
Jade admits Little Mix was a 'test' as she shares big difference in solo career
Jade Thirlwall has revealed how difficult it was to rise to fame in a girl group. Fresh from a superb Glastonbury solo debut, the South Shields native, 32, has admitted being part of Little Mix was a big test.
The singer revealed how tough the girls had it when it came to trying to prove their worth in the industry. And she admitted that despite The X Factor providing a huge platform, coming from such a show often meant they needed to showcase their worth even more.
The Angel of My Dreams singer confessed it felt as though being in a girl band is the "ultimate boot camp on how to survive the music industry". She explained that the girls always had to try to prove their credibility due to their set up and showcase exactly why they deserved their huge success.
Speaking to NME, Jade said: "Being in Little Mix really was the ultimate test of enduring that. Time and time again, we reinvented ourselves, and to be in a girl band that lasts for over 10 years is pretty remarkable. You don't hear of that often."
And she admitted her Little Mix career is something that she will always be proud of. However, she is now looking forward to putting her own stamp on her music. "Going into my solo music, it was like 'OK, now I get to write just purely about my own experiences', because in a girl band the topics have to be a bit more universal," she said.
"On my own, though, it was important for me to express myself." Jade confessed, though, that the new chapter isn't about her past being forgotten. Instead, she said: "That was the past, and I loved it, but now this is the new chapter."
Jade's explosive set at Worthy Farm was full of talking points as she put on a show to remember. As well as an energetic performance filled with a mix of solo and Little Mix bangers, Jade wasn't afraid to let her feelings be heard.
Taking to the Woodsies stage on Saturday, she delivered a rousing rendition of her hit FUFN. The track, an acronym for 'F*** you for now', features a segment where the singer reels off a list of things she'd like to give the middle finger to.
And during the tune, she chanted: "Reform! Transphobia! Selling arms! Genocide!", with the crowd echoing back a resounding "F**** you".
She also fought back the tears, as she shared with the audience: "This song [Angel of My Dreams] is literally me as a song, so thank you for showing me that that's enough."
The hit anthem delves into the peaks and troughs of JADE's 15-year career. In one emotive lyric, she sings: "Selling my soul to a SYCO, they say I'm so lucky".

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
The mystical hold of the 1990s over Gen Z
At some point during the past decade and a half, it was decided that the 1990s were a golden age. While Britpop, New Labour and acid house do not immediately evoke the same spirit as, say, Versailles under Louis XIV or Augustan Rome, compared with what followed they were certainly characteristic of something. Members of Gen Z who have known only the colourless, anodyne first years of the new millennium speak of the Nineties in mystical tones. At a party last week, I found myself holding court over some twentysomethings who'd discovered that I am a millennial. 'What was it really like?' they asked, as if coming face-to-face with Shackleton or Francis Drake. I had always supposed that I looked back on the Nineties with rose-tinted specs because it was the decade of my childhood. Listening to a new podcast Talk '90s to Me, I am persuaded there is more to it; that the 1990s are worthy of nostalgia and deserve the envy of those who didn't experience them. If you're old enough to remember a truly great decade – the 1960s, for example – this may well strike you as nuts. But just look at the streets today. Can you really blame the young for idealising an era that has only just passed out of reach? In the tantalising summary of Irvine Welsh – interviewed in the second episode of the podcast – the Nineties was 'that very interesting time in Britain when people just started drinking in fields and factories'. If you've read Trainspotting, you'll know that he understood its dark side, too. But the programme made it sound like one endless, classless rave. According to Welsh, the 1990s actually began in 1987 or 1988 and were the product of intuition of impending disaster. He likened us then to animals before a tsunami. The spectre of the internet, big money, sell-offs and a post-cultural world loomed before us: we were sentient to it all before it materialised. Somehow this didn't dent our optimism and we just carried on with one final wild fling of the millennium. Miranda Sawyer, who hosts the podcast, awakes your nostalgia with similar ease. I'd forgotten how much people cared about things such as the rivalry between Oasis and Blur. (The resurrection of the former and obviously inferior band has contributed to Nineties nostalgia this summer.) As Sawyer chatted to Ted Kessler, formerly of NME, I had a vivid memory of the feud playing out. The podcast is still in its infancy, with three episodes released at the time of writing, but it's hitting the spot. Appetites for what the energetic Sawyer calls 'the last nutty pre-internet age' have never been greater. You can bet the episodes will find