Ireland - Jedward - Lipstick

IRELAND

Jedward - Lipstick

First they give us Dustin the Turkey, and now they give us Jedward. The once glory nation of the ESC and still the nation to have triumphed in the contest on most occassions, the Irish seem to have fallen out of love with the contest. Despite last years attempts to reignite the flame with previous winner Nimah Kavangh, the Irish have reverted to X-factor novelty act Jedward to fly the flag.

Jedward, for those of you that have had the fortune not to encounter them before, are brothers who shot to fame on British talent show The X Factor. Despite not being able to sing, dance or basically do anything at all the duo made it through to the later stages of the contest having been selected to be in the final 12 by Irish mentor Louis Walsh. Despite receiving a chorus of boo's every time they performed Jedward managed to make it through to finish in 6th place. Each week there act got more and more ridiculous with gimmicks, props and songs such as "Ghostbusters" used to hide the fact that they could not sing.

Following the contest they became perhaps the most famous act from that series appearing all over tv, in the mainstream press, releasing singles with Vanilla Ice and touring the UK. The Irish selectors came calling in 2011 and using the song "Lipstick" Jedward became Irish representatives for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

If the ESC had anything to do with actual singing ability and talent this song would fail at the first hurdle as the nasally, tuneless and down right awful voices that protrude from the mouths of these two irritants clearly are dire. Indeed, the backing singers will be on overtime to ensure this does not leave the crowd covering their ears. What Jedward do have however is the fact that they have a stage presence, they have charisma and will provide ample photo opportunities in Dusseldorf.

The song itself is not too bad. It has a catchy hook, a modern up tempo pop number and certainly gives impact. Visually it works, on record it works but live in the arena how will it fare?

How will Jedward go down with the voters and juries? Only time will tell. A place in the final I feel will come their way but where they go from there who knows! Given Jedward's status in the UK they will certainly win the phone vote here come the final. Surely not a winner of the Eurovision however, but a mid table finish in the final may not be beyond the duo.