Latin Grammy headliners Jesse & Joy look for ‘best versions’ of themselves

By Chris Kudialis

Monday, Nov. 14, 2016 | 8:30 p.m.

With five Latin Grammy awards already on their mantle, Mexico City-based pop duo Jesse & Joy have achieved in just over 10 years what most artists in their genre would consider a smashingly successful career. But at age 33 and 30, respectively, the brother-sister combo say they’re “just getting started,” as they prepare to headline Thursday’s Latin Grammy Awards at T-Mobile Arena, with a show-leading four nominations.

“We want to be the best versions of ourselves every time we’re writing and making music,” Joy, whose real name is Tirzah Huerta Uecke, told the Sun last week. “I think this year’s show is even more important to us because we’ve won these awards in the past, and it makes us feel a bit more responsible.”

The 17th annual Latin Grammy Awards returns to Las Vegas Thursday, starting at 5 p.m. The week leading up to the event includes the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year presentation Wednesday night and a host of pre- and post-show fiestas at nightclubs and ballrooms valleywide. Also performing at Thursday’s awards show are 21-time Latin Grammy winner Juanes, pop singer Laura Pausini, bachata artist Prince Royce and reggaeton specialists Wisin, J-Balvin, Farruko and Yandel, among over 20 total acts.

Jesse & Joy are nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for their 2016 ballad single "Ecos de Amor" (Echoes of Love), as well as Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album for their fourth studio album, “Un Besito Más” (One More Kiss).

Responsibility was a recurring topic in the 20-minute interview with the headlining duo, who speak fluent English and Spanish and have also dabbled with recording their Spanish hits in English. The two were raised in Mexico City by their father, who is from Mexico, and their mother, who is from Wisconsin.

“We live in the public eye and we somehow feel like whatever power it is we have behind the microphone has to come with a responsibility,” Joy said. “We want people to feel comfort and to feel that they’re not alone in this world — the same way we try to feel when we’re writing our music.”

“It just feels good pursuing that one song, that one album and always trying to be at the top of our game,” added Jesse, who writes and plays the duo’s instrumentals. “For us, it feels like when we’re at our best, we can inspire other people and other bands.”

The two discussed the challenges of working together as siblings and traveling on the road together, sometimes for weeks at a time. The first leg of their current U.S. tour for “Un Besito Mas” includes 13 shows to date through early December. Up to a couple dozen more stops will be scheduled though the end of 2016 and early next year, including one in Las Vegas, Joy said.

Writing, traveling and performing together has its share of challenges, Joy said, but the brother and sister combo’s shared vision of making music that’s “magical,” combined with a deep love for each other has ultimately kept them working at a high level together.

“It definitely has its perks and some things that aren’t as great, but I couldn’t imagine doing this with someone else and not being related to them,” she said. “Nobody knows me better than my brother and nobody knows how to pick me up better than him.

“For us, it’s still surreal every day,” she added. “Our music is born in intimacy, with no more than my brother and me, and sometimes maybe two or three other people in the room. Eventually, it’s thousands of people singing those songs and making them theirs. But we love each other deeply and we enjoy making music together, and I think that’s the reason we’re celebrating 11 years of a career together so far.”

Looking forward, the duo said that while Spanish language music is their forte, they plan to continue working their way into the English-speaking world. Across Europe, “Echoes of Love,” the all-English version of “Ecos de Amor,” is moving its way up music charts in countries like England, France and Germany. That hit followed “More than Amigos,” an upbeat and rhythmic Latin-themed pop song combining both languages that also charted in those countries.

Jesse called the transition to English “sensitive,” adding that multilingual artists often walk a tight line balancing their desire for new exposure with keeping their music authentic to its meaning. Some of the duo’s songs in English are rewritten completely instead of literally translated from their Spanish versions to deliver a more accurate and effective message, he said. That practice isn’t usually followed by attention-hungry artists making the crossover from one language to another.

“We try to stick with the songs that have been out there the most in Spanish, and then play a song here and there in English,” he said. “It wouldn’t make sense for us to sing a bunch of new songs they’ve never heard before. It’s like starting over in a way, so we just stick to what we’ve been playing and feel comfortable with.”

“A lot of other bands and solo artists tend to just change the language to expand into other territories,” he added. “Sometimes it can feel, at least for us, like that’s just trying to be greedy or hungry towards exposure. We’re bicultural, but if we sing in English we want to do it because we like it, because it feels good and because it feels right.”

The brother-sister combo normally stick to their Spanish-speaking songs, even in English-speaking markets, to “stay true to who we are,” Jesse said. Perhaps not surprisingly, even English speakers in those areas are singing in Spanish before long. He cited the duo’s performance at South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, earlier this year as an example.

“It was interesting to see whoever didn’t speak Spanish singing the songs in Spanish and our Latino fan base started singing the parts in English, so it was cool. It was like a live crossover there, back-and-forth between Spanish and English,” he said. “We also realized is that music itself is a powerful melody that transcends and has no language."