They’re minted, they’re hyperactive and they say they’re going to win the Eurovision Song Contest for their granddad. Jedward talk to Alan Corr about girls, money, fame, and the road to Düsseldorf
“I’m wearing lipstick underpants today”, announces John Grimes, helpfully hooking his thumb around his pitch black skinny jeans to reveal scarlet red briefs with kisses all over them. His brother Edward (younger by ten minutes) looks on and grins cutely.
Jedward are in the middle of taking over a (fully-clothed) photo shoot in the RTÉ Guide studio and boy, do these boys know what they’re doing. Props are pressed into action and between takes, both discuss the visual potential of everything from mannequins to step ladders. “High five me John”, says Edward holding up a dummy’s arm. “What about that ladder over there?” ponders John, lying on the floor alongside his brother for a bit of zany Hard Day’s Night action.
Their every move is being filmed by a camera crew making OMG! It’s Eurovision, which will air in the week before they they sing their little hearts out in Düsseldorf for the Eurovision Song Contest and perform Lipstick, the day-glo hit that the 19-year-old twins hope will turn them into a pan-European sensation.
Kiss kiss, bang bang, indeed. You could say Jedward are pretty busy these days. They’ve just completed another national tour, the week before we meet, the media were agog at the news that they’ve made £2.83 million since coming fourth on The X Factor two years ago, they’re making a new show for the BBC, and after our interview, they’ll once again climb into a tour van and be driven (their road manager is Liam McKenna formerly of Six) to Limerick for another night of mid-air splits, mindless pop and karaoke fun.
Not bad for a novelty pop act Simon Cowell dismissed as, “Not very good and incredibly annoying” when he first saw them at The X Factor’s Glasgow auditions in 2009. As for their canny manager Louis Walsh, well, he’s finally got a successful Carter Twins.
Shoot over, we exit the studio gloom, stroll past a watchful RTÉ security guard, head out into the blazing April heat (it really is a day for Jedward’s sunburst pop) and take a bench near the Fair City set. “Do you want to leave the make-up on boys?” asks the documentary director. “On”, Jedward say together because, like some toy with a never-ending battery life, Jedward are always ON.
“Me and John don’t have a limit”, says Edward. “We just keep going. We’re non-stop, always doing different things. Me and John don’t have a private life, everything is about doing things.”
“Yeah”, concurs John. “Our days are all crazy. We’re up at six. Our days are so all over the place that we wake up in the night. We like that when other people are sleeping we’re getting stuff done and just talking about stuff. We’re all doing different stuff like updating our Twitter for our fans so they’re kept in the loop about what’s happening.”
There is very little to tell John and Edward Grimes apart physically. Up close, they have an almost alien quality. Their skin is near translucent and those blonde, pirouetting quiffs give them the look of renegade Disney characters. They’re also taller than you’d think and it’s not just the hair. It is only when they speak that their different personas emerge: Edward is the more articulate, or at least the more talkative, of the twins. John, whose raspy voice now seems to be a permanent fixture, is more inclined to start talking, wander off on wild tangents, and then fix you with a quizzical look as if asking himself if he’s actually answered the question you’ve just asked.
Edward also seems more focused. Before we’ve even sat down, John wanders off to chat to a passing Fair City actor (who’s driving a red sports car). “Wassup Leo!?” he cries. “Right now we’re on the set of Fair City and it’s really cool”, says Edward, playing up for the documentary crew. “I’m seeing loads of scenes where I’ve, like, seen murders happening. There’s the telephone box and the fake houses . . . ”
He breaks off and asks the soap star: “What’s your real name?” The soap star drives off, promising them a spot on Fair City. “That’s really cool because me and John would do anything”, grins Edward.
That’s for sure. That cool three mill in the bank is based on the hard graft of rarely saying no to anything. Jedward was never going to be all about the music and sponsorship, TV, pantomime and modelling will keep them in hair gel for some years to come. However, in a few weeks time, they face a matter of national pride (to some people anyway) and a test of their global potential when they bounce on stage in Düsseldorf to perform Lipstick at Eurovision.
What are their chances? Better than Dustin the Turkey’s anyway. The word on the Jedi in Europe is this: they may be popular in Ireland and the UK but they’re an unknown quantity elsewhere. The Swedes will dig the kitsch blondness and others will latch onto the mindlessly joyful noise. Jedward may look like two Eurotrash princes from a forgotten kingdom, but Eastern Europe may struggle to understand the makey-up hip speak and just why they talk like two teenage girls from a US teen drama.
“I think all Europeans will get us because we’ve done X Factor and that totally launched us in the UK and Ireland and around Europe”, says John. “But Eurovision is going to be a huge launch pad for us now.”
