Selena, The Queen of Tejano
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Welcome back to another episode of Right Answers Mostly, a podcast on what you didn't learn in history class, but you know you really wanted to. That's Tess Palomo. And that's Claire Donald. I always love introducing you. Me too. So what the hell are we talking about today, Claire? Tess, I'm glad you asked. Today we're talking about the one, the only, Queen of Tejano, Selena! Oh!

Finally, she is going to grace us with her present. Finally. I feel like this has been one that's kind of been popping up in my mind that's like, we have to do her. Yeah. I don't know why. I didn't even think about it until you said, and I was like, that's perfect. I think so, too. She broke so many barriers. She meant so much to so many people, which has me a little nervous. But-

A lot of the episodes that we have done have been in the same vein. Princess Di, Whitney. Yes. If you could do Princess Diana, I can do Selena. I'll channel the bravery. And I know you're going to do a great job. I'm not even worried about it. Thank you so much. Tess, what do you know about art at Selena?

My associations with Selena are that of watching the movie in freshman year Spanish class, like probably four times. It would be like on a half day, we would watch that movie like before winter break. It would always just be playing. But I don't really, I haven't seen it since I was like 14 or 15. So I don't really remember it. And secondly, I knew someone in college that was obsessed with her. Like how I am with the Titanic almost, really bringing up facts about her.

Always, you know, wearing her shirts. You know, it just, it was a Selena fan club of one. That was, you know, was my friend in college. So I, that's all I really, that's all I know. I used to, I feel like the movie was always on when I was younger. I've told you that before. And that's Jennifer Lopez's breakout role. Was she like 20 when she did it?

It was 97 when the movie came out. So probably, yeah, around then. I can't even imagine. They said looking to cast that role was at the same, like,

of casting Scarlett O'Hara where it was like this nationwide search for the perfect person. Damn. That was her first big thing. Wait, so that's how she got famous? That was her first breakout role, yeah. And she wasn't singing before that. Oh, okay. I wasn't sure if she'd already had like an album out. No. She said that this movie actually inspired her to start a music career.

Damn. I know. Oh, I need to watch it again. She channels her essence perfectly. Is she good in it? She's so good in it. I feel like Jennifer Lopez is an underrated actress. I cannot agree more and I feel connected to Jennifer Lopez as I went to school for career day in fourth grade, or third grade, I'm sorry, dressed as Jennifer Lopez. Oh, never forget. I mean, she is a queen and icon and a legend. She is. She is because I was like, I want to dress as someone who can dance, act,

And sing. And my sister was like, J-Lo. Yeah, like there's only a few, really. They're triple threat. Like I think she's good at it all. She is. Justice for J-Lo not getting nominated for Hustlers. She did get nominated, didn't she? Or she did not? Well, she didn't win. I actually, you might be. Was she nominated? I know, because we do need to clear this up. Did J-Lo get nominated? Okay, I'm so sorry. Then we can start for an Oscar. Um, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.

They did not... Fuck them. They ignored her. And her documentary is coming out soon. I think she talks about it. Like, she's crying in one of the clips. Oh, my gosh. It's on Netflix, right? I cannot wait to watch. Fun little fact, and then we'll get into it. Corey and I were watching this Lena movie the other day, and he was like...

J-Lo's supposed to be playing like a 23-year-old right here? And I was like, Corey, this movie was from 1997 because that's how good J-Lo looks now that he thought it was a current movie. Well, she's, okay, so she was born in 1969. So she was 28 when she filmed Selena. And she's 52. She looks, she looks exactly the same. Like, who does her Botox, dare I say? Or do you think maybe all natural? I mean, how does she look so good? Both of these things can't be true. Yeah.

She's a beautiful woman, no matter what. She is, no matter what. And as much as we love J-Lo, we are here to talk about Selena, Quintanilla, and...

And I cannot wait to get into it. So let's get into it. Let's. Just from the top, we want to give a little trigger warning. Our episode today celebrates the life of someone that was taken too soon by an act of gun violence. And this episode is being recorded on May 25th, 2022. And in light of recent mass shootings that have taken place in the U.S., including the school shooting in the predominantly Latinx community of Uvalde, Texas,

We wanted to warn our listeners that this conversation today will touch on this topic. Although this episode isn't centered around gun violence, we mourn those whose lives have been taken by gun violence and encourage our Rammies to educate themselves on this topic so we can finally make progress against this epidemic. So how can you do that?

If you want an easy way to connect to your senators and representatives to make sure your voice is heard, text RESIST, R-E-S-I-S-T. Sorry, I spelled RESIST. Thank you. Yes, RESIST to 50409 and follow the prompts. They make it super easy. Do it. Let our voices be heard. Yes. All right. Thank you for saying that. Of course. Now on to my citations. So much of my information today and my biggest shout out is to the podcast, Anything for Selena by Maria Garcia.

Her passion and her research puts my research to shame. She was incredible, and it touches on so many topics that Selena dealt with, so check out anything for Selena. Oh, can't wait. Yes. There's also a documentary on YouTube called Selena Remembered, and then there's an episode, an A&E show, American Justice, Life and Death of Selena.

And also Wikipedia. So I will clarify which facts I got from Wikipedia because you can never trust them. You know, but sometimes we got to do Wikipedia. It's there for us in ways that other things can't be. That's so true. It's so true. There's no shame. There's no shame in it. We do not shame Wikipedia, so don't shame us. Same with history.com? Well, history.com is my queen. We love both in different ways. It's like our stepfather and our mother. It's so true.

