Jade Thirlwall still deeply values everything she achieved with Little Mix. The girl group, which included her, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson (who left in 2020), won The X Factor in 2011 and went on to achieve immense success before going on hiatus in 2022.
Speaking with RTÉ Entertainment, Jade said, “I’m so proud of what we achieved.” She continued, “Sometimes we’ll message in the group chat and one of us would say, ‘Oh my God, I’ve just watched the BRITs performance we did in 2017, weren’t we amazing!’”
Jade also noted, “It’s so hard when you’re in that bubble to understand the greatness of it. The best thing about it is we remained friends, we remained equals, but we also created such a lovely fan base. As a girl band, that’s what it’s about—it’s about female empowerment, sisterhood.”
“So many of our fans became lifelong friends off the back of that fandom. Even now, as a solo artist, the front row of fans at the festivals are those diehard, day-ones who have been there since they were 8 years old. I think that’s so beautiful.”
The Reward of Patience in a New Beginning
Beyond her love for the group, Jade is also glad she didn’t jump into her solo career immediately after the hiatus, as the material she had prepared then was just “another Little Mix record.”
She explained, “In my head, I was like, ‘I’ve got to release something straight away, everyone’s going to forget about me. I’ve got to ride the wave of Little Mix’ — all that stuff that I’ve been programmed to think as a pop artist.”
“And now I look back at some of the music I wrote then, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that really was just another Little Mix record.’ So, I’m really glad that I pushed myself to wait. Thank God, I gave it a minute to figure out who I am again,” Jade concluded.
