THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY!

Make no mistake: That's Showbiz Baby! is a must hear for any fan of euphoric, maximalist dance pop.

The result is less revelation than stress test – a popstar proof-of-concept. In that, Thirlwall proves herself pop’s newest chameleon: brash, uneven and impossible to ignore.

Some of the songs have one too many musical ideas being thrown around, and the album is arguably too long, but the fact it doesn’t tail off in the second half shows the consistency of its inspiration, the excesses illustrating the raw creativity within. Jade understands what works in pop music

Luckily the offenses—JADE’s somewhat-muted take on reggaeton and R&B on “Lip Service,” the awkwardly-inserted Supremes sample in the otherwise groovy “Before You Break My Heart,” and the flat lyrics on “Natural At Disaster” rumored to be about JADE’s ex-bandmate Jesy Nelson (“Wreakin’ havoc / Everything you do is problematic”)—are minor, and the record’s highs are high enough to make up for its occasional lows.

The highs on That’s Showbiz Baby are so thrillingly nutty that it’s hard not to be all-in with the idea of Thirlwall as Britain’s galaxy-brained saviour of pop – at least by the time album two rolls around.

This debut shows a woman free to make the music she wants to, and boy does she do it well.

An album that’s chock-full of bravado, intelligence and, frankly, hits.

In its most bravura moments, That’s Showbiz Baby! sounds Jade holding a pose breathless in the spotlight after a dazzling turn, no idea how she quite pulled it off, letting pretenders know how it’s done.

Throughout the album, Jade is a winking eye at the center of a giddy, hooky pop storm, projecting a cheeky exuberance no matter what gets thrown her way.

THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! is a romp of a record, even if it feels front-loaded with bangers—like Addison Rae earlier this year, the album is slightly overshadowed by its hot streak of singles.