God, it's so true. Oh, well, I cannot wait. Here we go. So, like I said, Selena is a profoundly important figure in so many people's lives. She is called the Queen of Tejano music, and she broke so many barriers in music and as a woman. And when you just see videos of her performing, you're just like, that is someone who loves what they are doing. And in the same way as Whitney being like the voice, her voice...

me to my core. Yeah. So talented. So talented. And she was such a goofball. Like every interview, she's joking. She was...

Just wholeheartedly herself. Yeah. She's going to make sure she had good energy. Such good energy. Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16th, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Pisces. No. Aries. Aries. God damn it. And that fire sign, there it is. Aries queen. She was the youngest child of Marcella and Abraham Quintanilla Jr., sorry, Quintanilla Jr.,

She had an older brother, A.B., and a sister, Suzette, and they were beside her throughout her whole career, and they are main players in our story today. Abraham, her father, was a former musician himself. He sang doo-wop music, and he was in a group called The Dinos before Selena was born.

So the band was pretty successful, but they had a tough go at it. So once a club owner booked them and when they showed up, he was like, I thought you guys were Italian, not Mexican American. So he fired them and refused to pay them. Oh my God. And they dealt with that constantly with touring. Like they were refused. They were not able to stay at hotel rooms and play at certain venues. But then on the other side of it,

Because they played doo-wop and like pop and rock, they would go to the Mexican clubs and sing their songs. And people would get so pissed that they weren't playing Mexican music. And once they were chased out of the building of a Mexican club and local Corpus Christi police had to be called to escort the band out because they would not sing Mexican music.

Wow. Was this in the 60s? Yeah, like 50s, 60s. Exactly. And like primarily they stayed in the South. In the South. Exactly. So he dealt with all of that shit. And I think he dealt with what a lot of people in America still deal with, a feeling, and we talked about this with Whitney, caught between two communities. Totally. But due to touring and the music grind, he was missing out on his first two kids' lives at one point.

AB, his son, didn't even recognize him and he missed his daughter's birth. So... Is the music worth it? It's not. And he, you know, I think him and his family were like, enough. Taylor Armstrong, if you watch... Enough. Enough. I'm done with the music. But like how, I mean, was it that lucrative that it was worth it to miss those things? I think it's like...

as an artist, prayer hands, where you're like, you have to make these sacrifices. And that was the way he was making money. Right. So, but then in the end, he was like, I can't do this anymore. So we put the music behind him and he moves his family to a tiny Texas town called Lake Jackson. He gets an office job at Dow Chemical. The music world. What a change. No kidding. He said he felt like a caged lion because everyone would go to bed at 9 p.m. and he was used to playing music shows. He's like, I just love the music, man.

A Dow Chemical? They're like, please, sir. He's just like with his pencils, like tapping on the desk. Always one. There's always one. So he puts the music world completely behind him until Selena was born. Oddly enough, the gynecologist that delivered Selena was future House of Representatives member and eventual presidential hopeful Ron Paul Jr.,

who is also a member of the Libertarian Party. Oh, boy. And we have a lot to say about the Libertarian Party. Check out our Silk Road episode. Full circle. Always self-promoting. But like what a weird little pop culture. These career changes are wild. I mean, just night and day. Night and day. Gynecologist to libertarian political. Musician to Dow Chemical. Wow. So Selena was raised Jehovah's Witness. Oh, boy. Yep. And so that will...

play a part in our story later. Jehovah's Witness, they refuse military service and blood transfusions, which we will talk about later. They also don't celebrate Christmas, Easter, or birthdays, any other holidays that consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity. The way we celebrate birthdays...

I mean. Could never. I don't. We could never. We couldn't. They must really hate us. They would hate us. And hey, you know, Selena grew up Jehovah's Witness. Also about her childhood that I skipped over. Abraham said that Selena, Abraham, her dad, said Selena as a baby was a crier and not like a normal cry. Like she wanted attention. And also he says he now thinks she was just exercising her lungs because she was going to be a singer. She's like, I'm getting ready.

Vocal mormon, which I relate to. Apparently, I cried so much that I made my mom cry. She's like, stop. Literally, it's all the kids that are just like, I want attention right now. They just want to be seen and heard. They just want to be seen and heard. Not what we all want. That's true. And that was Selena. So Abraham discovered that Selena could sing when she was five. Abraham and A.B. were riffing, rifting, riffing, riffing.

They were playing guitar together. Yep, that's all we need. That's all we need. And Selena said that she saw them and was like, I do not like how much attention AB is getting right now and I'm not getting the attention. So she went over and like picked up a book because she could read at that point and just started reading the words but making up her own melodies. Theater kid energy. Theater kid energy.

For sure. Like, look at me, the random burst of singing theater kid energy. Wow. And her dad was like, wait, do that again? You know? It's like, you're annoying, but hold on. Hold on. Exactly. And he would be like, don't do it this way. Try it this way. And her timing was perfect. Her pitch was perfect. And Selena said...

Her dad saw dollar signs. This is so... I just keep thinking of Whitney. I know. With her mom. Same. And her dad, actually. There are so many parallels, I feel. A lot. I mean, I guess that is most of these kids, these famous kids' parents, that see an opportunity. 100%. And capitalize on it immediately. Abraham has been compared to, and we'll get into this, but Joe Jackson, who is Michael Jackson's father, who...

