John Grimes Of Jedward Soars Way Up High With Acoustic Cover Of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ Ahead Of ‘Taste The Heat’ Music Video Release

Jedward star John Grimes last week released a stunning acoustic cover of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, dedicated to his best friend Tara Reid, who had told him it was her favourite song. The track, based on the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole arrangement, comes ahead of tomorrow’s release of the music video for Jedward’s song, ‘Taste The Heat’.

As with all of John’s covers, he sits facing the camera, un-mic’d, just him and his guitar, against a plain background. No additions are required, just John’s voice and his guitar, as he takes on – and masters – the beautiful challenge of the song.

Self-taught on the guitar, John’s prowess has improved steadily over the years, and an acoustic section has been a component of every Jedward concert since 2013. The latest cover sees him not only play beautifully, but also his sweet singing expresses his dedication to honing his craft; he is well able to cope with the range of high, and deeper, notes of the song.

Watch the video below:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (Jedward Cover)

Tara Reid was metaphorically over the rainbow when she heard the cover, and tweeted the following:

John and Edward, who had until recently been quarantining with Tara in Los Angeles, are now home in Dublin, ahead of the launch of the much anticipated music video for their song, ‘Taste The Heat’, taken from their 4th album, ‘Voice Of A Rebel’ (2019). Out tomorrow, July 17, the video and upbeat dance song is sure to be a summer smash for the duo. In teaser stills released by the twins, it seems the pair are vying for the affections of a waitress in a diner, played by dancer and actress, Arielle Elonys. Although not much has been revealed about the plot as yet, the steamy scenes however suggest there’s a whole lot of heat to be tasted!

‘Taste The Heat’ is the first video from the album, which was released in June last year, and comes ahead of clips for other songs including, ‘Soul Crushing’, ‘Teenage Runaway’, and ‘Extraordinary’. All 22 songs on the ‘Voice Of A Rebel’ album have been written by John and Edward themselves, and the concepts and directing of all their videos has been done by them as well. Jedward signed a five year deal last year with Universal Music Singapore, and hope to release their fifth album, the second with the label, in the not too distant future.

Jedward also recently announced the rescheduling of their ‘Voice Of A Rebel’ UK tour, which was originally meant to go ahead in May, then August, this year. With the COVID-19 pandemic still very much a thing, and music venues in the UK not looking like opening until 2021, they’ve pushed the tour forward to February. Limited general admission tickets are still available from their official website.

Stream and download ‘Voice Of A Rebel’ here, and buy the CD from Jedward’s official website.

Jedward can be found online on their official websiteTwitterFacebookInstagramTumblrSnapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

Read all our other Jedward articles here.

About the author

Lisa has been writing for over 20 years, starting as the entertainment editor on her university newspaper. Since then she's written for Popwrapped, Maximum Pop, Celebmix, and ListenOnRepeat.

Lisa loves all good music, with particular fondness for Jedward and David Bowie. She's interviewed Edward Grimes (Jedward), Kevin Godley, Trevor Horn, Paul Young, Peter Cox (Go West), Brendan B Brown (Wheatus), Bruce Foxton (The Jam), among many many more. Lisa is also available for freelance writing - please email lisa@essentiallypop.com

Leave a Reply