We’ve talked a few times about the special bond between Ed Sheeran and Jedward, who first styled themselves as “JedSheeran” back in 2013 on Canada’s Much Music Video Awards.
The three first met in 2012 at Warner Music’s Grammy After Party, and were introduced by Sheeran’s cousin, Murray Cummings, who arranged for John and Edward to meet up with the ‘Shape Of You’ singer the following day. Since that time, the trio have caught up at every possible opportunity, and clearly enjoy spending time together.
This friendship seems to have caught the media on the hop. Even though it’s been building up over five years (John said earlier this year, “we’ve known Ed since before he was big”), it seems to constantly surprise the press that someone like Ed Sheeran, a multi-million selling international artist, should find common ground with John and Edward Grimes, who although also known all around the world primarily due to their double appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest, are sadly, not seen by the general public as being quite in the same league as Sheeran.
Is it that weird though? They are roughly the same age and from similar backgrounds – Sheeran is a mere 8 months older than the Dublin twins and spent a lot of time in Ireland with his Irish grandparents and extended family. They also connect on a few other levels – music, obviously, and also a strong work ethic. But beyond this, John, Edward and Ed share a down to earth attitude, and a mature (yes!) way of looking at life.
All three have a similar sense of humour, and don’t stand for any nonsense. They are all career focused, but by the same token, know when it’s time to kick back and re-examine the important things. Sheeran famously took a “gap year” from touring and social media during 2016, coming back with his new album, ‘Divide’. Jedward on the other hand broke ties with manger Louis Walsh in 2013 and chose to regain their creative freedom as independent artists, and are now managed by their mother Susanna Condron. Maybe that’s the root of their friendship – the fact that they all know what the music industry is like and are taking steps to do it differently.
Back in February the trio met up ahead of the BRITs awards in London, when Ed was speaking on BBC Radio 1, and the same day John & Edward were part of that station’s ‘Innuendo Bingo’ segment. Ed surprised broadcaster Scott Mills by sitting in on the twins’ appearance, and news spread of this “weird friendship”. Later that week, speaking at the Universal Music BRITs After Party, John said that the three had talked about a musical collaboration. This was later confirmed by Sheeran, who said,
“If an EDM collaboration would happen with anyone, it would happen with Jedward.”
The past week “Jedsheeran” has been in the news again, starting with Ed speaking to Eoghan McDermott on RTE2fm. McDermott suggested that Jedward weren’t serious Irish music artists. Ed surprised many by defending them:
The three did indeed “hang”, going out to iconic Dublin venue Whelan’s, after Ed’s show on Thursday night, and then again when they all had shows in Glasgow over this past weekend. This was cause for yet more media frenzy, and speculation about a possible musical collaboration when Ed joined John and Edward in a video on their Instagram account. This is where we’ll let the three pals take over. Will they collaborate on music together? Time will tell. What we do know is this: Jedsheeran is indeed a thing and we could only wish for a friendship like theirs. In their words: don’t mess with them.
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