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Harry Styles aside, individual artistic journeys of ex-participants of TV talent show-manufactured bands seldom grip the public imagination. These efforts typically adhere to certain rules – either an attempt at a more edgy urban music style, replete with at least a track featuring a cameo by an American rapper, or a lunge towards “grownup” Radio 2-friendly polished adult contemporary – and they usually amount to a dimly remembered placeholder, the sight and sound of someone enthusiastically passing the years before the inevitable reunion tour.

An Idiosyncratic Path

It’s a state of affairs that renders the unconventional route currently taken by former Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall oddly invigorating. She definitely participates in engaging in the typical activities that ex-reality TV group artists are known for undertaking, including loudly underlining that she’s no longer subject the press-managed restrictions of the factory-produced music business – based on the audience this evening, the top-selling product on the merchandise stall is a fan emblazoned with the legend “TINA SAYS YOU’RE A CUNT”, a song line from Gossip, her musical partnership with dance duo the group Confidence Man – but nevertheless, the songs she has chosen to create is pop of a noticeably more intriguing stripe than usual.

A Superb Debut

She launched her individual career with the previous year's excellent her debut single Angel Of My Dreams, a highly unusual, jolting and disjointed mixture of big pop balladry, loud electronic instruments and samples from Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String.

During the performance on her initial individual concert series demonstrates, not every song on her first full-length release her album That’s Showbiz, Baby! is equally fascinating as that: Before You Break My Heart is extremely memorable, but it’s also typical dancefloor-oriented pop, driven by exactly the Supremes sample its title suggests; the show is extended with a interpretation of Madonna’s Frozen that devolves into a medley of 90s dance hits, from 808’s Pacific State to Set You Free by N-Trance.

More Intriguing Material

However, there exists additional material in the vein of Angel Of My Dreams. The song Headache melds an catchy refrain reminiscent of Abba with verses that offer a borderline atonal brand of funk or are enfolded by cavernous echo. She offers Unconditional to her mum: it has a fabulous melody, early 80s syndrums, and powerful guitar riffs allied to clanging industrial drums. IT Girl unexpectedly reanimates the sound of early 00s electroclash, or more accurately the exciting variation of early 00s pop that was heavily influenced by the electroclash genre, while Natural at Disaster starts out like a keyboard-led emotional song before unexpectedly swerving into a malevolent electronic grind.

An Appealing Presence

The woman at its centre is a immensely likable, delightfully authentic figure: she is, she announces at a certain moment, “shaking like a shitting dog”; giving a shoutout to her queer audience members, who are present in large numbers, she suggests showing appreciation by including a official undergarment to the merchandise booth.

Future Possibilities

It could conclude the way these kind of solo careers end – the hostility towards former bandmate Jesy Nelson voiced within the song Natural at Disaster resolved, a press conference to announce that Little Mix are reunited – but the fact that the entire audience seem to be word-perfect as they sing along to an album that only came out a few weeks prior causes one to ponder. And should it occur, the final performance of Angel Of My Dreams emphasizes that Jade's individual musical path is unlikely to recede into the realms of the dimly remembered placeholder.

• Jade plays the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester this evening and is traveling across the United Kingdom until 23 October.