Mexican American artist Jesse Huerta's first album outside Jesse & Joy is moving toward release. The singer-songwriter has signed a global distribution deal with Virgin Records for JESSE AND THE SUPERNOVAS, the project he will put out through his new label, Nebulosa Records.
The first single, "Interestelar," is due Oct. 21. The album, SOMBRERO, has no release date yet.
The deal arrives weeks after Huerta announced he would step away from Jesse & Joy, the duo he formed with his sister Joy more than 20 years ago. He said he needed time for his family and well-being. When fans questioned how that decision fit with launching a new project, he addressed them directly on Instagram: "My break is from Jesse & Joy, not from music." He said JESSE AND THE SUPERNOVAS had been planned for months and that Joy and his team knew about it.
Joy's response made clear that the change affects both siblings' careers. She said she learned of Jesse's decision shortly before it became public, then announced she would continue performing as Jesse & Joy and honor the duo's commitments. "I'm scared, yes, but I'm here," she wrote on her Instagram account.
Neither sibling is entering unfamiliar creative territory. Jesse has long worked beyond the role audiences saw onstage: he writes, produces and plays multiple instruments, and said at Viña del Mar earlier this year that he was making a solo album.
In April, Joy publicly affirmed that her brother was pursuing his own project and said: "We're individuals too."
Joy has also developed a distinct body of work outside the duo. She co-wrote the music and lyrics for Broadway's Real Women Have Curves: The Musical with Benjamin Velez. The score earned the pair a 2025 Tony Award nomination for best original score.
For SOMBRERO, Huerta took on the writing, recording and production himself, working in his studio during breaks in Jesse & Joy's touring schedule. The album moves toward guitars, synthesizers and cinematic arrangements. "Génesis," released last week, introduces the project in three instrumental movements; "Interestelar" will be its first official single.
Huerta said the new label gives him control over the project's creative direction, while Virgin will distribute it internationally. In the announcement, he described JESSE AND THE SUPERNOVAS as a space for "other ideas, sounds, and creative interests" that are part of him.
The new deal does not settle what Jesse & Joy will look like after Huerta's departure. It does establish what comes next for Jesse: an album made on his own terms, released under a new name, with its first single arriving Oct. 21.
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