MANILA, Philippines - Jedward is a singing duo from Ireland. It first appeared in X Factor, and more recently, competed in Eurovision 2011 and 2012. John and Edward Grimes, though only 20, have already had eight charting singles, two of which are Lipstick and Waterline (the songs they competed with for Eurovision 2011 and 2012). They’ve released two successful albums, and will now be releasing a third, Young Love, which will very soon be available in the Philippines.
We were able to ask the identical twins a few questions sometime ago, but to be honest, we didn’t have to do much asking, as they went off talking on their own. Starting the interview with a synchronized “We’re Jedward!” they went right into talking about buying an island in the Philippines.
Jedward wanted to tell us a bit about its fandom and Jedheads, who the duo described as “jedicated (like dedicated), and jepic (like epic).”
We asked them what they liked about taking part in competitions and what keeps them coming back. Jedward hasn’t won one of the big TV competitions yet, but has always attracted attention for its sky-high quiffs, unique fashion, energy on stage and chattiness. But despite losing, John and Edward told us that they want to show their fans that “You don’t have to win to be a winner.” They said that they were the most successful from their X Factor season, and also their single Lipstick charted highest in their country.
Edward said, “I like Justin Bieber and Big Time Rush, and all these other groups, they’re all famous, but me and John, we’re different.” They went on to tell us how they do everything themselves, they do their own styling, fix their own hair, and although they’ve had some professional ones, they like to make their own videos as well.
Have you seen the music video for Young Love? Jedward told us they made the video themselves, as well as the videos for Waterline and Lipstick. They filmed it, and edited it on their laptop. But according to Edward, there is a possibility they will have another, professionally done video for it.
Jedward can’t be labeled simply as singers — they’ve been on TV, in commercials, have done acting and lots of charity campaigns (for prevention of cruelty to children and animals), and they support UNICEF.
We wondered where they get all their never-ending energy from, but it wasn’t as surprising when they told us that before they were famous, John and Edward were also athletes. They did cross-country running, and would run “50 miles a week.” In fact, earlier this year, they ran with the Olympic torch in Dublin. “That meant a lot to us, and we got to run up to Dublin (their hometown) with it. And it was really, really exciting because the fire on the flame was like our hair, and we don’t think anyone running with the Olympic flame had hair like us.” We don’t think so either!
We asked the dynamic duo which direction they were planning on taking their new album. They replied, “On our brand-new album, every single song is really, really good. I think our direction is having real music like drums, guitars.” They’re happy that the album Young Love has no album fillers, and has good, well-written songs. The album has 12 tracks on the CD, and 15 tracks on iTunes, including a song they wrote called Can’t Forget You. They wrote a lot of other songs but they were not able to develop them in time for the release date. Jedward is hoping that the next album will be all-original songs.
John and Edward always look ahead to the future. Among their plans are to make Jedward merchandise for their fans, the second series of their TV show Jedward’s Dream Factory (where they make kids’ dreams come true), and hopefully have their own movie. They are also planning to make Jedward’s Big Adventure, their TV show where they learn about UNESCO historical sites in the UK and lead their own tour of the places, international. They also hope to bring the show to the Philippines.
John and Edward are excited to come to the Philippines, and have so many plans for it. They want to go scuba diving (they got their licenses five years ago in Tunisia), they want to go surfing, and can’t wait to go swimming with sharks. And of course, they can’t wait to tour in the Philippines. (Expect a loud concert and crowd surfing).
“We’ll make it our No. 1 priority to go there and spread the Jedward love.”
(Watch out for more Jedward news at www.facebook.com/mcamusic and @mca_music on Twitter.)