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She’s widely known as the Queen of Latin Pop. And now, music legend Gloria Estefan wants to win over a new generation of fans as the loving grandmother in the much-anticipated \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse: The Movie,” <\/a>based on the popular Netflix kids show.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the element of the magic in the relationship between Gabby and her grandmother. I\u2019m a grandma, and my grandson is the joy of my life,\u201d Estefan said in an interview with NBC News. \u201cYou can\u2019t forget about the magic that is created when you play.\u201d<\/p>\n The movie, which was released Friday, mixes live action and animation and follows Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner) and Grandma Gigi (Estefan), who go on a road trip that turns into an adventure to get Gabby’s dollhouse back, after it’s taken by an eccentric cat lady named Vera (Kristen Wiig).<\/p>\n The DreamWorks Animation series that premiered in 2021 on Netflix drew 108 million views across all seasons<\/a> in the first half of 2025. It was inspired by the success of trending cat videos and YouTube unboxings with children opening toys.<\/p>\n Estefan says that \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse\u201d can remind viewers how life is full of “unboxing experiences” that could reveal hidden stories.<\/p>\n The globally renowned music legend<\/a> \u2014 a recipient of multiple honors and awards and the first Latina inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,<\/a> points to an example of an unboxing experience that shaped how she connected with music after her family had to leave their native Cuba.<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandma smuggled my mom\u2019s records in cases of [mango] baby food that she would send to me from Cuba,\u201d Estefan, who grew up in Miami, said, remembering how her mom\u2019s collection included albums from Nat King Cole, Dean Martin and Andy Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cSo music is where I first was immersed in the American culture,” Estefan said.<\/p>\n While she was too young to remember Cuba, she said, her family\u2019s roots left an inescapable imprint on her identity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Cuba that\u2019s in my heart and in my mind is the Cuba that my mother left behind, and my father left behind, and my grandparents. Which clearly is a different country right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Estefan recalls her mother specifically playing a fundamental role in preserving that heritage.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up with that nostalgia that my mom thought we were going back,\u201d Estefan said. \u201cSo it was important to really keep our culture alive. And then when she saw we weren\u2019t going back, it became even more important.\u201d<\/p>\n She says that her mom had a PhD in education and was \u201ca real stickler\u201d about how they spoke Spanish at home. Estefan recalled how Spanish-language music planted the seed for her career as a singer.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mom says the only way she could put a diaper on me was to sing to me. And I would just like melt and stare at her. And even as a little girl, I would hear songs on the radio and they would stick,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Estefan remembers singing two songs most: \u201cLa muerta,\u201d a dark song about a husband who kept the bones of his dead wife in an attic; and the Cuban revolutionary anthem, which her father \u2014 a U.S. military veteran and police officer \u2014 would discourage her from singing.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, music was a big part of her upbringing, and an enduring experience that reminds Estefan of life with her mom. She remembers singing songs from Joselito, a Spanish child star in the 1950s and 1960s who was nicknamed \u201cThe Little Nightingale.\u201d And her mom would play records from the late salsa legend Celia Cruz<\/a> and the late Israel “Cachao” Lopez, considered the father of mambo.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cShe would dance around the apartment and try to make life palatable and happy for me,\u201d Estefan said.<\/p>\n The Latin pop legend says that in addition to those early Spanish language songs, she was influenced by music in English. Carole King, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Stevie Wonder and Elton John were some of her favorites.<\/p>\n But The Beatles \u2014 and their hidden connection with popular Latin music \u2014 hold a special place for her hyphenated identity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Brits were really into Latin music. In fact, Emilio (Estefan) and I bought the first microphone The Beatles ever recorded on at EMI for their first demo. And I guess that spoke to my little Cuban heart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Estefan explained that The Beatles recorded \u201cB\u00e9same Mucho,\u201d<\/a> a famous romantic ballad from the 1940s, on that demo. Other Beatles songs \u201chave that Latin perk,\u201d she said, which fans can sometimes overlook. She cited \u201cTill There Was You<\/a>\u201d and \u201cDo You Want to Know a Secret<\/a>\u201d as examples.<\/p>\n Fans know Estefan as one of the world’s most successful crossover artists, who helped make Latin music popular during the 1980s and 1990s. But, she says, earlier crossovers from other Latin musicians helped open the door for her career.<\/p>\n \u201cRicky Ricardo was on TV singing in Spanish, Cuban music \u2014 Afro Cuban music by the way,\u201d she said about the late, iconic “I Love Lucy” star Desi Arnaz.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Conga, Babal\u00fa\u2014that was very religious Cuban music, which was that fusion of the African root mixed with different European influences that had been in Cuba,” she explained.<\/p>\n Looking at Latin music today, she describes the recent successes of The Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway<\/a> and Bad Bunny’s use of traditional Puerto Rican bomba y plena<\/a> and salsa music as examples of “unboxing” older music traditions that connect younger mainstream Americans with older Latin influences.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to dance, they want to have fun, they want to hear actual music, they want to hear instrumentation,\u201d said Estefan, who’s celebrating 50 years in the music business.<\/a> \u201cLatin music definitely does that.\u201d<\/p>\n And through those tangible experiences, Estefan says, unboxing the influences of popular music can help fans tap into a nostalgia that recreates childlike excitement, which is one of the themes in \u201cGabby\u2019s Dollhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n