Album review: JADE - 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY!'

Words by Adam Harvey

JADE glistens under the spotlight in her bold, brash, and mostly-brilliant debut album THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! - so much so you wish she had left Little Mix a decade earlier. The album starts with the bombastic anthem 'Angel of My Dreams', the perfect introduction to JADE's solo career, released as her debut single back in July of last year. The clever interpolation of Sandie Shaw’s 'Puppet on a String' lays the groundwork for an album that explores "SHOWBIZ", the concept of fame,  and Thirlwall's history, identity, and perception of herself as both person and popstar.

These themes continue into the album's second track, the glitchy 'IT girl', which uses elements of electroclash to reflect the subtext of Thirlwall's fragmented view of how she is perceived, and her self-reassurance.

JADE's harmonies come to haunt her verses in 'FUFN', a song which shows a more confident side to Thirlwall. The Europop choruses pack a punch, and it’s exactly the sort of song that would be accompanied by a big performance and backing dancers aplenty on a mid-2010s Sunday night results show of former primetime juggernaut The X Factor. The addition of “for now” to the classic "fuck you" trope is a great example of the humour that JADE embeds throughout the album. The album’s first three tracks make it clear it’s not just an ex that Thirlwall sticks a middle finger up to, but also former mentor and record label head Simon Cowell.

Drum machines segue nicely into 'Plastic Box', but the strength of the tracks that precede it means the song feels like filler, a bridge between the album’s introductory punchy power pop trio and the point where things get more interesting on fifth track 'Midnight Cowboy'. Ncuti Gatwa is cleverly utilised as MC in the song’s introduction, as the curtain finally drops and JADE welcomes you to the show referenced in the title of her debut album. Claps, tambourines, and falsetto blend together with the lower pitch sprechgesang-like verses and vocal effects to show off Thirlwall's solo persona. She tells you to “giddy up”, and you feel empowered to do so.

Co-writer RAYE is all over the song’s blueprint, making it sound like a late noughties R&B electropop anthem. This continues in what is arguably the album’s best track, the Prince-inspired, funky and throbbing 'Fantasy'. The synths and breathy vocals combine perfectly to make the song as ethereal as it is groovy, making it equally perfect for a club or the gates of heaven.

Just as you’ve settled in at JADE's synthesiser service, 'Unconditional' pivots into indietronica territory in the clash of machine and live drums in the introduction to its choruses. It feels like a perfect homage to the likes of Hot Chip and Gossip - the exact thing the cool kids were too busy listening to when Little Mix were in their early formation days.

Anything that follows such a three-track run will pale in comparison, but 'Self Saboteur' still has enough of a bite vocally to keep listeners entranced in JADE's presence. It goes on for maybe a minute too long, but the track perfectly fades out with both a tempo and synthesiser key change directly into 'Lip Service'.

'Lip Service' is enough of a banger to stop you from fully realising it’s better suited to Tove Lo, who, perhaps unhelpfully for JADE, performs noticeable backing vocals and also co-wrote the song. The following track, 'Headache', perfectly shows off Thirwall's playful humour and returns to the indietronica tendencies of 'Unconditional'. The track remains distinctive enough to sustain itself as an album highlight, with its outro a mirror into JADE's yearning internal monologue behind the showbiz façade.

THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY gets more introspective in 'Natural at Disaster', as JADE reflects both upon her need to please and how it had left her subject to a toxic relationship that was formed on dependency. This continues, lyrically at least, into 'Glitch', where Thirlwall vents about someone who was a 'Glitch' in her life, who prevented her from feeling like “that bitch”. The bass is turned up to the max here, and it goes nicely with the glitches in JADE's vocals that have been chopped up, even if it feels a little safe and predictable.

'Before You Break My Heart' performs the same interpolation trick that 'Angel of My Dreams' did, but to less avail, and feels exemplary of the perfectly fine, but boring, middle-of-the-road pop that may get a former contestant of The X Factor onto the playlist of BBC Radio 2. The album’s disco continues, but putting a very interesting flute-like sample in the song’s choruses aside, it feels like the part of the night when everyone has run out of energy and is more focused on ordering the Uber home whilst trying to beat 3 AM price surges.

The album concludes with 'Silent Disco', an album closer that feels almost too traditional. A slowdown in tempo? Tick. A theme that is a little too on-the-nose and tries to sum up the entire vibe of the album in one go? Tick. A few vocal runs and high notes to sign you off? Tick. It’s a nice enough song that shows off JADE's vocal prowess, but ultimately leaves you wanting it to end so you can go back to the album’s most interesting parts: the stellar three-track runs of its start and of its middle.

JADE's debut features an array of styles, clearly influenced by its more established co-writers Tove Lo, MNEK, RAYE, and Lauren Aquilina, but it is perfectly compatible and unique enough to make Thirlwall stand out by herself.

The album will inevitably draw upon comparisons to Charli xcx’s BRAT, despite being written and recorded before that album's release, only to be released the same day as pop juggernaut Ed Sheeran’s most recent album after speculation that record label Sony had held it back for over a year. Well, that’s showbiz, baby, and through it all JADE proves she is here to stay longer than any chart battle or internet trend could go on for.

Listen to the album here.