🔗 Share this article Jade Review: The Music World's Quirkiest Artist Rises Above Manufactured Origins Harry Styles aside, the solo careers of former members of TV talent show-manufactured bands rarely capture the public imagination. They usually follow predictable patterns – often a pursuit at a more edgy urban music style, replete with at least one single featuring a guest appearance by an US hip-hop artist, or a move into mature Radio 2-friendly smooth pop-rock territory – and they typically become a barely recalled interim project, the sight and sound of someone enthusiastically passing the years prior to the unavoidable reunion tour. A Unique Journey This common scenario that renders the unconventional route currently taken by former Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall surprisingly refreshing. She definitely participates in doing the kind of things that former talent show band members are wont to do, among them emphatically stating that she’s no longer subject the media-trained constraints of the manufactured pop industry – based on the audience this evening, the most popular item on the official goods stand is a handheld cooling device displaying the phrase “TINA SAYS YOU’RE A CUNT”, a song line from the track Gossip, her musical partnership with dance duo the group Confidence Man – but regardless, the music she’s opted to make is pop of a noticeably more intriguing stripe than the norm. A Superb Debut She opened her solo account with last year’s superb Angel Of My Dreams, a highly unusual, jarring and fragmented melange of grand emotional pop songs, loud electronic instruments and audio excerpts from the classic track Puppet On A String by Sandie Shaw. During the performance on her initial individual concert series proves, not everything on her debut album That’s Showbiz, Baby! is equally fascinating as that: the track Before You Break My Heart is extremely memorable, but it's equally typical dancefloor-oriented pop, driven by exactly the Motown musical snippet its title suggests; things are padded out with a interpretation of the Madonna classic Frozen that transforms into a musical compilation of nineties club anthems, from the track Pacific State by 808 State to Set You Free by N-Trance. More Intriguing Material However, there exists additional material in the vein of Angel Of My Dreams. The song Headache combines an catchy refrain reminiscent of Abba with song sections that present a nearly discordant brand of funk or are enfolded by deep reverberation. She offers Unconditional to her mum: it has a wonderful tune, early 80s syndrums, and crashing rock guitar allied to metallic pounding beats. IT Girl unexpectedly reanimates the sound of early 00s electroclash, or more accurately the thrilling strain of early 00s pop that was heavily influenced by electroclash, while Natural at Disaster begins like a keyboard-led emotional song before suddenly shifting into a malevolent electronic grind. An Appealing Presence The woman at its centre is a hugely appealing, cheerily unvarnished figure: she is, she announces at a certain moment, “trembling uncontrollably”; giving a shoutout to her queer audience members, who are present in large numbers, she proposes thanking them by adding a official undergarment to the merchandise booth. What Lies Ahead It could conclude the way such individual artistic pursuits typically finish – the enmity towards ex-group member Jesy Nelson expressed in Natural at Disaster resolved, a media announcement to declare that the original group are reunited – but the reality that every attendee seem to be knowing every lyric as they sing along to a record that was released just a few weeks prior makes you wonder. And should it occur, the closing Angel Of My Dreams emphasizes that Thirlwall’s solo career is not destined to fade into the domain of the barely recalled interim project. Jade plays the Manchester venue O2 Victoria Warehouse in the city of Manchester tonight and is traveling across the United Kingdom through October 23rd.