at least as many listeners among those born after 2000 as among those who knew the ecstasy-filled years before. The differences between then and now become starkly apparent when listening to Floating Space. The podcast is devised and presented by a 25-year-old Londoner named Katie Stokes to address the problems of isolation in the modern world. More than 700,000 people in the capital admitted to suffering from severe loneliness last year. The closure of facilities and the convenience of the internet have played a part in hastening our withdrawal from public spaces. What humans need, says Stokes, is 'a third place'. The concept comes from an American sociologist named Ray Oldenburg. Writing in 1989, he stressed that, away from home and work, we should seek a third place in which to socialise and simply exist in the times between. The idea appeals to Stokes, who works remotely full-time and misses the 'small-town' network she knew growing up outside of London. Wistful for something like Central Perk in Friends, that bastion of Nineties living, she trials a different place each week. Will the gym prove more sociable than online? Is there still a nightclub scene? Are private members' clubs as stuffy as assumed? The drawback to sampling one place per episode is that it provides each institution with an opportunity for self-promotion. It is monotonous to have the manager of a club talk about how his club is different from all other clubs. Stokes is, though, balanced in her assessments and a conscientious host. Her mission to reprise Oldenburg's advice is also admirable even if progress is difficult to achieve. By the end, I wondered if we wouldn't all be better off shunning the gyms and clubs, and running, dancing, for the fields.


Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
X Factor star Lydia Lucy marries long term partner Tommy Watson in lavish wedding
Former X Factor and The Voice UK contestant Lydia Lucy has tied the knot with her long-term partner Tommy Watson in a special ceremony in a luxury London hotel Former X Factor and The Voice UK contestant Lydia Lucy has tied the knot with her long-term partner Tommy Watson in a breathtaking ceremony at London's famed Savoy Hotel. The 32-year-old singer, who first found fame on reality TV talent shows over a decade ago, delighted fans by sharing glimpses of her big day on Instagram. Lydia and Tommy could be seen beaming with joy as they posed as husband and wife while surrounded by a spectacular floral display. The singer captioned her post: "The new Mr and Mrs." The wedding was met with an outpouring of love from Lydia's celebrity friends. TOWIE star Chloe Brockett gushed: "Stunning Lydia." Former I'm A Celebrity winner Scarlett Moffatt added: "So beautiful. Huge congratulations xxx," while Love Island 's Chloe Crowhurst chimed in with: "Congratulations beautiful." After the ceremony, the couple and their daughter Dottie-May made the most of The Savoy's five-star spa and fine dining options by enjoying a mini staycation at the hotel. Dottie-May, who was born in 2021, is especially dear to the couple, as Lydia previously revealed she suffered from a miscarriage the year before her daughter's arrival. Lydia's rise to fame began in 2013 when she auditioned for The X Factor in front of judges Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne, and Louis Walsh. She wowed the panel with renditions of Jessie J's Mamma Knows Best and Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, but was ultimately eliminated during the Six Chair Challenge. Lydia went on to audition for The Voice UK in 2016, joining team and becoming his last act standing, before eventually finishing in fourth place. Her powerful performances earned her opportunities to tour with the Black Eyed Peas frontman and even perform with the group in Fergie's absence. Now Lydia has a career as a vocalist for private events, and often performs at high-profile weddings and celebrity parties. Lydia has previously spoken about how she uses her stage name to pay tribute to her late sister, Lucy, who died from spina bifida three years before Lydia was born. During her time on The Voice, she dedicated an emotional performance of I'll Be There to her sister, with newly written lyrics including: "It's not fair, I know that you're there, Watching me guiding me, From the upstairs." At the time Lydia shared: "Even though we never met I feel like I know so much about her that we would have been the best of friends. I feel her aura is always around me, willing me to do well. "I carry a picture of her everywhere, I have a locket of her hair and I've watched all the home videos. She's there in one of them with her little plastic karaoke microphone at Christmas singing Cliff Richard's Living Doll. She has such a lovely smile." She also spoke about how her late sister was the person who named her, explaining: "Lucy picked my name for me when she was seven. When Mum was pregnant with one of my two brothers, Lucy said, 'I hope you have a girl, mummy, so that I can have a sister and I hope you call her Lydia.' "So three years after her death, when I was born, Mum made sure that wish was granted. I had the same princess dress Lucy had and loved. Her Wendy house is still in the middle of our garden. We have shared so much without ever meeting."


