{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0338855421686747, 'fraction_numerical': 0.027484939759036143, 'mean_word_length': 4.839560439560439, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The spectacle of twinship in Jedward

In May 2012 Jedward represented Ireland for the second successive year in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision Song Contest is a unique media event which offers countries in the wider European region an opportunity to compete against each other in the area of popular music (Georgiou 2008, p. 142, Coleman 2008, p. 128). Watched every year by an average television audience of one billion viewers (Lemish 2004, p. 42), the contest aspires to spread an understanding of Europe as a ‘transnational political/geographical entity’ (Georgiou 2008, p. 142), while its viewing audiences hope that their particular country’s entry will win out. The Eurovision Song Contest has greatly divided commentators, who try to grasp how such a show, which invariably showcases all that is ‘formulaic, unoriginal, and repetitive’ (Coleman 2008, p. 130) in the realm of cultural production, continues to be as popular as ever. As a consequence, this televised media contest has become a sort of cultural shorthand for ‘musical “kitsch”’ (Lemish 2004, p. 43) and expressions of campness (Lemish 2004, p. 43). However, it is exactly because of the Eurovision Song Contest’s affinity with style over substance that John and Edward Grimes could do quite well. In 2011, the celebrity pairing of John and Edward Grimes, noted more for their chaotic dynamism than their innate musical prowess, came tenth overall in that year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Hopes were high that they would place even better in the 2012 competition, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The intervening year had made them more polished as a duo and more confident in dealing with press conferences and press meetings, we were told. While Irish and British popular culture has been privy to the spectacular display of their twinship since 2010, the question remained as to whether Jedward could translate to the wider European community. Jedward first came to prominence during The X Factor (UK) in 2010. As a competition-based reality-TV format, The X Factor franchise presents the viewing audience with a range of contestants who must perform every week and be ‘saved’ in order to get through to the following week’s episode. A lucrative recording deal is offered to the eventual winner, and with it a promise of fame and celebrity. Longevity in the programme is dependent on three factors: song choice, ‘wardrobe and performance style’ (Fairchild 2004, p. 287). Therefore, contestants can be judged as much for their visual and stage performance as their vocal performance. This accent on the visual is not co-incidental. Every week each contestant works with a number