Tim: If I remember rightly, you were amazed last year when you heard Waterline and realised that it was good. So was I, a bit. But last weekend, for no particular reason other than curiosity, I listened to Jedward’s album from last year, and found that it’s actually quite good all round. Take this, for example.
Tom: For all the fuss about Jedward being irritating, I can’t deny that they’re good. We’ve discussed this before: put them in a studio, give them decent producers, and then just let them be themselves at the fans… well, they ain’t my kind of thing, but they make decent pop.
Tim: First off, I’m aware the lyrics aren’t the best – “Do you have a boyfriend, you look like you need one” may be the worst line ever imagined – but that aside this is actually great, and I love it.
Tom: I ain’t going that far, because once you parse the lyrics of this song as being sung loudly and drunkenly at someone who really just wants the singer to go the hell away it starts being a bit unpleasant.
Tim: That…that’s actually not a bad point. Erm. Dammit, yes. But still, if you don’t imagine the singee’s viewpoint to be that then it’s fine.
Tom: Plus, frankly, anything that includes DTMF dialling tones in the background seems just a bit too kitsch, and that seems to bleed into the rest of the track in a kind of mid-2000s Busted-but-worse way. But you’re right, it’s not bad.
Tim: It’s very good pop rock, written by people who know what they’re doing (that key change is sterling work) and, credit where it’s due, performed by people who have somehow got the right mix of popstar-ness and bellendry to make it work. WELL DONE TO THEM.