Abraham is looked at as being very stern and controlling. And like Selena is this vibrant young thing and he is like business, business, business. I do think that he would have put Selena before the career though in a lot of ways. I do think so. And she always had a good relationship with him. Well, that's good. Which is we don't see that a lot too. We don't. Because immediately I'm like, I hate this man. I know. He's going to destroy her, but it's hard not to. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so Abraham's like, we're making a band. A.B., you're on bass. Suzette, you're on drums. Oh. And Selena, you're vocals. Which how badass that Suzette, the sister, is on drums. I love a female drummer. There's nothing better. It's beautiful to see. It's beautiful to see. And in the movie, Suzette's like, girls don't play drums. And he's like, you're playing drums. Oh, that's so cool. I think that's so cool. In like the 70s. Exactly. Exactly. Love that.

Abraham leaves his job at Dow Chemical and he opens up a Tex-Mex spot. So these careers again. He is an entrepreneur and we love to see it. We love to see it. And Selena is nine years old and the family band starts playing there. And they're super successful. How would you feel if you walked into a restaurant and saw kids playing? I'd probably...

probably be like, they shouldn't be doing that. They should be out playing. But it's also like, that's creativity, I guess. I guess. But I'm also, I don't really want to listen to kids play music. Oh yeah. For like how I would feel. Yeah. I'd be like, no. No. It's like seeing a kid at a wedding. They don't belong there. They don't. They do not. I stand by it. That is the only comparison I need. And you're exactly right. That's

So the restaurant's doing really well, but about a year later, the restaurant suffered from the recession of 1981, and they were forced to close the restaurant. The family had to declare bankruptcy, and they lost everything, their house, their savings. And they had to move to Corpus Christi. Abraham tries to get a job at another plant, but nothing worked, and the family ban went from a hobby to survival. And Selena is like 10 years old and at the front of that, and that is terrible.

A lot of pressure. Damn. A lot of pressure. Yeah.

This is also where Abraham taught Selena to sing in Spanish. So Selena actually didn't grow up speaking Spanish. Oh. She was in Lake Jackson, Texas, where she was born, and her family was one of two Mexican families. All the rest were white people. In fact, when they moved to Corpus Christi, Selena's sister Suzette said the girls in Corpus Christi were like, why do you talk like that? Why do you act like a white girl? Which caught them all off guard.

And they were bullied and called dumb for not being fluent in Spanish. Wow. So again, like kind of caught between the two communities. She actually had like the cutest Southern little twang to her, which they were told that when they moved there too. And they're like, what are you talking about? We don't have a Southern accent. Oh, interesting. Yes. So even though she didn't speak Spanish, Abraham was determined to have her speak in Spanish. Okay.

Or sorry, sing in Spanish. And in the 1997 movie, Selena, when I was watching it, she's like, I don't want to sing in Spanish. Like, I like Donna Summer. I don't want Spanish music. Oh, interesting. But also, it's hard to learn when you're not brought up as a child. Like, from the very beginning at 10. Lord knows. Every year it gets harder and harder. Every year, I'm like, I remember my mom...

hired someone to try to teach me Spanish and they came over once and I goofed around the whole time and she's like, I'm not paying for this shit. She's like, never coming back. Yeah. Literally.

Like, mom, like, if you would have just kept with it. But I mean... It's hard. It is hard. And the Netflix series, there's a Netflix series on Selena. And they have what's been called kind of a cynical view on why Selena wanted... Or why Abraham wanted Selena to sing in Spanish, which was to appeal to a larger market in the South Texas area. Yeah.

On the podcast Anything for Selena, Abraham said it was more personal for him. He wanted his kids to learn Spanish because they were Mexican-Americans. That was their native tongue, their mother tongue. And I feel like both can be true. Like, I don't really think it's that cynical for him to be like, let's appeal to a larger audience. I was just going to say, what's controversial about that? I totally agree. That's a good thing to reach more people. Yeah, and he dealt with that in his own career. I'm sure he did. Yeah, so it's just...

So she learns Spanish phonetically. And then later in her life, she took intensive lessons to learn pronunciation and vocabulary. Wow. You would never know. You would never know. Some people just can't.

Pick up on language. It's pretty incredible. It's incredible to me. I'm like, you're a genius if you know more than one. You're a genius. Shout out to Marta, who knows like five. Marta, it's so hot when we hear you speak. It's so hot. And we're just so dumb that we only know one. It's so crazy. I know. I can barely get by in Mexico. No kidding. I just finished like 10 years. God. May I'm all clear? That's enough. But there is a line from a Selena movie that I thought was super important where Abraham says to Selena...

Being Mexican-American is tough. Anglos jump all over you if you don't speak English perfectly. Mexicans jump all over you if you don't speak Spanish perfectly. We've got to be twice as perfect as anybody else, and we've got to prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are. We've got to prove to the Americans how American we are. We've got to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans both at the same time. It's exhausting.

It's so unfair. It's so unfair. That just makes you so much more interesting of a person. And we just want to put everyone in one box that's like white or nothing. And it's disgusting. That's right. That's right. So again, this is what they're dealing with right off the bat, of course. Okay. So with the band, Abraham becomes the manager, as we talked about.

And the band was called Selena y Los Dinos, which is slang for the boys. And they began promoting it. They practiced constantly. They played on street corners, weddings, quinceañeras, and fairs.

