LIFE

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In many ways, Juna DeFeo and her older brother Joey are just like any other siblings. They have hobbies in common, they finish each other’s sentences, and, as Juna shares, they’ve been through “a lot of funny moments that only we can really get”. What sets them apart from your average sibs? They’re each one half of rising country-pop duo Juna N Joey. After gaining popularity for their upbeat covers on Youtube, they made their television debut on America’s Most Musical Family. We caught up with the duo to get the scoop on their new single, their songwriting process and what’s next for Juna N Joey.

Girls' Life: Can you tell me more about your performance on America’s Most Musical Family?

Joey: It was crazy to be on tv. The sound system was unbelievable. It was underneath the stage, and we were standing on top of the speakers, so it was really cool. Everybody was so nice, too. The whole Nickelodeon team was so special, and they helped us along the way. It was a blast.

Juna: The day of the performance, Joey and I were so nervous. We went over the song in our dressing room about a million times. Our mother was like, ‘I never want to hear that song ever again.’ But once we got on stage, all those nerves faded away. It was so fun to perform in front of those amazing judges—especially David Dobrik because I love his videos.

GL: What goes into making one of your songs?

Joey: We wrote [our debut single] about four years ago. We were really young, so we were talking about a song that we could write, and it happened that we wrote a song called “Stay Young”. 

Juna: We wanted to reflect on those times when we didn’t have a care in the world, so the song’s just like that. Whether we were having shows all the time, or something was stressing us out, we wanted to reminisce on the good old days. It was our first time in Nashville, and we wrote that song with co-writers when we were up there.

GL: Nashville is such an iconic city for country music. Did you visit any places there that you were especially excited about?

Juna: Just being downtown, with all the restaurants, you’ll be walking down the street and hear a new band play every mile you walk.

Joey: We also liked The Commodore.

Juna: Yeah, The Commodore. It’s like a writer’s room where you go and perform original songs. It’s really cool to hear other artists because everyone writes in a different way and has a different style.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Juna N Joey (@junanjoey) on Oct 5, 2020 at 5:18am PDT

GL: You guys dropped your anti-bullying single, “Anchor”, for National Bullying Prevention Month. What was the inspiration behind that song?

Juna: Both Joey and I went through bullying experiences during middle school. We wanted to write this song because we wanted to put out a message to everyone that, if you’re going through something like this, you’re not alone. It happens to a lot of us. “Anchor” represents someone who’s always there for you and who you can go to to talk about things—especially if you’re going through bullying. We wanted people to go out and find their anchor.

GL: You’ve also done a *lot* of covers on your Youtube channel. Which one are you most proud of?

Juna and Joey: “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi.

Joey: Yeah, Lewis Capaldi’s such a great artist, and we’re so happy that it got to one million.

Juna: We’re so grateful for everybody that’s viewed it. It’s weird because we’re a country-pop duo, so we mainly do modern country stuff, but we were like, let’s do this Lewis Capaldi song. He’s more on the pop side, so it’s crazy that that’s the one that has the most views. 

GL: Who’s on your playlist lately?

Juna: One-hundred percent, Morgan Wallen. He is incredible, and I love his music. Luke Combs, too. I love his song “Refrigerator Door”, and the one we’re going to be putting on our Youtube soon, “Forever After All”. Plus Kane Brown, a lot of his older stuff, and Cody Johnson.

Joey: I would say some of my big influences would be Adam Levine, he's awesome, and Stevie Wonder. He’s a huge one for me.

GL: What’s next for Juna N Joey?

Joey: We’re coming out with an EP very soon. And we’re so excited because these are our originals that we produced with Luke Combs’s producer, Kenny Royster. 

Juna: He’s an incredible musician and an incredible man in general.

Joey: Yeah, he’s the G.O.A.T.—the greatest of all time. We just want to put the songs out already so our fans can listen to them.

Juna: We’re also going to be doing music videos for them. We already filmed one music video, and we don’t know how it turned out yet, but the process of filming was amazing. I’m so excited to film our other videos.

Joey: And in a couple of months, we’re actually going on another tour in England.

Juna: There’s going to be more details coming about that soon. We can’t wait to play an in-person show again.

You can find original songs and covers by Juna N Joey on their Youtube channel, and check out the music video for "Anchor" here. Plus, keep up with the duo on Instagram @junanjoey.

by Bailey Bujnosek | 11/10/2020