Jade Thirlwall is determined to prove she writes her own songs.
The former Little Mix star has confessed that spending years in the girl group has given her a chip on her shoulder and left her feeling like she needs to convince the world she’s a “credible artist” – so she makes sure she talks about the inspiration behind her tracks.
She told NME: “I like doing it [talking about her inspiration for songs] at this phase of my career, because I like to show people that I do actually write my own music.
“I feel like being in a girl band, you spend years convincing people that you actually are a credible artist. Like, to a degree, I’ve definitely got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about feeling like an underdog and having to prove that I’m worthy of a seat at the table.”
Jade went on to reveal her new track Unconditional was written when her mother was in hospital battling lupus and she was determined to channel her “upset” into her music.
She told the publication: “It’s about my mum, who’s got lupus – the week that we wrote it, my mum was in hospital, and I was obviously very upset about that.
“So I went in the studio with [songwriter] Pablo [Bowman] and [producer] Mike [Sabath] and told them what was going on. Literally, I was in and out of the room, on the phone to the hospital and my brother, and it was all very touch-and-go.
“So the song is about my undying love for my mum and [how] I wish I could fix it, but I just can’t. The musical references were Diana Ross and disco, because that’s what my mum loves, but I wanted to merge that with MGMT vibes, which you can hear in the synth sounds, and a bit of Gossip.”
Jade shot to fame as a member of Little Mix – alongside Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson who left in 2020 – but the band has been on hiatus since 2022 while the singers work on their Solo careers.
However, Jade previously admitted she remains fiercely proud of all the band’s achievements.
She told RTÉ Entertainment: “I’m so proud of what we achieved. 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!’
“It’s so hard when you’re in that bubble to understand the greatness of it. The best thing about it is – we remain friends, we remain equals, but also we 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 that have been there since they were 8-years-old. I think that’s so beautiful.”