EXCLUSIVE: Latin America’s biggest band Jesse and Joy's new English language music video
Siblings Jesse and Joy have enjoyed huge success in Latin America with their soulful pop, but after a hugely successful decade-long career have now launched themselves in the UK. Here is their first English language release
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Your support makes all the difference.With 780+ million views on YouTube, a string of Grammys and No1 hits, Mexican brother and sister Jesse and Joy have been the top band Latin America for the last decade but they have never released their music in English or in the UK until now. Here's an exclusive look at their new music video for their single 'Echoes of Love' (below).
The song stays true to their Latin/folk roots while introducing a distinctly Adele-style epicness to the vocals (possibly because they brought on Fraser T Smith to produce, who has produced songs for Sam Smith and Adele).
What's interesting about the track is it's already been road-tested in Spanish. 'Echos de Amor', the original version of the track was released last August and has amassed a none-too-shoddy 66 million views on You Tube (and counting). So why after an incredibly successful ten year career are the duo launching into the English language market?
It seems to be because it's very hard to get airplay in the UK or US if you don't have an English language song and while it's common in Europe to hear a mix of languages on the radio, it's not the same over here.
Jesse and Joy aren't the first to switch to English after a perfectly healthy level of success in their native language. In 2014, Islandic artist Ásgeir (pronounced “Owsh-gearrr”) re-recorded his album in English after one in ten of Iceland's population (about 100,000 people) had bought a copy. He wanted to break into the international market and singing in English was the easiest way in, even though he admitted to the Evening Standard that he preferred the Icelandic version, saying: "Sometimes with the English we got the meaning but the words don’t really fit as well as they should. Those Icelandic lyrics are so much more.”
The desire for others to understand what you're singing about is a strong pull for musicians, evidenced by the popularity of English language songs at the Eurovision Song Contest, where entries can sing in their native tongue but often opt to sing in English because of a perceived greater mass appeal.
This year's Eurovision winner Jamala usually writes in the Crimean Tatar language but her Eurovision entry, “1944” about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars features an English language chorus. Would the song have still won if it had all been in Tatar?
While sometimes, as with lyrics feel lost in translation, sometimes translating into another language can reveal extra nuance.
Héloïse Letissier, who performs as Christine & The Queens has just translated her songs into English in order to break through in the States. Her album features English-language versions of the songs from last year’s French self-titled debut and the exprssiveness and layering in the lyrics is only enhanced.
Jesse and Joy's release comes in a double format, so you can listen to the Spanish and English version side-by-side and decide which one you think works best.
'Echoes Of Love' will be released on July 22 coupled with the original version, 'Echos de Amor'.
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