Monday marks 30 years since the tragic death of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez changed the world of Latin music forever. And yet, at that time, he has the impression that his heritage as a “Queen of Tejano” has never disappeared. We can try to measure his impact in the tangible: in the number of posthumous albums sold in Several documentariesA Netflix television series on his life and The 1997 biopic It catappered Jennifer Lopez to glory.
But to understand the gravity of a star as massive as Selena is also to look at something more difficult to list: the traces of his voice, his style and his ambition in Latin artists today.
What I call “the Selena generation” is made up of artists who have reached age in the years that followed the death of the singer. Most of them have never had the chance to buy their files when they have done their debut or see it playing live, but its influence on them is undoubtedly. This cohort includes stars established such as Karol G And Becky Gas well as rising talents like It is,, Gale,, Angelina Victoria And Vanita Leoamong others. For many of them, there was no time before Selena. She has always been part of their lives.
Becky G on the set of his clip “Otro Capítulo”, filmed in Elysian Park in Los Angeles.
(Jill Connelly / de Los)
“I listened and watched Selena videos occur even before I can even form memories,” explains Becky G Of the. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, she says that her mother was still playing Selena's music in their house. Over the years, the Mexican American singer has interpreted several Selena Medleys and included a song inspired by Selena, “Otro Capítulo”, on her latest album, “Dating. “”
For Becky, the career trajectory of the late singer is “The Blueprint”. Selena's path to perform in restaurants, clubs and weddings across southern Texas to attract record crowds to Houston's astrodome, as a woman of Tejano music, was not only ambitious – it was revolutionary. “She broke the barriers,” says Becky G. “She took our music in places that we have never thought in our wildest dreams he would reach. She showed younger generations, including myself, that we could be on stage one day too. ”
It is difficult to imagine what Latin music could look like today without the success of Selena. Although artists like Gloria Estefan and Lisa Lisa appreciated the consumer popularity in the United States during the Latin “boom” of the 80s, the Ascension of Selena as a Mexican American in Texas was something more new. The very genre that she occupied told the story of a region which, like Selena herself, had been shaped by several cultures.
Selena was a mosaic of Tex-Mex identity. She sung mainly in Spanish – a language in which she did not speak – while adding country -western style dashes to her wardrobe, while modeling her performances after stars of American pop like Janet Jackson and Madonna. With a point of view in the cultures on both sides of the border, it has filled the gap between them by being 100% itself, translating a path which had not existed before for others like it.
“Today, Latin artists dominate the graphs, collaborate with world superstars and sell arenas, and I think we owe a lot to Selena,” explains Estevie. The star of Gen Z Cumbia has established comparisons with the “Tejano Madonna” since his entrance on the stage in 2021.
And although Selena could have been painfully close to succeeding in the success of her dreams when she was killed in 1995, the scope of her influence increased in her death. To date, her latest album, “Dreaming of You”, remains the best-selling Latin album of all time in the United States, and the first predominantly Spanish album to make its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “She proved that Latin music could cross without losing her essence,” said Estevie. Of the. “She has shown that women could lead and be shamelessly in an industry dominated by men.”
Her power was obvious for the Puerto Rican songwriter-interpreter, Gale, of the first time she watched the film “Selena”. Today 31 years old, she remembers spending hours when she was a child performing Selena's songs in her living room, practicing and perfecting her routines.
“I was instantly addicted,” she says. “She was my first love in music; His voice, his energy, his power. Selena has shown the world that Latin women belong to major scenes. She made me feel that I could do this too. ”
Like Gale, the singer of Música Mexicana, born in Chicago, Angelina Victoria was fascinated by the 1997 biopic, seeing her future self in the history of a little girl who grew up to become a star. When she was older, she saw images of the singer's historical performance at the Houston Rodeo in 1995. “Looking at this for the first time gave me chills,” she recalls. “Her confidence, her smile, her voice, her dance movements – the way she commanded the scene was so electrifying. She did it effortlessly, but you could say that each note, each movement, came from the heart.”
At 22, Victoria is trying to settle as an artist. However, she is proud to proclaim Selena as her greatest inspiration because of the way she sailed on the complexities of her American Mexican heritage. “Before her, there was a perception that Latin artists had to remain on their way,” explains Victoria Of the. “She paved the way for artists like me to embrace our culture while evolving our sound. She clearly indicated that being between two worlds is a force, not a limitation. ”
Earlier this month, while performing at South by the Southwest In Austin, Victoria told the public that she could not leave Texas without “singing a little selena” and that it was launched in a pleasant mixture of the crowd of “Como la Floor”, “Amor prohibido” and “Baila Esta Cumbia”. She was not alone; The same day, the singer of Cumbia, based in San Antonio, Vanita Leo, 22, seduced the crowd at the Volstead Lounge of Austin with a passionate performance of “if una vez”.
This could be considered a risk for emerging artists to cover such a legendary singer, in particular for a crowd in the state of origin of Selena; But beyond expressing their true admiration for her, it is also a way to prove their courage. Selena's voice and her presence on stage are impossible to call.
“The realization of a Selena coverage in Texas is electric,” explains Leo Of the. “There is always a massive reaction. Her music is woven in the fabric of our culture, and you can feel how much she still means for people when you start to sing. It is a reminder that her heritage is not only the songs – it is the joy, the pride and the representation it has given to our community.”