So they were always playing. He knew the Tejano market, Abrahamdom, from his previous music experience and started calling up old contacts. He said, if you heard them, you wouldn't know that they were a kids band to the point where he started booking them in nightclubs. All right, we don't have to go that far. Again, I would walk into a nightclub and be like, I don't want to be here. You can't drink. Get out. Get out. By the time Selena was 12, she had been touring Texas for three years.

Was she homeschooled? She was in school for a little bit. Apparently, a teacher actually reported her family to the Texas Board of Education because she was so tired in class sometimes. And Abraham responded to the teacher by saying, mind your own business.

She was eventually homeschooled. She got her GED or I don't know. She didn't get her GED because she graduated high school, but through homeschool. Right, right. That's complicated. There's a famous interview that Selena had on a show called The Christina Show. And the host asked if she lost out on her childhood. And she said, yes, but it was for a good cause to help my family. And if your parents do something wrong, you still have to love them.

There's a lot to unpack there. I'm like, that could be a whole other episode. No kidding. I don't know if I agree with that, but I understand the sentiment of they were not well off to be able to have her just have a normal childhood. Childhood. They were completely devoted to each other, to this family. Like, they were like, it's all of us or nothing. Yeah. And that is like a little bit more of a cultural thing as well. 100%. Of like, it's family or nothing. 100%, which is, I think, is super admirable. Yeah. I mean, not...

Not how I always think of it. But, you know, once again, everyone, you know, different strokes, different folks. Everyone has a story. That's right. So Abraham refurbished an old bus and he named it Big Bertha. I like that. And the family used it as their tour bus. Yeah. And, you know, they're singing for survival. They would sing for food. They had barely enough money for gas. But in 1984, Selena y Los Dinos were signed to Freddie Records. They released their debut album, Selena y Los Dinos.

Even though Selena wanted to record English language songs, Selena recorded Tejano music, which was a male-dominated Spanish language genre with German influences of polka, jazz, and country music. Wow. Wow. Find you a genre that can do it all. That can do it all. Not leaving anything behind. No kidding. And it was popularized by Mexicans living in the United States. And it actually wasn't popular in Mexico, and Selena talked about this because...

Mexicans living in Mexico didn't accept it because they thought it wasn't authentically Mexican because it was created in the United States. So they didn't want any outside influence. Right. But you can hear it like the minute you hear it, you recognize it and you hear that polka in it. I mean, that sounds cool. It's so fun. Yeah. And we see that Selena makes it completely her own. And when I say that this genre of music is male dominated, Tess, there's like...

No women in the game for this genre. The band was often turned down by Texas music venues because their members age, which fair. I probably wouldn't book a 12 year old to play, but also because Selena was their lead singer. Her father was often told by promoters that Selena would never be successful because she was a woman in a genre historically dominated by men.

Which makes it even better that she crushed it. We love a comeback. We love revenge. We sure do. Success revenge, what's it called?

Success is the best revenge. Yeah. Like we just... I got all of your name and yours is in red underlined. That's right. So Selena was actually criticized by Freddie Martinez, who was the CEO of Freddie Records, who they just signed with for being a female in the Tejano music scene. And so Abraham's like, oh, no, oh, no, we're switching over to a different label.

When she was like 14, they perform on the show called... I can't believe she's just so young and she's just like in the music scene already. It's crazy. She performs on a show called The Johnny Canales Show. And they start playing some more prestigious venues from this. They start cutting records for Texas-based independent labels.

She was then discovered by Rudy Trevano, who's the founder of the Tohono Music Awards. And in 1987, when she was 15, she wins Performer of the Year at the Tohono Music Awards. And she won Female Vocalist of the Year. And she continued to win Female Vocalist of the Year for nine consecutive years after that.

So she completely takes the Tejano scene by storm. Well, thank God she's being recognized. No kidding. Like the fact that they were like, women don't belong here. And then she wins performer of the year that year. Yeah. She's like, sorry, I don't have room for all of my awards at this point. She's like, I think I own this space. But so...

Boom, here comes Selena saying it's time for us to move forward and take this genre a step further. Not only did she burst on the Tejano scene, she makes it her own. She was integrating music like R&B and hip hop into her Tejano music. She said ACDC was a huge influence on her when she was younger. And Black music's influence on Selena cannot be overstated. She constantly cited inspirations from artists like Jodie Watley and Janet Jackson and Donna Summer,

Which is like, that's what music's about. It's like, which again, not being put in a box and like inspiration from everywhere. Yeah. Like how can you confine creativity just to one genre or one inspiration? Pray your hands you cannot. You cannot. And you should not. And you should not because that's so boring. So Selena was emerging from a traditional genre, but with modern take and a young creative band that was hungry to experiment. And that is what music is about. What do you love most about music? To start, everything. Oh.

Carry on. That's for you, Canole. Every episode we're talking about music. We will do it. We will do it. We will. In 1989, she's like 17, 18. She's already just like coming into herself as a performer. Her charisma just like

off the screen. I really, really invite you guys to go YouTube her performances because her dance moves are incredible. She would like incorporate American dance moves like the Roger Rabbit and the Moonwalk. And then in a blink of an eye would go into these amazing twirls. Oh, the shape you must be in. No kidding. The cardio. No, the cardio is, I'm exhausted. After COVID, I can't. Honey. Without COVID, I can't. Was she seen like when she was up on stage, like was she seen as like a sex symbol?

