Jade was a little afraid to shuffle her music library for Rolling Stone’s Song Shuffle series. Backstage at Lollapalooza, the pop phenom admitted she’d only recently discovered the like button on Spotify and described what she’d added so far as “quite eclectic.” It feels almost fated, then, that the first song to play at random from her liked-songs library is Little Mix’s “DNA.”
For anyone unfamiliar, “DNA” is one of the loudest songs in the history of recorded music. However loud you think it might be, it’s about 200 decibels higher. Jade would know. It’s her voice that sets the stage for the song’s thunderous chorus. “I can’t believe that’s the first song,” Jade said. “Well, obvs I was in it. Love them down. One of the best girl bands ever.” She remembers writing the song fresh out of school, before her brain had a chance to switch over from academics to full-blown pop stardom. She used a textbook to help come up with the lyrics.
Jade admittedly has some skips when it comes to listening to Little Mix. “There’s a song called ‘Oops’ that I despise, so I skip that,” she said. “Black Magic” is also hit or miss, but only because she prefers the demo version recorded by the songwriter Kamille. “Not many people know this,” Jade said. “The original demo actually only had Kamille on it. She was like the fifth member of Little Mix.”
The next song in the shuffle is also close to home: “It Girl” from Jade’s debut solo album, That’s Showbiz Baby! “You’ve got to be your biggest fan,” she said, keeping any narcissism allegations at bay. “‘It Girl’ is one of my favorites because it’s ballsy, it’s rude, it’s like a clapback to any men that have done me wrong in the industry.” It was written after her debut solo single, “Angel of My Dreams,” and continued a prominent thread across the album about how she’s processed the highs and lows of the nearly two decades she’s spent in the music industry.
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From there, Jade’s library goes a bit rogue. There’s “What You Own” from the cast recording of Rent, one of her top three musicals — her dog is named after Rosario Dawson’s character, Mimi. “It’s been my dream to play Mimi at some point in my life, but maybe I’m getting too old now for the role,” Jade said. “Watch this space.” The shuffle whiplash continues with Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” (“I feel like his music feels like a bowl of soup, a cardigan, and a hug”); Jimmy Nail’s “Big River,” a relic from her childhood growing up in the northeast of England; and MNEK’s “At Night.”
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“It’s honestly one of the most beautiful pop songs ever,” Jade said about the artist and producer-songwriter whose credits include songs with Zara Larsson, Dua Lipa, Little Mix, and more. “He’s known me for such a long time. When I first started writing my debut record, we spent literally months together, just hashing out what my sound was going to be. I’ll never forget that he did that for me.” MNEK has an album of his own, Bulldozer, coming in September. “It’s about time we saw more representation for Black queer men in the music industry,” Jade said.
Shouting out one last song, Jade lands on “Plastic Box” from That’s Showbiz Baby. “I love it because it’s just a really fucking good pop song. I know you had PinkPantheress on here before. It’s one of her faves,” Jade said. “It’s your favorite artist’s favorite pop song.”
