Pastiche is proof that pop music gets more interesting when it stops pretending to be perfect.

The Dublin-born riser — the fearless solo project of Jade Roche — returns with Hot Mess Express, a fluorescent, unhinged, and unapologetically honest anthem that cements her status as one of Ireland’s most exciting new voices. Lifted from her upcoming EP Femme Fatality (out October 16), the single rides the high of a career on the ascent: fresh from a standout set at Forbidden Fruit, a head-turning headline at The Grand Social, and her coronation as RTÉ 2FM’s Rising Artist of 2025.

But don’t mistake the glimmering synths and dancefloor-ready beats for something superficial. Hot Mess Express was born in the depths of personal upheaval — from a devastating Endometriosis and Adenomyosis diagnosis to fertility treatments, fractured friendships, and moving home at 26. It’s about chaos, yes — but also about the strange kind of strength that comes with owning your spiral.

On the track, Pastiche lets the mask slip just enough to reveal the realest thing about her: “Sometimes being a mess is the most honest version of yourself — and the most dangerous.” In her world, glossy pop and gritty truth aren’t opposites. They’re the same song, just waiting to be turned all the way up.

“Hot Mess Express” is glittering, defiant, and fully spiraling — in the best way. What made you want to make a track that owns the unraveling instead of hiding it?

Honestly, I am a chronically honest person (sometimes to my own detriment) and when I feel something I find it very hard to hide it. Alot of my music has narratives about loss of control and using music as an escapism because that’s my life experience and what I use music for. I think there is something really significant about control, and with HME it represents a time of spiraling out but being in control of being out of control. When life takes a left turn out of nowhere it’s pretty easy to feel lost and hopeless but I can always centre myself by knowing that I can’t control anything else but myself.

You’ve said Pastiche is everything you always wanted to be as a woman — strong, independent, confident. Do you ever feel like you become her on stage… or is she still a persona you’re chasing?

My Pastiche make up is very different to my day to day makeup and kind of signifies the change for me when getting ready. It creates almost like this barrier between person me and stage me. I feel like I can just fully let go on stage because it is seen as some type of performativity rather than something that I will personally be judged for. It’s like a separation in the best way and just kind of amplifies the traits in me that I dont show on the daily.

There’s a tongue-in-cheek chaos in this single, but beneath it is a very real exhaustion. What was the moment that made you stop trying to hold it all together and start writing about losing it? 

I’ve been through alot in the last couple of years between my stage 4 Endometriosis diagnosis, surgery, the medical gaslighting we endure as women with chronic illness, having to freeze my eggs, having to move back home from London to live with my mom to be able to afford freezing my eggs, friendship breakdowns, all my friends emigrating, job loss you name it. All the while, trying to be an independent artist and create art. It’s like a pressure cooker, a girl can only handle so much. Its almost like when someone wants you to be the villian so bad in their story that you just say fuck it and become the villian. Everything in my life was out of control, so I followed suit I supposed, but I am too much of a control freak that I could only let myself spiral if I knew it was a conscious choice to do so.

You wrote this song while navigating serious medical diagnoses, heartbreak, and upheaval. How did creating “Hot Mess Express” help you metabolize that pain — or did it?

It helps me alot. While writing it I also got Diagnosed with Adenomyosis, Endos way more evil painful twin. This was almost the final straw for me. But writing makes me feel less crazy, it made me sit down and talk about it with my producer Alex and co-writer Amy. Those writing sessions almost become more honest than therapy! Because in therapy I feel like a moan bag and I am always thinking the therapist is judging me. In the studio I don’t care because oversharing or going to that dark place means we are going to get the best material and story for the song. I kinda enjoy whoring out my pain for the sake of something rather than just bouncing it around the 4 walls of a dimly lit, Ikea furnished room with a stranger.

Femme Fatality is shaping up to be a fearless portrait of modern womanhood. What’s one thing you wanted to say with this project that you haven’t heard enough in pop music?

That women can be contradictory. We can be hot and sexy and fearless as well as sad, messy and lost. I think when you hear each single by itself it can seem like another pop girl making pop music, but when you line up the tracks on the track list each one delves into a different part of me, which leads to an overarching theme of being a complicated woman. That’s what I am, a very complicated woman with a lot of issues, but I can be hot and still have fun with a lot of issues.

There’s a line between satire and sincerity that you walk so well. When you write lyrics that are both dramatic and painfully honest, how do you know when you’ve hit the sweet spot?

When I refuse to budge on a line. A Lot of times when writing, especially with co-writers, I always say the best idea wins no matter who came up with it. However, If I write something that just feels right instantly I will not budge even if the other people in the room tell me to. The people I write with are very respectful of this, but I think as the artist sometimes you gotta make an executive decision on some things especially if its a song that represents you and your own story or lived experience. I’m also a highly sarcastic person and love dark humor, so when I can capture that side of me and balance out a song about something intense while being a bit silly I know I’m doing a good job.

Ireland has had a serious pop glow-up in recent years — and you’re right at the heart of it. How do you think being Irish, and a woman in pop, shapes the stories you’re telling?

I think it’s a very interesting perspective because just being an Irish person is symbol of persistence and freedom. Add in being a woman and you have something more layered to unpack for sure.  Irish Female Pop, that is proper proper pop, is still pretty niche on the scene here. We still heavily rely on imported pop or only really dabble in sub genres like folk pop, country pop or proper electronic DJ stuff. Then you have your classic white guys on acoustic guitars which for some reason have a chokehold on Ireland. Irish Pop females are still a minority on the scene for sure, cause I think people view it as vapid or its just the innate sexisim that we all experience? Who knows, but I know I am making music that would be huge If I had the right platform and I think this has definitely had an impact on how unapologetic my writing is.  

The phrase “I’m in control of being out of control” feels like the thesis of Hot Mess Express. How do you personally stay grounded while embracing the theatrical chaos of your sound?

By writing music honestly. It helps me to delve deeper into my feelings and really analyze myself by analyzing what I am writing, how I want to say it and what I want to say. And it’s cheaper than therapy.

With Femme Fatality diving into infertility, sexuality, body image, and self-worth — were there any lines or themes you second-guessed sharing publicly?

All of “Calories” was hilarious to write. We were in fits of laughter writing it cause it’s so sexual, and we defo had to step back a few times and say are we taking this too far? But then we realised that was the whole point of the song, to just be stupid and take it a bit far. I had to fight for the line “Make me your elliptical” and I am so glad I did! The next single goes alot deeper into my body image and self worth while navigating my fertility struggles and how I feel like as women we have this huge clock on our heads counting us down till our ovaries are dust. My favourite non negotiable line from that was “My ovaries are over it”. Never thought I’d mention ovaries in a pop song but here we are. 

If Hot Mess Express had a scent, a fashion moodboard, and a disaster movie tagline — what would they be?

scent – YLS Libre

Fashion mood board – 90s Pam Anderson, WWE’s Sabel, red curly hair, leather, red latex, cigarette buts and denim, 

Disaster movie tagline – “On a one way road to Hell”