She was. And it's so interesting when you go back and look at old interviews. It just, the way that men talk to her sometimes was so unacceptable. I'm not surprised. No, but also her dad was like super protective of her. Like she would perform in these like bustiers that were incredible. Oh yeah. That Lady Gaga said she got a lot of her costume inspiration. Tess has some feelings on Lady Gaga. Yeah.

But she got a lot of her inspiration from Selena. But her dad one time was like, she's wearing a bra. So it was like, again, a pool of a woman at that time too of being sexy, but is she being overly sexualized? Right. Because a lot of like famous female singers, I can't think of really any that weren't sexualized.

100% be told to put in to more like, you know, she was also her butt was talked about a lot because she had a big butt. Okay. And it was there. It was there. And this was before, you know, JLo and Kim Kardashian. So she really kind of started that whole conversation as well. Interesting. People are always talking about a woman's body. It's true. One way or another. It's sad that like,

that's discussed more than her art. Right, right. Totally. But not for Selena because we are focusing on how incredible she was as an artist. And she did have a nice butt. Yes, she did. And those things can't be true. That's right. That is right.

So in 1989, a newly formed Capitol label, Capitol Music, for those of you who don't know. Yeah, sorry, guys. We're in LA in the music industry, so. We have a lot of friends in the music. Yeah. They had a new form label called EMI Latin Records. And this man, Jose Behar, who was the head of it,

was also there with the head of Sony Music watching the Tohono Music Awards. And they were leaving. And as they were leaving, they heard the crowd go wild for someone. So they were like, hold on, turn around. Who is that? It's Selena. They were like, who is she? So they have to meet her. Sony Music Latin actually offered Abraham twice capital signing fee. EMI Latin at Capital said,

offered a potential for a crossover album to do an English language album as well. And Abraham wanted his kids to be at the first at their label. So even though Sony was offering twice as much, they went with EMI.

Wow. And I think that is different than like Whitney, like Whitney's parents who were like money, money, money. And he's a little bit more like, well, let's talk about. What's going to be best for my children. A hundred percent. Like, I think that I would disagree with a lot of things that Abraham would do or say, but I do think he had his children's best interest in mind. And, you know, I'm kind of bummed because I bet Selena, I wonder how much influence she had in making that decision for herself as well. Probably not.

Probably not a lot. Probably not a lot. I mean, he is her manager, so. And a different time. Different time. But so they end up going with EMI. Okay, so like we said, Selena's goal the whole time was to have a crossover album too. Like she wanted to cover all bases. And she recorded a few English language songs for the head of EMI's pop division. But the request was denied. Okay.

Because Selena was told she needed a bigger fan base to sell such an album. They did not believe that a Mexican-American woman could have crossover potential. Just like, she's so big already. What more evidence do you need? Literally. Crazy. Which again, she showed them. Yep. Revenge. Revenge. Revenge.

On October 17th, 1989, Selena released her self-titled debut album, and her band remained the same. So her brother, AB, was constantly in her band as her bassist, and her sister, Suzette, on drums. I had no idea. Yes. So she was with her family all the time, which is really nice. AB became—her brother became Selena's principal record producer and songwriter for most of her musical career. Wow.

I said Selena and AB walked so that Billie Eilish and Phineas could run. And there it is, Claire. They're not the first of their kind. That's not. They're not. That's true. So she actually does have an English song that's like very pop on this album.

It's called My Love. And so she's already starting to like transcend genres. She even has a song called Sukiyaki, which is a Spanish reimagining of a Japanese pop song. Wow. It sounds so cool. I love that song. And that was actually her dad and AB and her all put that together. God, this family. So musically talented. True. I just never, I can never understand. Partridge family hue. Wow. Yep. Yep. Yep.

This album is also where they shine in cumbia rhythm, which cumbia is a style of music evolved from Afro-Columbian roots. And Selena had this like synthy Tex-Mex cumbia sound that was so innovative and people loved it. So cool. So she's the queen of Tejano music, but her most popular songs were cumbias. Guys, I invite you to listen to cumbias because you can't sit still. Oh my God. It's a challenge. I want to get it on vinyl. Yeah.

I'm getting Selena on vinyl today. You should, yes. I've been listening to her nonstop. It's just so good. So this album, Selena, peaked at number seven on the U.S. Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart, becoming Selena's first recording to debut on a national music chart. Damn. The same year Coca-Cola comes calling, and she makes money from advertising on that. Oh, good for her.

Selena. Good for you, Selena. And the jingle used in her first two commercials for the company was composed by A.B., her brother, and Chris Perez, the latter of whom had just joined the band several months earlier as the band's new guitarist. Now let's talk about Mr. Chris. Lover. Lover. Or a friend. Starts as a friend. Always does, doesn't it? It says lover. He first met Selena in 1989 when he joined the band. He was a

So Selena's brother, AV, really wanted him in there. But Abraham was like, I'm not into this guy because he was a rock guitarist. And with that, he wore like black leather and had really long hair and was kind of like a bad boy look. And Abraham was like, Abraham thought he was going to tarnish her reputation, which is a little kind of like,

It's like, oh, if you like a bad boy as a woman, then you can't be thought of as pure. That's literally 100% what it was. And Abraham later said, well, I didn't know him that well. I never liked men with long hair. I think long hair is for women. So that's tough. Oh boy, that is tough. Hair does not make you a man or not a man. Exactly. It's just hair. Was Chris attractive? Yeah, it

It's a young thing. Yeah, and I think that Selena was like, oh, hello. She's like, I think he is, yeah. It doesn't really matter what you think. So they started working together and started forming a romantic relationship. She's young. Like, I mean, she's so young at this point. So I'm sure she's like, here's this bad boy. In Chris's book, he said...

