Jade has spoken to NME about progress on her “brave and bold” new album, as well as her dreams of headlining Reading & Leeds and the chances of us seeing her return to Glastonbury next year.
Something of a homecoming for the South Shields former Little Mix star turned solo phenomenon, Jade caught up with us on the red carpet for the Mercury Prize returning to Newcastle where her debut album ‘That’s Showbiz Baby!‘ was shortlisted alongside records by Suede, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives and Florence & The Machine, but ultimately lost to Raye’s ‘This Music May Contain Hope‘.
But what makes a truly great album? “Authenticity, being bold and ballsy, just doing what you want to do and not necessarily pandering to what you think the masses want to hear,” Jade replied.
Ahead of her arena-busting performance of ‘Angel Of My Dreams’, Jade told us of her excitement to be shortlisted and taking to the stage. “I’m buzzing off me boobs, I’m so excited,” she shared. “I’m a little overwhelmed to be honest, there’s a lot going on right now, but I’m very happy to be here.”
It’s been a packed year for Jade, and the last time we saw her was when she threw one hell of a party at Reading festival, pulling one of the biggest crowds of the weekend.
“It was amazing,” the singer recalled. “I’d never played Reading before, it was my first time and I think as a pop artist you’re always a little apprehensive of how the crowd is going to react – especially at Reading. But they were amazing, they were well up for it. It was one of my favourite festivals that I’ve done this year and one ticked off the bucketlist.”
Could she follow in the footsteps of Charli XCX and Raye and become one of R+L’s pop headliners for a new generation?
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“I mean I’d love to, I’d absolutely love to,” she replied. “That’s definitely a dream of mine to headline more festivals, and there are no better ones that Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury.”
Asked about the chances of her appearing at Worthy Farm in 2027, she replied: “Fingers crossed, we’ll see. It was so special there last year, and it was probably one of the best shows of my life. It was so, so special. I’d love to re-live it and do it again.”
Hopefully by next summer we could have a new album from Jade, now that we know that she’s been “busy writing” with producer and collaborator Mike Sabbath.
“We’ve been doing a lot over the summer in between the little breaks and the festival run,” Jade told NME. “I’ve been getting in the studio with him, writing what we can, and I’m going to LA in a couple of weeks to start solidifying what this is going to sound like. It’s still kind of early stages, but I love writing process and it’s even better to do it with mates and people who you feel really comfortable with.”
And what’s the vibe of album two so far?
“I can’t say too much without giving it away,” she offered, “but it’s just very honest again about my experiences this year, whatever I’ve been going through and still brave, bold and a bit of a pop punch to the face.”
Jade has a number of European shows scheduled for 2027 so far. Visit here for tickets and more information.