Even though Juna and Joey Defeo are just 16 and 19 years old, they have been singing together for quite a while. They got their affinity for music from their grandparents. Their paternal grandfather was an opera singer in Italy, and their maternal grandfather was in a country band that played “pretty much anything with strings.”
Joey quipped, “Our parents just sing in the shower, so it kind of skipped a generation.”
Juna started singing at the age of three or four and also began taking piano lessons. Joey, on the other hand, was 100% into sports.
He states, “I played baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. I had no intention of doing music.”
One day he was listening to his sisters’ voice lesson and started humming. The teacher asked, “Do you sing?” “Nah,” replied Joey, ‘I play sports.”
Eventually, he did take music lessons. The Defeos and a couple of other kids they met at a “School of Rock” program initially formed a rock band, covering songs by Led Zeppelin and Blondie. They did that for a year before breaking off to form the pop-country duo they are today.
Juna and Joey realize that brother-sister duos are rare, but they are trying to promote sibling harmony.
“It’s kind of unique to sing and play with your sibling, and you can practice all the time,” Joey expounds.
When they lived full-time in West Palm Beac,h they attended Dreyfoos School of the Arts. The school focuses on classical music and the fundamentals of music. Not only did they learn to sing, they learned to sing the other languages in which many of the classics were written. Classes like “Music Theory” helped hone their songwriting skills.
Now that Joey has graduated from high school, he attends Berklee College of Music in Boston online, and Juna attends an online private school as well.
Juna stated, “I switched over to online school this past year. It’s been great to go on tour and do other things and also do school at the same time.”
However, appearing on Nickelodeon’s “America’s Most Musical Family” and touring with “American Idol” alum Cade Foehner, Juna N’ Joey have experienced major growth, garnering a large following.
They are also known for their exceptional covers of songs from their favorite artists, like FGL’s “Simple,” Lauren Alaina/Jon Pardi’s “Getting Over Him,” and Kenny Chesney/Kelsey Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown.”
Earlier this year, they released their first single, ”Something Good to Miss,” which demonstrates not only their innate vocal aptitude but their songwriting capability as well. Being siblings, Juna N Joey write and sing about love and heartache in much the same way that the group, Lady A does.
Since moving to Nashville, the duo has begun writing songs with seasoned songwriters and their experiences in school have given them a head start in the process.
With the release of “’Til Your Heart Breaks,” Juna N Joey put their own fresh, contemporary spin on a classic theme – heartache. The track tells the story of a narrator enduring his first heartbreak and feeling the crushing emotions that accompany the experience of losing someone. This is the perfect song that not only highlights the pair’s comprehensive musical abilities but especially their unmatched, heartfelt, sibling harmony.
Written alongside Kaylianne Lowe and Doug Lowe, the duo describes the pain of a relationship falling apart with lyrics such as, “‘Til your heart breaks / You can’t see the reason for a good cry / You don’t know the pain of a goodbye / And you wonder why everyone hates heartache / Until your heart breaks.”
When the pandemic hit, the pair weren’t able to tour, but they were able to work on their social media, write songs and practice a lot while performing live-stream shows for their fans
Joey explains, “Now that COVID is clearing up, we can get back to the grind, playing on stage and going on tour which is what we love.”
They also recently returned from a trip to Englan,d where they toured with an artist named. “Twinnie.” It was their first tour since COVID and their first international tour ever.
“It was really fun to get back out there,” Juna gushes.
A music video is in the works for newly “’Til Your Breaks” and Joey is already entrenched in the production of it.
They have two more songs to put out before their self-titled EP comes out the first of next year. They hope to have a full-length record out soon as well.
With Juna N Joey’s innate musical talent being so fresh and honest, at their young age, they are only just beginning to see a lifetime of their musical dreams being fulfilled.
You can follow Juna N Joey on their Website, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Spotify.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and Twitter.
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