Okay, so the problem was that he actually had a girlfriend when they started working together. Got it. And in Chris's book, he said after a trip down to Mexico with the band, Chris thought it would be best for them to both distance themselves from each other because he had a girlfriend. But he found it pretty impossible to distance himself from Selena. I mean, her charm. Like, how could you? Well, at that point, maybe break up with your lady back home. And that's what he did.

And they started pursuing a relationship. Selena said in an interview he was different than all the other men because he was her friend first. And I think they had a really playful, loving relationship. Aww.

It was actually in a pizza hut that he confessed his feelings for Selena. Look, sometimes it happens in the place you least expect it. Do you remember going to eat at... Did you ever go eat at a pizza hut? I mean, definitely frequented, but I don't know about you. We had a pizza, My Heart, which was like a very casual on University Avenue in Palo Alto. That is where we went like forever. I'll never forget where the pizza hut was in my town. Similar vibes. It's like a pizza buffet. Stunning. I love it. I would love to have someone confess their love for me over pizza at Pizza Hut. I would as well. Yeah.

They actually hid this, though, from Selena's father because Selena knew that her father wasn't going to approve of it. So it was under wraps. In 1999, Selena put out her second studio album, Ven Conmigo, her first number one album on Billboard's Mexican chart.

It's also the year that she performs in her iconic cow print that she designed. Oh, my God. She was dubbed the Mexican Madonna, which she wore bedazzled bralettes and crop tops. She wore like these cinched in high-waisted curve-hugging black denim with brassy Western belt buckles. She was a fashion icon, and she designed all of her costumes herself. And she looks so good in those little hats like the one that you bought, Madeline.

last fall. You look cute in them too, but she looks so good in those little like newspaper boy cap sort of things. It is like, hats are so tricky. Hats are tricky. And they always sound like a good idea the day you buy them. And then you feel kind of douchey. Yeah.

But I always like, I love a woman in a hat of all kinds. She rocked them like no one else could. She really did. She really did. In the same year, she does a duet with this man, Alvaro Torres. It was released. It's called Buenos Amigos, and it was released in 1991 and peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top Latin chart, giving Selena her first number one single. She had seven after that. So she's crushing it.

It also demonstrated her music versatility, which we knew that already if everyone else could just catch up. Her sister said that she liked to change with the time. She liked to experiment with what was going on as far as the English market and carry that over to her music. Smart. Obviously. Business queen. We still try to put artists in a box, though. Yeah, we do because it's like...

First thing that came to mind. I'm so sorry to even to bring this up. But Jessica. Oh, yeah. Simpson. Always our queen. Like, obviously, it was like Christian music to pop. And then when she tried to do country, people were like, fuck you. We hate you. It was like her worst performing album. It's crazy. I mean, it's like she's from the South. Let her do it.

album. I guarantee you Selena was an influence on Jessica Simpson because every Texas artist has cited Selena as an influence for them. Totally. Okay, so a lot starts happening around this time. A nurse and a fan named Yolanda Saldivar. Fuck you, Yolanda. Yeah. Oh, God. Of course her name is Yolanda. Triggering already, you know? It is. You know why. You know what's coming.

She asked Abraham to start a fan club in San Antonio because Yolanda had the idea after she attended one of Selena's concerts. Abraham was like, there's this woman who's really passionate. Great. A fan club's a really great idea. It'll bring more exposure. And it was like in the time where fan clubs were actually like really a thing where you would pay money and they would send you merchandise and like,

Before social media, there was no other way to connect with celebrities. Exactly. So Yolanda is starting it and she soon becomes a close friend to Selena and the family. They just trusted her and they loved the way that she started running the fan club. Was she like a younger woman? No. She was like, she looks like in her 40s. I'm not sure how she did, but she looks older. I mean, she's not young.

Which we will get into the red flags. Yeah, I can picture it. Not great. Not well, bitch. Not well. So it's also around this time that Suzette started noticing sparks flying between Chris and Selena. Oh. And Suzette, what, Yolanda and Chris. Yeah, I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. But Suzette snitches on them to her dad. Why? I don't know. Like, where is that girl code? Yeah.

But maybe Suzette was worried. I don't know. But she ends up snitching on him. And Abraham has said that the scene in the movie of how this went down is actually really accurate. So Abraham is told that Selena and Chris are in a relationship. And Abraham was like, this is ending right now. Break it up. Selena and Chris are obviously like, we're not doing that. We're completely in love with each other and we're going to stay with each other no matter what.

We want to get married. And Abraham completely loses his shit. He called Perez a cancer in his family, and he fired Chris from the band and prevented Selena from leaving with him. Abraham said, I saw him as a threat. What if they got married and he pulled her out of the band? All the work we did all those years would go down the tubes. It's this really kind of creepy, like toxic masculinity of like, we need to protect

and she can't think for herself and she's going to be destroyed. It's like this weird territorial bullshit. 100%. And like, she's not, she doesn't have to fuel your family's lifestyle anymore. Yeah, it's like yucky. It is yucky. I feel like this always happens in these stories with the sons, the brothers and the dads being like weird about this woman's love life.

