Line #32 Music/Selena


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1460_1498140786.jpg]]
2	''[[caption-width-right:350: Como la flor / Con tanto amor / Me diste tú, se marchito / Me marcho hoy, yo sé perder]]''
3
4	->''"The thing about Selena... like, say, Music/BobMarley, is that she actually put a genre on the map. Millions and millions of Americans would have never heard of Tejano music if it wasn't for Selena."''
5	-->--'''Nathan Brackett,''' "Magazine/RollingStone.''
6
7	Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (April 16, 1971 - March 31, 1995), known to the world as Selena, was an American singer-songwriter from [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas Corpus Christi, Texas]].[[note]]Though she was actually born in Lake Jackson, a small-to-medium city now on the fringes of the UsefulNotes/{{Houston}} area. In fact, one of the physicians who delivered her was future politician UsefulNotes/RonPaul.[[/note]] Selena's father, an ex-musician, recognized her talent as a vocalist early on, formed his family into a band, and made her the frontman -- er, woman. [[BandOfRelatives The group]], known as Selena y Los Dinos ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Selena and the Guys]]), played Tejano / Tex-Mex music at small time gigs all over Texas while recording several independent albums. In 1989, Selena signed with Creator/{{EMI}} Latin and her individual career spun off from Los Dinos; her self-titled debut album appeared that year. Her second album, ''Ven Conmigo'', was the first Tejano album by a woman ever to earn a Latin Gold certification. 1992 saw the release of ''Entre A Mi Mundo'', and the single "Como La Flor", which became one of her signature songs. Her annual domination of the Tejano Music Awards, and the Grammy win for ''Selena Live!'', cemented Selena's status as a Tejano legend. Four songs off of 1994's ''Amor Prohibido'' -- the title track, "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", "No Me Queda Más", and "Techno Cumbia" -- topped the ''Billboard'' Latin Charts within a single year, and brought Selena, and Tejano music, widespread popularity in Latin America. Her rising success caught the eye of big name producers, who felt she was ready for an English-language crossover album; in 1995, Selena began working on ''Dreaming of You''.
8
9	Meanwhile, Selena did extensive community outreach, launched her own fashion line and fragrances, and opened up a pair of clothing boutiques, called "Selena, Etc." She entrusted most of the business operations to her assistant [[PromotedFanboy Yolanda Saldívar,]] who also ran Selena's fan club and slowly worked her way into the band's inner circle. In early 1995, Selena's father raised concerns that Saldívar was controlling access to Selena and embezzling money from the fan club. Selena's initial doubt turned to suspicion as Saldívar held onto important financial documents from the boutiques and refused to hand them over. On the morning of March 31, 1995, Selena met with Saldívar to recover the papers and break off their friendship; as Selena turned to leave, Saldívar pulled a gun and shot Selena in the back, killing her.
10
11	Selena's shocking death, and the wildly successful crossover album ''Dreaming of You,'' released the summer after she died, have made Selena [[PosthumousPopularityPotential more famous in death than in life]] outside the Spanish speaking world. But Selena has been credited with raising the profile of Tejano music, and many of her songs are now part of the Latin music canon. The success of her crossover album helped pave the way for the "Latin Invasion" in the late '90s -- a group that included Music/JenniferLopez, whose portrayal of Selena in the [[Film/{{Selena}} Selena 1997 biopic]] is considered her [[StarMakingRole breakout role]]. To date, Selena has sold over 60 million records worldwide. Many Mexican-Americans still revere her as a folk hero.[[note]]Even in the U.S., [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Selena#Impact response to her death]] was massive.[[/note]] Pretty impressive for someone who never took singing lessons and, for most of her life, [[{{Irony}} wasn't even fluent in Spanish.]]
12
13	A [[Series/SelenaTheSeries series]] detailing Selena's life premiered on Netflix in December 2020. She is portrayed by ''Series/{{The Walking Dead\|2010}}'' alumna, Creator/ChristianSerratos. Maria Garcia's podcast [[https://www.npr.org/2021/02/04/964092428/the-podcast-anything-for-selena-tells-a-story-larger-than-the-artists-life Anything for Selena]] illustrates how Garcia shaped her own identity out of the inspiration of Selena's life.
