‘One of the best debuts of all time’: Fans react to Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall’s first music video

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall has dropped the music video for her solo debut single, “Angel of My Dreams”, and it appears to be going down a treat with fans.

The 31-year-old pop star is the final member of the band to share her long-awaited solo release, after the group went on a break in 2022.

Directed by Aube Perrie – who has also worked with Harry Styles and Megan Thee Stallion – it tells the rags-to-riches story of a young Jade and her path to fame and stardom, and takes inspiration from a mix of movies including The Fifth Element, Showgirls, and Black Swan.

The video captures Thirlwall’s journey from South Shields in the north east of England, where she started out busking at a a Sainsbury’s in her local high street, before making her breakthrough on X Factor at the age of 15 with Little Mix.

“Angel of My Dreams” features home movies of the star as a child, blowing out birthday candles, performing on X Factor, and walking down a London high street.

“We picked that high street because, I wanted it to feel really British first of all, but also it did kind remind me of South Shields high street and I couldn’t ship everyone up North to do the video, so we did it in London and I guess I just so happened to walk past a Sainsbury’s,” she told Capital.

Jade announced the release in a post on X/Twitter on Thursday (18 July), writing: “‘Angel Of My Dreams’ is officially out in the world and I don’t know whether to cry or laugh or s*** myself.

“This song means everything to me – my love/hate letter to the music industry, telling my story from the beginning of my journey to now.”

Social media reactions to the release were overwhelmingly positive as one fan said: “Jade Thirlwall is going places with this solo career and I cannot WAIT to hear the rest of what she brings out, so so talented.”

“This doesn’t sound like anything else,” wrote another person. “So original, so experimental, Jade Thirlwall proving to the whole world that she’s an artist with a vision because oh my god, I’m obsessed.”

Another added: “[She] is a poc (person of colour) baddie from Shields, of course she was gonna eat up a solo debut.”

“Not even being dramatic, this is one of the best music debuts of all time,” read one YouTube comment. “The song was already such a great first single but the music video is literally perfect.”

Fans continued to heap praise on the singer as another said: “It’s time to appreciate Jade as an artist because this is insane”. Her release was also called “exactly what the music industry needs” and “a brave comeback”.

However, at least one person was left unimpressed.

“Some of you don’t want to hear it but that Jade Thirlwall song is SO BAD. It’s competing with ‘Woman’s World’ for worst song of the year,” one X/Twitter user wrote, referring to Katy Perry’s most recent release which left many fans unimpressed.

“Angel of My Dreams” is out now.