It's a tale as old as time. And if she's going to make a mistake, she's going to make a mistake. And she needs to learn to do that on her own. She's like 20. But also, do you think you can stop young love? And there it is. And there it is. And you sure can't. And they didn't because they, on the morning of April 2nd, 1992, they elope.

That's usually what happens. Yes. Believing Abraham would never approve of their relationship, obviously. Within hours of their marriage, the media announced it on the radio. It like leaked somehow and they didn't tell Abraham. So he found out. Who leaked it? Who leaked it? Who did leak it? I bet whoever married them called someone. That's true. So fucked up. Yolanda? Yolanda. I blame her for everything. So Yolanda Hadid got word. So yikes, Abraham leaked.

out from the radio. He obviously does not take him well. He alienated himself for some time. Get over it. You have to. At that point, clearly they are in love with each other. Ultimately, though, a few days later, in the movie, it's a few days later, Selena's like, we need to give him time. And then she goes over and talks to him. Ultimately, though, he accepts it and even apologizes. Good.

Good. So we'd love to see growth. We do. And we support someone coming around. That's right. That's right. So he, he said after that, I accepted him as a part of the family. What else could I do? And there it is. That's,

What else can you do? You can't. They actually move in right next door. All right. They really just took it. Like, here we are. It's a little codependency. Yeah. In the air. There is some of that. But then, you know, if that worked for them. That's true. That worked for them because she saw having her dad as a manager, as an asset, and she cited that constantly and was like, no one else is going to look out for me more than my dad is.

That's what Hilary Duff said about her mom. Yikes. I mean, we see it now with Britney and her dad. Like, it's crazy. It's like...

Yeah, at one point. I mean, it can be like Stockholm-y too, you know? Yeah, totally. Like this person is taking care of me. They know me better than anyone. And it can be, you know. Totally. It can go both ways. Right. But hey, in her situation, it seemed to work for her. Totally. So at an award show, just like a little bit about like Selena's personality. And I love this. She, and I want, Chris, I want you to put it in because I want everyone to hear her voice. So we may just like cut this. But anyways, she says, I want...

I want to say a happy three years to my husband, Chris. And the crowd starts booing. And she says, uh-uh, you wouldn't be booing if you were married to me. And I'd like to thank my husband. I love you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. If I was married to one of y'all, you wouldn't be booing, right? I just want to say happy pre-anniversary.

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Rammies, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, and I'm going to say something that you probably have never heard a soon-to-be bride say, and that is that I love wedding planning. I have had such an amazing, fun, light experience doing it with my fiance, and that is a huge thanks to Zola. So with Zola, you can plan your entire wedding in one convenient place. You've

You guys, they have everything. So from like the day you get engaged, you can start planning on Zola. You can find the venue there. You can create your save the dates. You can make your registry. You can make your wedding website. Even to the final stages of tasting your cake, Zola has everything.

everything you need to make this process super easy and fun. And this should just be a pleasurable experience that you get to share with someone you love. And I'm really appreciative that Zola has just let us do that. There's even a five-star app that helps you plan on the go on your couch. So if you and your future husband or wife are watching a movie, having a glass of wine, plan your wedding

from the couch. Do it wherever you want because this is all about you. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to start planning at Zola.com. That's Z-O-L-A.com. You can thank me later. I love that response. I love that. That's what she...

was always ahead of the jokes. She was always ahead of the crowd. She reminds me of Dolly Parton a lot in that way of being like, I'm not going to let you get the power to comment on me. And I like her confidence because it's so hard as like a pop star, I'm sure, to not be completely

And a woman. Torn down. In a male-dominated genre. Truly. And a woman of color. That's right. It was so inspiring. That's amazing. It's so inspiring to see. Love it. As if we thought she wasn't killing the game before, a month after her elopement, she released her third studio album, Intra Ami Mundo, or Into My World, in May 1992. It is known as her breakthrough album. And this is where we get the beautiful song, Como La Flor. Put it in. Put it in, Chris. Put it in, Chris. Put it in.

I don't know.

So it was certified 10 times platinum and peaked number one on the U.S. Billboard Regional Mexican Chart. I had no idea she was like this successful. So big. And she hasn't even got to crossover yet. So she, like, at this point is, like, making money. Yeah, she's making money right now. It helped—Como La Flor helped her dominate the Latin music charts, and it was immensely popular in Mexico, where, again, Mexican-Americans were generally not liked among citizens. Hmm.

Selena was booked for a high-profile border press tour in Monterrey, Mexico with media, music types, like meet-and-greet conferences. And as we know, like to me, Selena's fluent in Spanish, but maybe not to the people in Mexico necessarily. So EMI Latin executives were terrified about Selena's limited Spanish experience.

And during the press conference or right before, they were like, they're going to eat her alive. And her dad's like, why don't you just let me talk and you just sit there so that you don't mess up. And Selena was like, guys, I got this. And she totally did. She completely charms everyone. If she flubs her Spanish, she laughed with everyone. She never shrunk when she was unsure of Spanish. She shined and was silly and personable. Oh, God.

The press hailed her as an artist of the people. The newspapers found her to be a refreshing change from Mexican telenovela actors who were fair-skinned, blonde-haired, and green-eyed. And sort of like, quote, like perfect. Like she seemed to have this like vulnerability that connected her to people. She was real. Yeah. And the host of the podcast Anything for Selena said...

