Cliff Notes – UK girl group icon shares fears she was ‘too old’ to start solo career
- Jade Thirlwall expressed concerns about her relevance and age as she transitioned to a solo career after Little Mix‘s hiatus, feeling lost compared to her bandmates who had family distractions.
- Despite initial struggles, her solo debut album “That’s Showbiz Baby” achieved commercial success, reaching number three on the charts, and she won a Brit Award for Best Pop Act.
- Jade remains hopeful for a Little Mix reunion, reflecting on the emotional challenges following Jesy Nelson’s departure and the impact it had on their relationships.
UK girl group icon shares fears she was ‘too old’ to start solo career
Jade Thirlwall thought she might be ‘too old’ for a solo career (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
When Little Mix began, Jade Thirlwall was just 18 years old — a decade later, she was forced to either wait for a reunion or take the solo plunge.
Despite having a huge fanbase, five number one singles, and three Brit Awards, she was worried about making music without her bandmates.
‘There were so many spirals, she told Harper’s Bazaar UK. ‘I kept thinking, “Will I still be relevant by the time I come out? Will everyone forget about me?”
‘And being 30-plus, you do wonder, “Is that old to start as a solo artist?”‘
It took the star ‘a minute to adjust’ when Little Mix announced they would be taking a break in May 2022.
After the exit of Jesy Nelson in late 2020, the remaining trio — Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, and Jade — decided to press pause on the band.
She shared that she struggled to adjust to life after Little Mix (Picture Harper’s Bazaar UK/Jem Mitchell)
Her solo career has since been hailed as a triumph (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Jade shared: ‘I struggled the most to adapt to life after the group – the other girls had better distractions: families, kids. They went into a new chapter willingly. It was just me.’
All of the former X Factor winners have gone on to carve out solo careers, with the IT Girl singer proving incredibly commercially successful.
That’s Showbiz Baby reached number three on the albums chart (matched by Perrie’s eponymous record the following month).
She performed across multiple festivals over summer, including a slot at All Points East and Glastonbury.
At the 2025 Brit Awards, her debut single, Angel of My Dreams, was nominated for song of the year, and she won best pop act.
Bandmates Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock had growing families (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
She felt a little lost after the break was announced (Picture: Harper’s Bazaar UK/Jem Mitchell)
This made Jade the first ever former girl group member to win a solo Brit Award – not even a Spice Girl has achieved this.
It mirrors the record-breaking history of Little Mix, who became the first girl group to win the X Factor and to win the Brit Award for British group.
Despite being one of the biggest-selling girl groups of all time, Jade said their success was a ‘tightrope’.
‘It was cut-throat. You were always on a tightrope of success,’ she recalled. ‘If you fell out of the Top 10, there was a lot to worry about.
‘I look back at times when we were huge, before Get Weird came out, and we had a big sleepover, all crying, “If this isn’t a Top 10 song, we’ll get dropped.” It’s wild to think about now because we were so big at the time.’
All four of the Little Mix women have embarked on solo careers (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Jade promised that Little Mix will be back (Picture: Neil Mockford/WireImage)
The group remain on an indefinite hiatus, with Jade previously telling Capital Buzz ‘there will be a reunion if it’s the last thing I do’.
The trio’s relationship with Jesy, 34, remains shaky and ‘incredibly painful’ almost five years on from her abrupt exit.
Jade told The Guardian: ‘It was incredibly painful. For all of us, that was the worst part, and it’s taken a lot of understanding and therapy and all those things to work out how that can happen when you’ve devoted so much time and love to someone.
‘My biggest wish for that whole period is that it was handled differently. I just would’ve loved us to all sit and chat about it.’
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