Jade Thirlwall has revealed that her boyfriend, fellow musician Jordan Stephens, confronted Noel Gallagher after he made disparaging comments about her group, Little Mix.
The pop singer, who released her latest solo single “IT Girl” this month, shared the encounter in an interview on The Louis Theroux Podcast on Spotify.
In 2021, Little Mix had just made history as the first girl band to take home the Brit Award for Best British Group.
However, Gallagher was evidently unimpressed and told The Sun: “Little Mix, with the greatest respect, are not in the same league as Oasis. Not even in the same f***ing sport.”
He said of their success: “It’s a symptom of the music business chasing the numbers – and there not being any bands or songwriters in those bands.”
Thirlwall famously fired back while making a guest appearance oncomedy panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, remarking: “[Noel said] something about that we were undeserving of the Brit Award because we’re women and don’t... well, we do write music, but he thinks we don’t write music.”
She continued: “Yeah, shame really. Because you know, we are definitely the most successful girl group in the country, but he’s not even the most successful performer in his family.”
Her quip went viral on social media along with drawing a round of applause and laughter from her Never Mind the Buzzcocks co-stars.
“We're very different bands, so I'll give him that respect,” Thirlwall told Theroux. “We're very, you know, we're a pop girl band. Yeah. I don't know why he was comparing us, actually.
“Maybe for the clicks,” Theroux suggested.
“I think so,” Thirlwall agreed. “I think he loves a little confrontation, doesn't he, that one.”
She then revealed that she and Stephens spotted Gallagher at Glastonbury, prompting her boyfriend to go over and say something like, “You are really rude about my girlfriend. Do you want to apologise?”
“He went, ‘F*** off!’” Thirwall said. “And I thought, do you know what? Fair play.”
Little Mix went on hiatus in 2022, with their four original members Thirlwall, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards all pursuing respective solo careers.
In the same interview, Thirlwall spoke about the intense grief she felt after Nelson abruptly departed from the group in 2020, while confirming she did not begrudge her former bandmate’s decision.
“I will never begrudge Jesy wanting to leave, because if she needed to do that for herself, no matter what happened behind the scenes or, you know, anything that unfolded,” she said.
“I’ll never discredit or invalidate the struggles that she had in the group, particularly at the beginning.”
She added: “[Nelson] really did suffer the most in terms of, like, trolling, the press being really mean, all of that stuff. And it really did some lasting damage. And we always tried our best to support her in that. Sometimes you get it wrong, sometimes you get it right. Like, again, like I said before, we’re not qualified to, especially at 18 years old, to help someone with that.”
Oasis are currently preparing to embark on their hugely anticipated reunion tour, with brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher set to perform in stadiums around the world from June.
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available now on Spotify.
