Jade Thirlwall discussed his time on The X factor as a member of popular band Small mixwho won the eighth series of the British version of the talent competition in 2011.
Alongside bandmates Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson, the quartet were the first group to win the British version of the show. Little Mix has gone on to release six studio albums, most recently in 2020. Confetti. The group went on hiatus in 2022 and all members pursued solo careers in the years that followed.
Talk to The IndependentThirlwall said parts of the show were “pretty fucked up” while increasing the pressures of appearing on the show, and the level of protection contestants were offered. The British version of the show last aired in 2018, although other versions of the franchise continue to air elsewhere in the world, including Denmark, Italy and Indonesia.
“I think it had to stop, I don’t think this kind of show can exist anymore. We’re in a different place now,” Thirlwall said of the competition. “We wouldn’t put someone who is mentally suffering on a TV screen and make fun of them while they sing terribly. The concept of jokes on a show is just cruel. It’s very much a Roman Empire. But at the same time, wasn’t it the best training for me to enter the music industry?
Thirlwall added: “I don’t know anyone who came out of that show who didn’t have some sort of mental health issue, but also, even now, personally, I’m conflicted about the criticism, because it’s changed my life,” she said. “I had come from a very normal working-class family in the North, I had tried to send demos to labels, I had played everywhere, I was doing everything I could to make it, and I needed of a show like that to give me a chance.”
Thirlwall, who auditioned for the show three times, also spoke about the housing situation for contestants placed in shared dorms. “Even at 18, I knew there were people who weren’t mentally well in there, which kept everyone up at night,” Thirlwall said. “I don’t even know if there was security outside the house. It’s scary to think about it now, but I was too young to realize it then.
She continued: “I would say five percent of the people who went there did not come out unscathed, but survived; the other 95 percent suffered in silence,” she said. “How do you get from this show to when you come back from nine to five?” How can you sign to the label, think you’ve made it, and then once your song doesn’t reach the Top 10, you’re just abandoned? It’s so wild, this machine of which we are a part. Even back then we knew how lucky we were every day to still be signed.
In 2023, Rebecca Ferguson, runner-up in 2010 behind Matt Cardle during the seventh season, criticized the show and described his experience as “traumatic” and implored broadcaster ITV to investigate. The show was criticized again following the One Direction’s Liam Payne dies in October 2024, who also appeared on the show during the same season as Ferguson and has faced numerous battles with addiction and mental health throughout his career.
Later this week (January 10), Thirlwall will release her latest solo single “IT Girl” via Sony Music. Her 2023 single “Angel Of My Dreams,” which addressed the darker side of the industry, was featured in UK billboard List of songs of the yearand “presented a fierce, focused artist ready to embrace every facet of her new solo era.”