Despite taking a Eurovision nosedive this year—they dropped from 8th position in Dusseldorf to 19th position in Baku—Jedward are still going strong. “Young Love,” their third studio album, achieved phenomenal domestic success, topping the Irish album charts and spinning three singles so far. The album climbed the charts in other countries, too. It peaked at number one on the digital charts in Sweden and Norway, and reached the top three as far away as Korea.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of Jedward, they’ve managed to stretch out their 15 minutes of fame, and have notched up impressive sales en-route. With “Young Love” they’ve demonstrated some creative control. They directed one of the videos for “Waterline”—the opening track, and by far the strongest song on the album.
“Luminous”:
“Young Love” is pure pop. It’s good, but in the same vein, it’s really bad. Their vocal delivery hasn’t really improved, but they’ve worked around this by selecting songs with limited vocal range. Whilst most critics claim that maturity is the standout vibe of this album, some of the tracks are so junior high school, it’s sickly! Examples include “What’s Your Number,” “A Girl Like You,” “All I Want Is You,” and “Can’t Forget You.” Many of the lyrics exude this boy-meets-girl love that doesn’t quite gel with the duo’s persona (which is super fun and crazy, but celibate and asexual). It’s obvious that this is the direction their management have chosen for the twins, and Jedward must simply prod along.
Bonus points for flattening the quiffs and opting for a more subtle wardrobe. But overall the album lacks cohesion and sincerity. No doubt something serious needed to be done to retain an ageing fanbase, but, unfortunately some of the magic was lost in the process.
Rating: 2.5/5
Editor’s Note: Before y’all hate on Deban, please consider that he was a big advocate of Jedward in the run-up to Eurosong 2012. You can read more about that by clicking here, and also read Team Wiwi’s generally positive review of “Waterline” by clicking here.
I disagree with this review but then again they have been written off since their X Factor days but they keep coming back stronger and stronger this album for me is the best so far of the three and I predict their next album with be a album of covers but if you have heard their cover versions on you tube it will again be a great seller – I just want to see them live now – The Eurovision Song Contest is a sadder place without them – By the way I am a 50 year old man from… Read more »
I find most of the album and really like Can’t Forget You.
However, surely their time is coming to an end. Their vocals may have improved but that was hardly difficult. They are totally guided by their management and seem to have some delusional belief that they are super talented.When I met them briefly in Baku they seemed nothing more than a pair of overblown egos.
Celebrity TV and a career with Ryanair awaits..
when i saw whose reviewing the album, i did not expect that much. however you could have make the review neutral. You didnt even mention how great Luminous is ( and its screaming as your article header) and you seem to have picked songs as an example to make this album sound lame. we would appreciate your review more if you did a bullet points per song coz few songs doesnt summarize an album.
i rather hear songs thats junior high school than a song that promotes sex, drugs, and hates .
I disagree on a couple of points in this review. You seemed to have missed that the album actually tells a story, so is in effect a concept album. Also John and Edward have a huge say in choosing their songs and their image, as to their voices, they have developed and improved a lot since they were 17 and if you have any doubt about that, then take a look at Johns accoustic covers of Boyfriend and Hall of Fame on Youtube. but my major issue is that you named Waterline as the strongest track on the album, in… Read more »
IT SHOULD TOTALLY BE 5/5, ‘YOUNG LOVE’ IS THE BEST DAMN ALBUM ON EARTH!! XX
Young Love tells a story of a relationship, that why the songs all have a similar theme, it’s on purpose.
The weird thing is because of the 3 ITunes exclusive bonus tracks, the iTunes story has a different ending to the CD story. Which version of the story did you listen to?