopefully it liberates people when they listen to the lyrics. It’s empowering, but in my way now, not in a Little Mix way.

At the Fendi show during Milan Fashion Week, you spent time with Normani, a former girl group star from Fifth Harmony. I’d love to know about your friendship. 
I love Normani. I think she's insane, isn't she? She delivers every time. When Little Mix and Fifth Harmony were out at the same time, we were almost pushed into having to compete with each other, and you don’t see that as much now, this idea that women have to compete, that there can’t be room for two of you. I definitely felt the pressure of that back then. But ultimately, we’re all women that have gone through the same thing. We understand the industry, the struggles that come with that, especially being a woman and being a woman of color. I really respect Normani. I think her artistry is amazing. When I sat next to her, I did say, ‘Babe, where’s the video? Give it to us.’ And she said, ‘It’s coming.’ Doing the lord’s work while sat next to her at the show is important.

Final thoughts?
Just thank you. Thanks for people’s patience and loyalty—especially when I go to the U.S., I can’t believe the response. It’s so heartwarming and it really does go a long way for an artist like myself to see that support. My dream is to eventually tour around the world. I will continue to try my best to gag you and serve you well, forevermore.