Throughout her solo career, Jade Thirlwall has positioned herself as an awe-struck romantic, her songs capacious enough for both high camp and heartfelt examinations of selfhood and love. On long-awaited debut LP That’s Showbiz Baby!, the singer and Little Mix member tackles a flurry of personal contradictions: yearning and rupture, ambition and anxiety, broken promises and intimacy. She knows how to conjure a whole universe of emotion and lose herself in it.
The album’s 14 tracks traverse deep psychological wounds borne from Thirlwall (known mononymously as JADE)’s early days as a returning teenage X Factor contestant, through to the rewards and rigors of her time spent in one of the best-selling U.K. girl groups of all time, in service of pure pop melodrama. The resulting music is precise and introspective, channeling the unexpected, iridescent revelations that come with rebuilding yourself from scratch.
Leaping from electroclash and synth-pop to luxurious disco and ambient electronic, That’s Showbiz Baby! channels sensuality, anger and freedom, as JADE takes sonic cues from her diva elders Diana Ross, Madonna and Janet Jackson, as well as newer visionaries like Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish. In her pursuit of pop stardom, the singer builds out a distinct, dazzlingly ornate record while honoring those who informed her musical education.
Next month, JADE will embark on her headline U.K. and Ireland tour, having enjoyed a star-cementing turn at Glastonbury Festival in June and also having appeared at Mighty Hoopla and Radio 1’s Big Weekend. To celebrate the release of That’s Showbiz Baby!, Billboard U.K. dives deep into each and every track on the record. See our ranking of its 14 songs below.
