2017–2018: First EP and singles While in her final year at BRIT School, Bird recorded a
demo of 13 tracks in her friend's bathroom, which would later bring her a management deal. Soon after the management deal, she signed to
Glassnote Records. She played a showcase event at
South by Southwest in
Austin, Texas in March 2017 and later in the year she opened for
First Aid Kit,
Son Little and
London Grammar. In 2017, Bird won the ANCHOR 2017 award of the
Reeperbahn Festival in
Hamburg. Also in 2017, Bird recorded her debut
extended play (EP),
Something American, in
Rhinebeck,
Boiceville and
Palenville, all in
New York. It was produced by Simon Felice, of
The Felice Brothers and
David Baron, and featured guitarist
Will Rees, drummer
Matt Johnson and guitarist
Larry Campbell, and was released that same year. The EP received a positive reception from a number of critics. Stephanie Penman commented that the songs were "musical masterpieces" and Amanda Erwin stated "[it is] no surprise Bird has found a concrete voice of her own so quickly, unafraid to bare her raw emotions on each track."
The Line of Best Fit called the EP "a vibrant collection of folk and country-tinged songs". A year after releasing her debut EP, she released her debut single "Lottery", a
punk-influenced song with romantic lyrical themes. The song went to the top of the
Adult Alternative Songs and remained there for three weeks. This made her only the fifth female solo artist to top that chart since 2010. On 31 July 2018, Bird released her second single from what would be her debut studio album. The song, entitled "Uh Huh", was accompanied by a video directed by
Kate Moross.
Atwood Magazine noted some lyrical similarities with the previous single "Lottery" but also mentioned that the song demonstrated
hard rock influences throughout.
2019: Jade Bird After announcing the release date for her upcoming album, Bird released "I Get No Joy", the fourth single from that album. The upbeat rock song was described by Bird as being influenced by "the stream of thought that runs through your head at all times as an overthinker". Her debut was recorded at Clubhouse Studios in Rhinebeck, NY, Sun Mountain Studios in Boiceville, NY, and Barn Studio in Palenville, NY. Simone Felice and
David Baron producing.
David Baron and Peter Hanlon engineering.
David Baron and Mark “Spike” Stent mixing. In preparation for its release, Bird toured with Irish singer-songwriter
Hozier, playing in venues such as the
Mahaffey Theater,
The Fillmore and
Ovens Auditorium, gaining positive attention from American music critics. On 19 April 2019, she released her debut album,
Jade Bird. The album received a
Metacritic score of 75 based on 14 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews from several major publications.
NME called the entire album "a triumph" while
Clash led with labelling
Jade Bird as "[an] assured debut from a force to be reckoned with". A review in
Paste was slightly more critical of the album, "
Jade Bird is an album of loose change, a pocketful of shiny, well-written nuggets that might give off a lot of flash individually but when put together don't equal the sum of their parts." On 24 July, it was announced that Bird had been nominated for three awards at the
AIM Independent Music Awards. Only
Idles were nominated for more awards at this event. She ended up winning the award for International Breakthrough artist.
2020–2022: Different Kinds of Light Nine months after releasing her debut album, the follow-up album was written and completed while Bird was in New York. Following the cancellation of her 2020 tour, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Bird collaborated with
Microsoft and was the first artist to take part in their RE:Surface project, a virtual live-streamed concert, on 29 May 2020. Months later, in October, she then headlined another live-streamed concert. This one was called Come Together Mental Health Music Festival and was for the benefit of the
National Alliance on Mental Illness. On 4 November, Bird released "Headstart", the first single from her second studio album. This was followed up by "Houdini" on 26 November, a song based on the disappearance of someone from her life. Bird's first release of 2021 was the single "Open Up The Heavens", from her upcoming second studio album. This song, which
ABC Online described as "one of Bird's finest pieces yet", was the last to be recorded for that album. On 16 April, Bird released her second EP,
RCA Studio A Sessions. The album, produced by Dave Cobb, was written in Japan, Mexico, Nashville and New York and contains inspiration from Bird's own life experiences as well as fictional characters from her imagination.
2023–present: Burn the Hard Drive EP and Who Wants to Talk About Love In early 2024, Bird released her third EP,
Burn the Hard Drive, while revealing that she had split from her fiancée and touring guitarist. During the year, Bird embarked upon her Open Up the Songbook where she played new songs from her then-unannounced third studio album
Who Wants to Talk About Love?. In April 2025, the album was officially announced for release on 18 July. ==Artistry==