Jedward: ‘I think it’s okay for people to think a certain way about you, because then you can always surprise them’
John and Edward Grimes, aka Jedward, bleached their hair recently.
“It’s very traumatic, bleaching our hair, because it could all fall out,” the former X Factor stars tell journalists on a group call.
This Zoom chat is officially to promote the new Subway Series menu, but during the almost hour-long call the excitable pair discuss everything from Eurovision to social media to what they believe is the secret to their enduring success.
“We’re very content,” says Edward, the most talkative of the twins, who frequently pick up where the other left off.
“As people, as characters, I feel like we’re not all about the music. People know us as people. I think that enriches everyone.”
“I think we’re like, mysterious as well,” he muses aloud.
“I feel like we don’t always give it all away. There’s always that illusion like, ‘What’s going on with them?!'”
“But everyone doesn’t know the full story so it always keeps people interested.”
Arriving on Planet Jedward
As you might expect, Jedward are both a dream and a challenge to interview at the same time.
Just like in their early days on The X Factor, they still talk in a complete stream of consciousness and are honest and sincere while shrewdly diverting the chat away from personal stuff.
Although we do learn during one conversational diversion that John is dating a “really cool, fun” girl who went to see Beyoncé with him in Amsterdam, while Edward is still “single”.
Frequently, they confuse themselves and lose their train of thought, like excitable breathless children wanting to show you a small snail they’ve picked up in the garden.
The 31-year-olds have a lot of ideas and thoughts about their career and are savvier than you might expect, while still remaining full of the childish exuberance that makes youngsters adore them and adults smile in spite of themselves.
Chatting to them, you find yourself arriving on Planet Jedward, and it’s a fun and slightly dizzying experience for everyone involved.
“Guys, we were asked to do two TV shows this summer, but we didn’t get around to doing them because they both clashed,” says Edward.
“But then the other one didn’t come in with the right offer. But it’s all good, we’re still gonna do more TV, so let’s not stress.
“But our other friend ended up doing one of the shows but – I don’t know what we’re talking about…” he trails off laughing.
‘We’re still individuals’
John is the more serious and reflective of the two, once you start being able to tell their voices apart.
“The thing is, we are very different. We’re still individuals even when it comes to writing songs,” he tells us.
“I could be very passionate about a certain idea, I just need to run with it. And then Edward will come in and help collaborate and bring the whole thing to its final point.”
As for new ideas, the pair reveal they are planning to start a podcast this year, where they can “really elaborate” on some of the issues they’ve previously discussed with fervour on social media – from the monarchy to X Factor contracts and certain former mentors.
“We’re asked to do other people’s podcasts all the time,” Edward explains. “But sometimes I feel like who is it benefitting, them or us.
“Sometimes I think it’s better not to give that away to everyone.”
Potential Eurovision trilogy
What about the Eurovision, someone asks. Would they be up for representing Ireland a third time round, given they successfully reached the final for us in 2011 and 2012?
“100 per cent,” says John, as Edward chimes in that they’ve “already booked” their flights to Sweden for next year and have hotels on hold, “so RTÉ won’t have to pay for that”.
“We could have had more of a budget for those performances, John,” Edward reflects sagely as they lament the lack of pyrotechnics for their performances.
“But we still slayed with our hair and our shoulder pads.
“I think why not. We haven’t aged, we’re still writing songs. We’re still moving forward. All our joints are still working.”
“We’ve learned to sing even better than we were able to do back then,” John adds.
LA lifestyle
Since 2015, the brothers have spent a lot of time in LA as well as Dublin, where they share a pad with American Pie star Tara Reid, who they befriended during Celebrity Big Brother.
“The thing with LA is we’re not there to be known,” says Edward. “We’re just there to have normality sometimes.
“It’s so nice when you meet people and they don’t have these expectations of ‘Oh, you’re Jedward.’”
The pair also enjoy a bit of celeb spotting when they’re in Tinseltown.
Recently, they found themselves in a singsong with none other than Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire at an LA restaurant.
“It was Leo’s personal chef Jonah, his birthday, and you sang guitar with him,” Edward reminds his brother.
“We sang Trouble by Coldplay, I Want It That Way, Wonderwall, Hallelujah. Got them all involved,” says John. “And Tobey Maguire and Leo. Imagine!”
“But it’s like you come back to Ireland and it feels like a fever dream.”
Touching base with Hozier
“Everyone loves Dublin. We went to a concert at the Troubadour, Inhaler were performing and Hozier was there,” Edward tells us.
“He was really, really tall, Andrew, and he had his cap on. And then we all hung out that night and then that’s how we touched base with Hozier. So all was well.”
“If you’re Irish and other Irish people are in town somehow you all end up in the same room,” explains John.
“We were at some Oscars Irish thing and Colin Farrell was there… He had like a tennis thing in his hair.
“I don’t know if he was sweating that day, or he wanted to keep it real. But no, it was good.”
Love for Dublin
Whatever about the glitz and glam of the LA lifestyle though, they still love Dublin.
“I love getting out to Dun Laoghaire, I love getting out to the coast, I love going out to Templeogue,” says John.
“Everyone thinks we live in their local town because we’re always seen in everyone’s place,” Edward laughs.
“We love walking the whole coast. Sometimes I’d walk from Sandymount all the way to Killiney and take in each town, get a coffee…
“LA isn’t that lavish life. Like you have your moments. But i think Ireland is very consistent, as far as every area goes.
“We never go there to hype up ourselves and be like, Look at us.’”
“We know who we are and we know what we’re about, and we know what we bring to the table. We’re content with ourselves,” John adds wisely.
New music plans
As for what’s next for the Lucan lads, they’re planning on releasing some new music this year.
“We have really intimate stripped back songs,” John reveals.
“Because when we were on The Late Late Show, we sang Everybody Hurts.
“I think everyone really appreciates a real stripped back version. So we do have songs that are very meaningful and very calm, but still singalong lighters-in-the-air type songs.”
The mischievous pair are excited for the future and say they’re always “up for anything” and not worried about people who may have a one-sided or negative view of them.
“I think it’s okay for people to have an opinion of you or think a certain way about you, because then you can always surprise them,” John reflects.
Source: Buzz.ie