“Church” sounds like someone fed Blondie’s “Long Time” into a machine that runs on ABBA records and glitter.
Mark Schick and Jason Evigan built a disco-pop track that should feel retro but somehow doesn’t. Maybe it’s the way the bassline refuses to stay in one decade, or how JADE’s vocal sits somewhere between an invitation and a threat.
This is track 15 on a 22-song deluxe album, which already tells you something about JADE’s approach to career management.
When your debut goes to number three and sells more than any other debut album in 2024, when you beat Charli XCX and Dua Lipa for a BRIT Award, you could reasonably coast on a standard deluxe with three new songs and some remixes.
Instead she pulled a Fame Monster and treated it like a second album. The Kiss FM interview where she describes “Church” as “the grand finale” wasn’t hyperbole.
Pablo Bowman co-wrote this, which makes sense given he also worked on “Angel Of My Dreams.” But Sarah Hudson’s name in the credits matters more.
Hudson writes for LA’s queer community, and that shows in how the song handles its subject matter. There’s no sanitising here, no careful language.
When JADE calls herself a Stonewall ambassador or talks about winning Gay Times Honours in 2021 and 2025, she’s not performing allyship. She’s speaking to her actual fanbase, the people who’ve been showing up since Little Mix.
The first verse recounts a childhood memory that JADE’s mentioned in interviews before. Her mum used to take her to drag shows in Benidorm on family holidays. One queen in particular stuck with her, which makes sense when you’re a kid and someone “divine, elegant and free” notices you exist.
The lyric about the queen not being “Elizabeth, more like Destiny” works because it’s specific, Beyoncé’s group name standing in for that whole fantasy of glamour and escape. By verse two, JADE’s the one offering that same escape to someone else. The circle completes itself.
“It’s hard enough to be alive / Might as well dance or die” gets repeated enough times that you start to believe it. Not in an inspirational Instagram caption way, more like an actual philosophy.
The bridge drops the metaphor entirely: “All the sinners in the place, show me love, give me faith / Girls, dolls, party boys, rise above the dirty noise.” That’s a roll call, not poetry.
Billy King directed the video and went full horror film with it. JADE appears as some kind of deity while cult members position her body like she’s a mannequin. She barely moves in most shots.
A high priestess interprets her divine messages for the congregation because apparently the goddess can’t speak for herself. The Handmaid’s Tale, Midsommar and Wicker Man references are obvious, but what makes it work is how uncomfortable it gets.
This isn’t camp horror for fun. JADE told Gay Times that “Church” connects to “Angel Of My Dreams” in exploring her relationship with the industry, and the video makes that literal. She’s worshipped and trapped at the same time.
The ending commits to its concept. A younger woman burns JADE at the stake, then takes her position as the new deity. The cult continues.
The cycle continues. It’s bleak as hell for a song that’s also calling itself a “love letter to the fans.” That tension is probably the point. Devotion can look like a lot of things, including consumption.
What works: the song refuses to pick a lane between celebration and warning. What doesn’t: sometimes the production feels overstuffed, like they couldn’t decide which idea to commit to so they kept all of them.
But for someone closing out an album cycle that’s already exceeded expectations, “Church” makes a statement. It just happens to be a statement about burning the whole thing down.
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