JADE (Thirlwall) shakes the pop industry to its core today (July 19th), with the release of her wonderfully chaotic, and liberating debut solo single, ‘Angel Of My Dreams’.
Lyrically serving as something of a not so subtle dig at the all too often controlling nature of the music business, the intoxicating, and deliberately frantic sounding track, sees the South Shields native pull together an array of unexpected sonic influences – including a distorted sample of Sandie Shaw’s 1967 hit ‘Puppet On A String’ – to deliver an innovative, and provocative top-tier BOP in-keeping with the Brat Summer ethos and ideology first introduced by fellow pop rule breaker Charli XCX.
“Care that I’m mad / Care that I’m sad / It’s so bad, it’s funny…” the former Little Mix star sings with a sense of both irony and resolve, her unmistakably sultry and soulful vocal tone riding hard in tandem alongside the singles ferocious and pulsating beat constructed by American writer / producer Mike Sabath (Liam Payne, RAYE, Shawn Mendes), before concluding: “Care if I cry / Care if I die / You only care about money…”
However just as you think you’ve sussed the songs energy and direction, the singer soon switches up the pace, reverting back to Shaw’s ‘Puppet’ sample, and breaking out into a gloriously camp chorus, coming complete with angelic sounding harmonies, and cascading synth sequences.
“I didn’t want to do a safe first single, that was really important to me,” a defiant Thirlwall says of the majestic track. “I’m setting the tone of who I am as an artist on my own. I want people to hear it and be like: ‘what the fuck is that song?’ My worst nightmare is for someone to hear my song and go: ‘that’s nice’.”
In a bid to further bring her message and story to life, JADE also drops the singles accompanying music video directed by Aube Perrie (Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion).
Filmed across four days, the eye-popping clip (inspired by the Fifth Element, Showgirls and Black Swan) stars various versions of Jade, all scrapping for their moment in the spotlight.
Explaining the treatment, JADE says: “There’s 11 looks in the video! The concept is sort of rags to riches It was emotional actually because for one bit I’m busking and walking past a Sainsbury’s Local. When I was 16, I would stand outside my local Sainsbury’s and sing Christmas songs.”
Watch the official music video for ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ below:
Download / stream ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ here