Jade Thirlwall wrote her “greatest music” when she stopped trying to make viral hits.
The Little Mix star recently released her debut solo single, “Angel Of My Dreams,” which features a sample of Eurovision winner Sandie Shaw's “Puppet On A String,” and she admits that writing songs became a lot easier once she stopped trying to put together a radio-friendly song or create a TikTok hit.
In an interview with Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1, Jade explained, “I think creatively, I've actually surprised myself. I think the moment I stopped worrying so much about, 'Oh, what's going to be a hit on the radio, what's going to be a hit on TikTok,' and all that stuff, I started writing my best music.”
“So I think I needed time to evolve and figure out who I was as an artist.”
Jade claimed that she embraced an “experimental vibe” on her debut solo album because there is now much more “creative freedom” for female artists.
She continued, “There are a lot of songs on the album that have that same experimental vibe. To be honest, I think the album as a whole definitely has some more straightforward pop songs, but scattered throughout the chaos is my brain…”
“I think we're in a really exciting time right now in music where it's evolved to a point where there's a lot more creative freedom, especially for female musicians.
“There's a lot more acceptance now, regardless of your age or who you want to be as an artist. I don't feel as constrained as I did when I first got into the industry in 2011.”
“And I think it's really encouraging to me to have seen the evolution of music to get to where I am now.”