14	----
15
16	!!Studio discography:
17
18	* ''Selena'' (1989)
19	* ''Ven Conmigo''[[labelnote:Translation]]''Come with Me''[[/labelnote]] (1990)
20	* ''Entre a Mi Mundo''[[labelnote:Translation]]''Enter My World''[[/labelnote]] (1992)
21	* ''Amor Prohibido''[[labelnote:Translation]]''Forbidden Love''[[/labelnote]] (1994)
22	* ''Dreaming of You'' (1995)
23
24	----
25	!!Tropes related to Selena's work:
26
27	* TheAlcoholic: "Tú Sólo Tú"
28	* TheAllegedCar: The titular car of "La Carcacha," driven by her boyfriend and ridiculed by all her friends.
29	* AudienceParticipation: In her live performances of "¿Qué creías?," she would often invite a member of the audience onto the stage as a stand-in for her no-good ex-novio.
30	* AudienceParticipationSong: Selena often invited audiences to sing along with her. For example, on her album ''Live!'', she has them sing along with two refrains of "Ven Conmigo." Other common candidates were "Baila esta cumbia" and "Como la flor."
31	* BandOfRelatives: Los Dinos had Selena on vocals, her brother A.B. on bass, and sister Suzette on drums. Later she married her guitarist Chris Pérez, adding him to the family.
32	* ButNotTooForeign: Selena wasn't Mexican but Mexican-''American'', and her first language was English and not Spanish, which added to her crossover appeal in the U.S. That she wasn't just American but ''Mexican''-American made her more acceptable in Mexico.
33	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Being a Texan, Selena started off doing country music. To newer/English-speaking fans, some of the '80s-infused Tejano probably counts. Not to mention all the polka.
34	* FauxFluency: Selena originally [[{{Irony}} couldn't speak Spanish at all]]; she learned all of her early songs phonetically. Eventually, she learned enough to hold her own in interviews.
35	* FlowerMotifs: "Como La Flor" of course.
36	* GratuitousDiscoSequence: The "Disco Medley" opener from her concert at the Houston Livestock Show
37	* GratuitousSpanish: Whispered lines like "Mi amor, cómo te extraño"[[note]]"My love, I miss you so much"[[/note]] in "Dreaming of You" and in a lot of the other English songs on that album.
38	** Her Spanish songs have some GratuitousEnglish as well, i.e. "Oh, oh, baby" in "Amor Prohibido."
39	* IconicOutfit: Her Astrodome attire. It consists of the purple jumpsuit with the bell bottoms, her long hair with the feathered bangs, a bandage on her left index finger, and most famously, the lipstick-stained microphone. It is her most famous outfit worldwide and is the one outfit that anyone who knows of Selena will recognize.
40	* LyricalDissonance: "Tus Desprecios," an upbeat polka song comparing a lover's scorn to a dagger that is slowly murdering the relationship.
41	* ListingCities: In "La Tracalera" there's [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Laredo, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Waco, Victoria...]]
42	* OnlyOneName: Professionally, she was only ever known by her first name.
43	* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom"
44	* SillyLoveSongs: Virtually all of her songs minus "Techno Cumbia" and "La Tracalera."
45	* TitleOnlyChorus:
46	** "I Could Fall in Love"
47	** "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom".
48	* ThisIsASong: In "Techno Cumbia":
49	---->''"Porque esta canción no es pa' ningún flojón"''
50	* TranslatedCoverVersion:
51	** A cover of a cover: Selena did a Spanish version of A Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki," which itself is an English cover of Kyu Sakamoto's Japanese hit [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc "Ue O Muite Aroukou"]].
52	** Also, [[WhatSongWasThisAgain "Fotos Y Recuerdos]]", inspired by the Music/{{Pretenders}}' "Back on the Chain Gang".
53	* VocalDissonance: Selena is mostly known for her Spanish songs, so it's easy to forget that Selena was a native English speaker from South Texas. Even long-time fans are surprised to hear that thick Texas twang [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0smndV5Ug0 when she speaks English.]]
54	* AWildRapperAppears: Subverted by Selena doing the rapping herself in "Techno Cumbia" and "Enamorada de Ti".

Context Music / Selena