Jade Thirlwall from Little Mix is "the new Cheryl Cole"

It's just seven days since Little Mix were crowned this year’s X Factor ­winners... and already their lives have changed for ever.

But for pretty Jade Thirlwall, 19 – who is now being compared to one of her biggest pop idols – it has still not sunk in.


“People keep telling me I’m the new Cheryl Cole,” she says ­nervously slurping orange juice with a “touch of vodka”.

“That’s fine by me. Cheryl’s an inspiration for all of us. She’s beautiful and so talented. I met her when I auditioned for the show in 2010 and she was amazing. She’s my idol.

“Well, Cheryl and Beyoncé are my idols. I was front row at a Beyoncé gig and she touched my hand once. That was the best ­moment of my life.”

I join the UK’s newest girl band with their mentor Tulisa ­Contostavlos for dinner in affluent Kensington, West London.

All four girls are exhausted but seem to have a great bond. They sit happily together at one end of the table and joke with each other throughout the meal.

We have a very special surprise for Little Mix... Spice Girl Emma Bunton is joining us because she is desperate to meet them.

As Emma walks in they freeze then nervously look at each other. Baby Spice comes over for a hug and starts rattling off advice.

“Make sure you take photos because you’re going to forget everything,” says Emma, in towering ­Louboutin heels. “Don’t bitch about each other. Speak to each other face-to-face.”

Since the band beat Marcus Collins in last Sunday’s live final they have been compared to the Spice Girls – and meeting Emma has a big impact.

Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 19, tells me later: “Emma told me to ignore the judges when they were ­talking about us needing a lead singer. She said the Spice Girls never had a lead singer and it can work well, and to stick to our guns with what we want to do.

“She told me to keep a book by my bed and start writing. If I have an idea for a lyric, get up, write it down and go back to sleep.”

Emma, 35, clearly cares about their future.

She says: “I had to learn for myself as I went along and there was nobody giving me advice along the way so I hope what I told them made sense and was helpful.”

Fellow Spice Girl Geri ­Halliwell also sends the girls flowers and records a pep talk video message.

Little Mix have spent the week travelling the country promoting their debut single Cannonball – destined for the No 1 spot.

On Thursday they visited South Shields where Jade and Perrie Edwards, 18, could stay with their families. Jesy ­Nelson, 20, hit the shops, forgetting that swinging by Topshop isn’t so easy now she’s a household name.

“I decided to go shopping with my mum in the Metro Centre in Gateshead,” she says.

“I literally forgot people would recognise me. We were mobbed. I actually had a security guard to help me shop. That’s the sort of thing that ­happens to proper stars.”

Little Mix plan to get straight into the studio in the New Year to record a summer album.

Leigh-Anne explains at our dinner, thrown by Glamour editor Jo Elvin to toast Tulisa’s latest cover shoot for the mag: “We know what we want to achieve. We want to get straight into the studio and make an urban and R & B pop album.

“It’s fine for people to be saying we can achieve what the Spice Girls achieved. But if we achieved a tenth of that we are going to be happy. We want to bring the girl power vibe back. We’re all different girls. We dress differently, like different styles but come ­together to form a band. There’s something for everyone.”

All four have split with boyfriends to focus on their careers but are not ruling out romance.

Perrie, who was linked to One Direction’s Zayn Malik and Andy Merry from The Risk, says: “If a guy does come along then that’s fine. But for now we’ve got a lot to do. There’s an album to record, an X Factor tour and loads to achieve. We don’t have time for men.
For now, it’s all about girl power.”

Mirror