Jesse y Joy new album, Tony noms, mexican pride

Joy Huerta's voice buzzes with the electricity of New York. In just two days, she'll be walking the red carpet at the 2025 Tony Awards—draped in a custom Narciso Rodriguez gown—for her nomination for Best Original Score for Real Women Have Curves: The Musical. The achievement marks a first: Joy is now the first Mexican woman ever nominated in that category. But for her and her brother Jesse, the award is just part of a much bigger story.

"I already feel like I won," Joy says, laughing through the Zoom screen nex to her brother Jesse, in an interview with Latin Times and ENSTARZ. "This has been five years of work, of dreaming, of expanding my brain into a whole new world."

The Album That Says What Was Left Unsaid

Their new record, Lo Que Nos Faltó Decir... ("What We Didn't Get to Say..."), is a vibrant, raw, and stylistically fearless collection born from years of touring, personal upheaval, Broadway, and even basketball. It includes everything from a Santana-esque cumbia to unreleased songs written over a decade ago.

"This album is like a book," Jesse tells me. "Every record we make closes a chapter of our lives. And this one? It's a wild, chaotic, joyful, vulnerable chapter."

Two of the songs—"Nunca Deja de Llover" and "Jamás Te Pude Amar"—were originally penned in 2013. "They were just waiting for their moment," Joy adds. "And that moment is now."

The cumbia in "Jamás Te Pude Amar" is a standout. It swings, struts, and stings. "That one came from my inner Carlos Santana," says Jesse. Joy jumps in: "And my inner Selena! It had to be a cumbia. Non-negotiable. I mean, what better way to say 'You broke my heart—but I never really loved you, cabrón'?"

From Mexican Pop to Broadway Lights

Joy didn't plan to write a Broadway score. "Honestly, I thought it was a joke when they called me," she says. But Real Women Have Curves, based on Josefina López's beloved play and the 2002 indie film, resonated deeply. "I saw myself in Ana, the main character. I saw my mom. I saw our community."

Working with composer Benjamin Velez, Joy helped create a bilingual, rhythmically diverse score that blends mariachi, cumbia, and pop—music as borderless as the identities it represents.

Their Broadway debut was met with glowing reviews. Now, with a Tony nomination under her belt, Joy's looking forward to the June 9 ceremony at Lincoln Center. "Narciso is designing my dress," she beams. "He's been a beautiful friend through this whole process."

Singing With Legends, Living With Purpose

Beyond the stage and studio, Joy recently collaborated with Luis R. Maldonado (now the lead singer of Foreigner) on a bilingual version of "I Want to Know What Love Is." "He has a voice of steel," Joy says. "We surprised the crowd in Mexico when he joined us on stage. The reaction was unforgettable."

They're also wrapping a new documentary, set for release later this year, chronicling their rise from a musical childhood in Mexico City to Latin Grammy superstardom and now global crossover artists.

"It's not always easy to be this vulnerable," Jesse admits. "But we want to show that our journey wasn't polished. Music saved our lives."

The Soundtrack of Who They Are

Lo Que Nos Faltó Decir... is more than an album. It's an exhale. It's protest and confession. It's deeply queer, deeply Mexican, deeply honest. "We're freer than ever," says Joy. "Our fans have allowed us to be ourselves. That's the greatest success."

And while the Tonys may soon place Joy alongside Broadway royalty, she remains grounded.

"We didn't make this album thinking about awards," Jesse adds. "We made it to survive. To celebrate. To say the things we hadn't said."

Joy smiles. "Everything that's happening now? It's just icing on the pastel."

Originally published on Latin Times