“I want everyone to realise that we’re not ditching Ireland for Europe”, says Edward. “Because they could kidnap us and not let us come home.”
That's a relief. “I think on all the concerts on our tour we have people from all over Europe and all over the world coming to see us”, says John. “Like, the other night we had ten girls from Italy at our concert and a girl from Spain and a girl from Colorado. We are totally excited about doing Eurovision. It’s going to be a really big thing. It’s a catchy song and even if you don’t understand what we’re saying, it’s really cool.”
What about the competition? “Well every single time me and John would go to a running race (Jedward were once keen athletes), me and John would always know our competition, we’d always work out strategy, we’d always be consistent”, says Edward.
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do with Eurovision. Everyone else might be partying but me and John are going to stay focused, resting our voices, we’re going into this competition knowing that everybody’s really competitive. We’re the youngest in the competition; we’re not going to let anyone intimidate us.”
Growing up in the Dublin suburb of Lucan, John and Edward would watch Eurovision with their grandparents. “Base K (yup, Edward says that), we used to always watch it with our granny and our granddad, Kevin. He passed away but we know he’s looking over us at the Eurovision this year. We’re going to the Eurovision this year and we’re going to win it for him. We watched it with him every year. Our granny is watching it and all our family is coming over and everyone’s really excited.
“When we get to Germany I just feel that me and John have to not get sunburned because we don’t want to look sunburned on stage. Put some sun cream on so we can stay as pale white as possible because when we do photo shoots, if you have a slight tan, then the flash isn’t as soft on your skin.”
Would you say you and John are vain? “I wouldn’t say we’re vain. I’d just say we’re really, really focused and we realise that everyone’s looking at us and me and John know that we have to stay the same as we always are. We can’t start growing beards out of anywhere.”
“We know what look is cool and we have to be cool for our fans and have the right attitude and look like pop stars”, adds John. “We’re not the kind of people where it’s all about us. It’s about everybody around us.”
Speech finished, John goofs off again (possibly to look for a bit part on Dragons’ Den), so I drag him back and ask him what was Jedward’s reaction when Louis first suggested Eurovision to them? “Base K, one night, OK, Louis played the song to us and said ‘what do you guys think of the song?’” he says. “And we said it’s a really, really good song and he said ‘it could be your song guys’ and it would be a great idea for us to do Eurovision because we have so much attitude and Louis had loads of hits with Eurovision and we’re really excited about doing it.”
Naturally their parents, Susannah, who works as a teacher, and John, who works in computers, will be in the audience in Düsseldorf. “Our mom and dad always remember their role as parents. They never try and be our friends, they always tell us what’s not cool”, says Edward. “They always tell us what needs to be done. Our mom is not like some Hollywood mom. She still tries to be serious and get us to do things and if she’s upset with something she’ll tell us.”
So where do Jedward actually live? “We live in Dublin”, says John, helpfully. “We live in our granny and granddad’s house, we live in our gran’s house”, says Edward. “We live all over the place because our family is real close so we just kinda go to everyone’s house.”
“We have different places so our fans won’t know”, says John. “We’re never at home. We do have secret locations our fans don’t know about. Right now we want to buy a house in the Hollywood Hills or a huge mansion in Orlando. Houses here are over-rated, they’re too expensive. Everyone should stop moaning and having the same conversations with the same people about houses.”
What about the money? John corrects me that it’s £2.85 million sterling and not euro they’ve earned. “If people want to go ‘oh my god! How did they do that?’ Well, me and John have worked really, really hard for everything we have. People say I work nine to five and work all the time but with me and John we really are working all the time.”
It's sust as well that Jedward have taken a vow of chastity but did Louis tell them to say that? “Everything comes from me and John”, says Edward. “But Louis always gives us ideas. We know loads of other famous people and they’ve all got girlfriends and they say they’re not with anyone. Me and John are an open book.”
Who do you fancy then? “We fancy like, so many girls”, says Edward. “We met Taylor Swift who is our ultimate right now. I like girls who aren’t trying to look ‘Oh my god, I need to get with a guy!’ A girl who is girly. . . a girl who’s pleasant.”
The other night, John and Edward sat up watching Back to The Future ’til 2am. “Sleep is very important to us because dreams are where a lot of our ideas come from”, says Edward. “We do have nightmares. I had a nightmare about going out on stage on tour and it all went wrong . . .”
“I had a dream where I was running, running”, says John. “Dreams are so random and I was running and then out of nowhere, the ground just opened and I was floating in the air, crazy, and then out of nowhere, I shot up into the sky and I had wings and I was flying . . .”
For a moment, John and Edward Grimes both stop talking at once and exchange a meaningful glance. It looks like there’s another Jedward moment in the making.
