Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer. Her music career began at the age of 15, when she auditioned for The X Factor on three occasions before rising to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix. Formed during the show's eighth series, Little Mix became the first group to win the competition, and together went on to release six studio albums and amassed nineteen UK top-ten singles, five of which reached number one. Before going into hiatus in 2022, they became the first girl group to win the Brit Award for British Group.
In 2022, Thirlwall signed a solo record deal with RCA Records and released her debut single, "Angel of My Dreams" in 2024, which reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2025 Brit Awards. Her debut solo studio album That's Showbiz Baby! was released on 12 September 2025 to critical acclaim, and debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart. It spawned the further singles "Fantasy", "FUFN", "Plastic Box", and "Unconditional".
In addition to her solo work, Thirlwall has co-written songs for various artists through her publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music. Known for her political and social activism, she is an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and an ambassador for Stonewall. Her involvement with charity work earned her the Gay Times Honour for Allyship in 2021 and 2025. She won Best Pop Act at the 2025 Brit Awards; making her the first former girl band member to win a solo Brit Award. In 2024, she received the Trailblazer Award at the Rolling Stone UK awards.
Jade Amelia Thirlwall was born on 26 December 1992 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, to parents Norma Badwi and James Thirlwall. She has an older brother. She is of Egyptian and Yemeni descent on her mother's side and English descent on her father's side. She identifies herself as mixed-race, and has been making efforts to reconnect with her Arab heritage and learn the Arabic language in hopes of travelling more to the Middle East.
As a child, Thirlwall attended an Islamic school to learn how to read and write in Arabic and attended church. During her teenage years, she studied pop vocals and cosmetic makeup and completed three A-levels at South Tyneside College. In 1943, Thirlwall's grandfather Mohammed, a devout Muslim, emigrated from Yemen to South Shields, where he met Jade's grandmother, his wife Amelia who was from Egypt.
2008–2022: Career beginnings and Little Mix
In 2008, at the age of 15, Thirlwall auditioned for The X Factor (UK), singing "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" by Whitney Houston, but was eliminated at the boot- camp stage. She returned for a second time in 2010, but was unsuccessful. In 2011, at age 18, Thirlwall returned for the show's eighth series and auditioned with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, and advanced to bootcamp stage. After failing the first challenge she was placed into a group named Orion with Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson were both in another group called Faux Pas, and eliminated from the contest. Later, she and the other girls were called back by the judges and were placed into a supergroup originally known as Rhythmix. Without a performance, they automatically progressed to the judges' houses and reached the live shows, where they were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.
On 28 October 2011, it was announced the group had to change their name to Little Mix, because of legal issues. On 11 December 2011, Little Mix was announced as the first group to win the series and subsequently became the first girl group to make it past week seven of the live shows, the first to reach The X Factor final and the only girl band to win the show before it was discontinued.
Thirlwall shares songwriting credits for more than 50 songs, across Little Mix's six studio albums. She has co-written two UK number one singles with "Wings" in 2012 and "Shout Out to My Ex" in 2016. In 2019, she was recognised as an official songwriter after signing with Sony/ATV. Since Little Mix's debut they have been cited for helping the girl band renaissance in the UK and for re-defining girl groups. In December 2021, the group announced they would be going on a hiatus, after The Confetti Tour in 2022 to allow its members to pursue solo projects.
2022–present: Solo endeavours and That's Showbiz Baby!
In March 2022, Thirlwall appeared as a guest judge on the first series of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, and made a cameo appearance in the British musical television drama series Mood. The same month, she signed a solo recording contract with RCA Records in the UK and USA, and with Full Stop Management. She co-wrote a track for Nayeon's 2022 debut album, Im Nayeon, marking the second time she had worked with her having previously contributed to Twice's album Taste of Love in 2021. She dropped her surname for her solo activities, choosing to perform mononymously under the name Jade.
Thirlwall's debut solo single titled "Angel of My Dreams" was released on 19 July 2024. The song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. In September 2024, she released the promotional single titled "Midnight Cowboy", followed by her second official single, "Fantasy", on 18 October 2024. She performed "Angel of My Dreams" for the first time, along with "Fantasy", on Later... with Jools Holland on 19 October 2024. At the UK Music Video Awards 2024, she received five nominations for "Angel of My Dreams", winning Best Editing. On 25 October, she performed "Fantasy" and a cover of Chase & Status and Stormzy's "Backbone" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. In November 2024, she won the Trailblazer Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards. Thirlwall performed "Fantasy" and a medley of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood" on Jools' Annual Hootenanny on 31 December 2024.
On 10 January 2025, she released the promotional single, "It Girl". At the 2025 Brit Awards, she won Best Pop Act and was nominated for Song of the Year for "Angel of My Dreams", which she performed during the ceremony. On 7 March 2025, she released an Apple Music exclusive cover of Madonna's song "Frozen", followed by her third single, "FUFN (Fuck You For Now)", on 14 March. Thirlwall was also featured on the remix version of Le Sserafim 2025 single "Hot" released on 14 April. Her fourth single, "Plastic Box", was released on 20 June 2025. At the 2025 British LGBT Awards, Thirlwall won the Celebrity Ally Award. On 28 June, she performed at Glastonbury Festival, and premiered the song "Gossip", a collaboration with Confidence Man released on 23 July. On 8 July, she was included on the deluxe reissue of Kesha's album Period (2025), as a feature on a remix of the song "Boy Crazy". On 25 July, Jade headlined the first-ever televised BBC Proms concert outside of London, at The Glasshouse in Gateshead, performing with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and conducted by Robert Ames. Thirlwall's debut album, That's Showbiz Baby!, was released on 12 September 2025. The following month, she made guest appearances on two songs: "Tonight" with PinkPantheress and "Angel of Satisfaction" with Rose Gray. On 28 November 2025, Thirlwall announced a deluxe edition her debut album, That's Showbiz Baby! The Encore, featuring seven new songs and her previously released cover of Madonna's "Frozen". The deluxe edition was released on 5 December 2025. On 19 December 2025, she was granted the freedom of borough honour in South Shields.
Thirlwall's sound has been described as a combination of pop, R&B and disco She describes her sound as "Frankenstein pop" with influences from other genres including europop, techno, tropical house, Latin pop, and electronic music. She grew up listening to Motown music, with her grandfather playing Arabic music to her as a child. She cites Diana Ross as a music influence and has also expressed her love for drag culture, drag queens and is fan of RuPaul. In 2020, for an interview for Attitude magazine she added:"Doing a lot of performing arts growing up and stuff, I've always been surrounded by a lot of LGBTQ+ friends that have been in theatre school with me or at school. When we used to go on holiday Benidorm, one of the favourite things was when me mam used to the drag shows. Me mam's always been into the glitz and the glamour [of drag] and her idol and my idols are Diana Ross, and all the big divas. And I think for me growing up, whenever I saw drag shows as a little girl, I associated drag queens with the big divas. It's something that we've always loved".