Fans of pop singer JADE are enjoying her tactful response to a probing question about Simon Cowell on The Louis Theroux Podcast.
The former Little Mix member turned solo artist, born Jade Thirlwall, spoke with Theroux this week about her latest career milestones and recent single “IT Girl”, released this month.
Theroux also asked her about her debut solo track “Angel of My Dreams”, which includes the lyric: “Selling my soul to a psycho.”
The line was widely interpreted as a swipe at The X Factor boss Cowell, whose former record label was named SyCo.
Little Mix were formed on and ultimately won The X Factor in 2011, after which they signed to SyCo before parting ways with the label in 2018, just days before the release of their album LM5.
“SyCo happens to be the name of Simon Cowell’s company,” Theroux told her.
“Coincidentally, yes,” she responded through muffled laughter.
“Is that what we’re gonna say about that?” Theroux asked.
“Mmm,” Thirlwall said, sipping her tea. “I mean, it’s written on the tin, isn’t it, really?”
Fans shared their delighted reactions to the dig on social media, with one fan writing on X/Twitter: “She said, ‘Y’all not about to get me sued,’” adding a number of crying emojis.
“I LOVE HER,” another fan said, as one commented: “SLAAAAAY.”
“Sis was here to serve tea,” one person agreed.
Responding to the lyric, a representative for Cowell’s entertainment company told the Daily Mail in April last year: “The entire team who worked incredibly hard behind the scenes with Little Mix to help make the group a success would, I’m sure, always continue to wish them solo success.”
Thirlwall has been frank about her feelings regarding her X Factor experience, telling The Independent this month: “I don’t know anyone that’s come off that show and not had some sort of mental health issue on the back of it, but also, even now, personally I’m conflicted criticising [it], because it changed my life.
“I was from a very normal working-class family up north, I had tried sending demos into labels, I’d gigged all over, I was doing everything I could to make it, and I needed a show like that to give me a chance.”
She continued: “I’d say five per cent of the people that went on there have come out of it not unscathed, but having survived; the other 95 per cent have suffered in silence. How do you go from being on that show to back to your nine-to-five?
“How do you get signed to the label, think you’ve made it, and then once your song doesn’t hit the Top 10, you’re just dropped? It’s so savage, this machine that we’re a part of. Even back then, we knew how lucky we were every day that we were still signed.”
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available now on Spotify.