Glasgow Times
5 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
BBC ‘not institutionally antisemitic', says Observer's editor-in-chief
James Harding said the perception of a 'political presence looming over the BBC' is a problem and the broadcaster needs to be 'beyond the reach of politicians'. The BBC has been criticised for a number of incidents in recent months which include breaching its own accuracy editorial guidelines and livestreaming the Bob Vylan Glastonbury set, where there were chants of 'Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)'. Following the incident, UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said ministers expect 'accountability at the highest levels' for the BBC's decision to screen the performance. Mr Harding discussed the difficulties of covering the Gaza conflict when he delivered this year's James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday. He described how 'newsrooms are in a furious argument with ourselves over the coverage of Israel and Gaza', with the situation 'very hard to view dispassionately'. The Observer chief said this is true for all media organisations, particularly the BBC, and it is 'about as difficult as it gets in news'. Mr Harding said: 'This summer, Lisa Nandy has weighed in.' He said the Culture Secretary's office insists she did not explicitly ask Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, to 'deliver up' director-general Tim Davie's resignation following the Bob Vylan incident, but 'people inside the BBC were left in no doubt that was the message'. Mr Harding said: 'The place became paranoid about how the BBC itself would cover the story; people around him thought the political pressure would be too much. 'Whatever your view of the hate speech vs freedom of speech issues, an overbearing Government minister doesn't help anyone. 'The hiring and firing of the editor-in-chief of the country's leading newsroom and cultural organisation should not be the job of a politician. It's chilling. 'Political interference – and the perception of a political presence looming over the BBC – is a problem, one that we've got too accustomed to. 'It looks likely to get worse. We need to get on with putting the country's most important editorial and creative organisation beyond the reach of politicians now.' James Harding gave the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival (Alamy/PA) The broadcaster is also facing an Ofcom investigation into its documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone after a review found it had breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy. The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Mr Harding said the BBC is not antisemitic. 'I am Jewish, proudly so,' he said. 'I'm proud, too, to have worked for the most important news organisation in the world. 'The BBC is not institutionally antisemitic. It's untrue to say it is. 'It's also unhelpful – much better to correct the mistakes and address the judgment calls that have been wrong, than smear the institution, impugn the character of all the people who work there and, potentially, undermine journalists in the field working in the most difficult and dangerous of conditions.' The UK Government and the BBC have been asked for comment. Mr Harding is co-founder of Tortoise Media, which acquired broadsheet newspaper The Observer in April. Before he co-founded Tortoise Media, Mr Harding was editor of The Times from 2007 to 2012 and was in charge of the BBC's news and current affairs programming from 2013 up until the beginning of 2018. He also co-presented On Background on the BBC World Service and wrote the book Alpha Dogs: How Political Spin Became A Global Business. A spokesperson for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: 'The Culture Secretary has been repeatedly clear that the role of the director-general is a matter for the BBC board. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue. 'The BBC has itself acknowledged a number of serious failings in recent months, including the broadcasting of the Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury. 'It is entirely right that the Culture Secretary raised these issues with the BBC leadership on behalf of licence fee payers.'