As Jade earns the biggest opening for a debut album so far in 2025 with That's Showbiz Baby!, here's a chance to read our Hitmakers interview on Angel Of My Dreams with co-writer Steph Jones...
In 2024, Little Mix legend Jade made a stunning start to her solo career with Angel Of My Dreams. Not only has it racked up over 50 million Spotify streams to date, it also hit No.7 in the UK and helped the star go on to win Best Pop Act at the 2025 BRITs. Here, songwriter Steph Jones reveals how Jade’s radical new sound was forged out of a shared love of Britney Spears and with the goal of “slapping you in the face”...
INTERVIEW: Miranda Bardsley PHOTO: Getty
Angel Of My Dreams speaks to Jade’s bravery and vision. She spearheaded the curiosity in the studio from the start, and she didn’t ever want to play safe with it. That’s really what makes her such a great artist.
I was in an interesting place when the song came about. It wasn’t long after a trip I went on where Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso and Don’t Smile were written and I was about to sign a publishing deal [with Reservoir] at the time, so I had this really fresh feeling.
I love Jade, I love Little Mix, but I’d never worked with them before. One of my songs I did in a Little Mix camp years ago ended up going to Blackpink [Love To Hate Me], which is funny, but the first time actually meeting Jade was when my friends Thomas Krottinger and Scout Easley at Sony asked me to join this studio session with her, Mike Sabath and Pablo Bowman. Mike is an old friend and we used to work together – I’m such a personal fan of his – and with Pablo, I’ve always wanted to work with him.
From the moment Jade walked in, I thought, ‘Wow, she is so cool.’ And she said she wanted to try something new. She told us she was inspired by Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String idea [the 1967 song is sampled throughout Angel Of My Dreams], then we went into the chorus, as it felt important to start with that so we’d know where the song was heading.
I’ve always been inspired by Britney Spears, early Rihanna, all of that stuff, and as soon as Jade was naming references like Britney for the chorus, it was so exciting. It felt reminiscent of some of my favourite parts of pop music, but so fresh at the same time.
Once we had the chorus down, we were then just trying things, catching moments, and figuring out what worked. Like at the start, you hear me saying, ‘Hey Mike, let’s do something crazy!’ I was just being weird at the time, but Mike was like, ‘Record that and send it to me right now!’ And that got kept in there. I love having that live quality in songs and not being afraid to capture real moments.
Jade also wanted to feel shifts in energy throughout the song, which is why there are so many changes, so we went for this ‘talky’ verse against the big, lush chorus. Then, Mike and Pablo were figuring out how to weave the sections together, zooming in on each one so every single part had its own identity, whilst also creating something that feels like it keeps slapping you in the face.
That [idea] drew on the experience of being in this industry, where things might feel super tense for a while, then suddenly there are these big, beautiful moments. We were talking about that kind of thing a lot. Like with ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ itself, it could mean anything. It could be someone, but also something you love, that you give everything to, but doesn’t always love you back. That comes from a place where Jade is such a pro, she’s had so much experience, but also a lot of pain. Mike, Pablo and I all pulled from our experiences as well, and talked about how it’s beautiful to do what we do, but it can also be heartbreaking. Relationships can feel like that too, but this was a cool way for us all to bring our stories to the table and I’m so grateful that Jade was open to sharing hers.
So, by the end of that one studio day, it was all kind of there. Jade had done a lot of vocals, then after that I think her and Mike did a bit more work on it and some final vocals. I give a lot of kudos to Mike for bringing all the energies of the song together. Lots of people would be afraid to do it, but he saw the vision.
After that, it was a while before I knew it was coming out, but we’re on a group chat so once in a while somebody would message, ‘This is still so cool!’ I was also a little nervous to show it to my team at first, because they were either going to be like, ‘This is so fresh!’ or, ‘What the fuck is going on here?!’ [Laughs]. I knew it was great, but I wasn’t sure if people would appreciate it the way that we did – as the track can be quite polarising.
There’s also a lot on the line when you put out something so different for your debut single. Jade was the last one of Little Mix to do so, and she spoke so highly of everyone, so it was a big deal. But the response has been incredible. For me, when people have taken the time to text or call me to say, ‘This is crazy!’ or, ‘This is sick!’, that’s how I gauge that we really tapped into something.
I learn something from every session I do, and with this, it was from Jade’s honesty, from her going with her gut and risking being misunderstood. If you look at the landscape of pop music right now, curiosity is rewarded, and so is telling your story. And this song was exactly that, a big truth for Jade. It might’ve been written in a way that didn’t sound that serious, but it meant a lot to her.