To seven-year-old me in 1993, it felt nothing short of revolutionary to see a Mexican-American woman with working class roots take pride in who she was and have the world love her for it.

Wow, I've chilled. I know. Isn't it amazing? Yeah, it's amazing. There's even like, she does an interview, and I mentioned the same interview earlier on the Christina show, and she fumbles her Spanish, forgetting the word for 14. She quickly burst out laughing, burying herself in the host's shoulder before telling the audience, but you understand me, right? And she said, years later, the host Christina said that Selena had told her she stayed up the entire night before the interview just going over her Spanish. Wow.

And it was impossible to think less of her for the mistake. She took it in stride, making fun of herself. Oh, God. I love that. So good to like take that in and learn. Also, just like a funny fact, an interviewer asked once, if you weren't doing this, what would you do? And she said, work at Whataburger. She was obsessed with Whataburger. I get it. I know what we would do. Construction. Construction. That really shook some people, by the way.

I was like, wait, what? I stand behind it. I stand too. Love construction. So her career is thriving more than ever. She comes out with a live album, which nominates and wins her a Grammy. We love it. Grammy queen. Making her the first female Tejano artist to win that category. Wow. She said, I'm being nominated and winning a Grammy.

And Chris, insert the clip. When they first told us that we were nominated, we all freaked out. We couldn't believe it. And the first thing I promised...

The first thing that came to my mind was, like, I have to take a camera so I can take a picture with all these stars. And it didn't hit me later until I was like, oh, my God, you know, what if we win, you know? And we went out there, and they didn't let me take my camera in. That's one of the things. I didn't get to take any pictures until afterwards. But we were sitting there, and when they announced, I had this huge knot in my stomach. I was so nervous. And then they announced the winner. I mean, we all... And at this time, it's exciting because...

EMI finally signs her to an English language recording contract. So it is, she said that it was one of the most exciting days of her life. She doesn't have to stay in a box anymore. Oh, good, good, good. That's right. While she's prepping for her English album, she puts out another album. Because why not? Because why not? Called Amor Prohibito. Sorry, my Spanish is not great. No, no, no, please. Amor Prohibito in March 1994. Okay.

Again, it like breaks all these records. It's Bond number one singles, some of which being Bitty Bitty Bom Bom, which she wrote. That song is so iconic. It's so good. It's so good. She also has this ballad, Nome Queda Mas, which it's stunning. Like her vocal, she is in the same level as Whitney. Damn. 100%. It was 36 times platinum with the sales of 2.16 million album equivalents in the United States.

Damn. It was amazing. An NPR article said that she didn't break barriers with this album as much as she tore them down. I love that. I do too. And she's like 21. That's so true.

It's so crazy. As if she's not busy enough, she starts a fashion line. Oh, did she? She did. She opened up two boutiques, one in Corpus Christi, one in San Antonio. And it was, they had beauty salons in it. And her fashion line went up to size 18. Wow.

That's like truly revolutionary for that time. Like you can't even find most brands now that do that. Now, which is like, I think the average, which what is average, who knows, but of American women is like 12. So it's like, why would we not go all the way? It's just so crazy. It's crazy. So Hispanic Business Magazine reported that the singer earned over $5 million from these boutiques and she was ranked among the 20th wealthiest Hispanic musicians who grossed the highest income in 93 and 94. Damn.

She then wrote, it's like just all stats, but it's like, what else can you say about her? Yeah. She recorded a record-breaking sold-out concert of the Houston Astrodome in 95, and she broke the record twice at the Houston Astrodome for attendees. And that performance is iconic. What I would give to see her live live.

She was just so connected with the audience and just having so much fun. That would be a good one of like, who would you want to see dead or alive? Selena's at the top of my list. Yeah, like I've never thought about that before. Me either. That would be incredible. You guys, DM us who you would want to see dead or alive. Ooh, love this. Top three. Love this. She even dabbles in some acting. She was in a movie with Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, and Faye Dunaway. Really? Yes, called Don Juan DeMarco. Really?

And she just like in the interview, she kept being like, it's really not a big deal. I'm just in the back being like, hi, mom. But it's just where her career could have gone. I know. So remember how I said Yolanda wanted to make a fan club for Selena? Well, the fan club, Selena's family was super impressed with how it was going. So they actually asked Yolanda to manage both the boutiques in Texas. Yeah.

And Yolanda moves from San Antonio to Corpus Christi to be closer to Selena. Yikes. Yikes. So as if that wasn't a red flag, we're going to talk about some red flags. Yeah. And this is important to pay attention to. Don't paint your red flags green. My fingers have never moved so fast. Same. I feel like that was crazy. Crazy. So our first big red flag is that Selena boutiques start losing their employees left and right. Wow.

And they all start complaining about Yolanda and her bad behavior and the way she was managing the store. That was super shady. When they told Selena that, Selena was like, Yolanda would never do anything to hurt me. Which is, Selena was so trusting. She was such a good spirit. And it's so sad that like, you want to see the world in a good light, but you have to listen to people.

It's like complicated though, because imagine like if I asked you to manage something I had done, let's say like I'd like created some store on like Abbot Kinney and then people were like Claire's and I'd be like, no, she's not. You must just not be like, you do have such a wall up. That's exactly what happened. Because you protect the people that you love. And like, I think I would initially do that too. Of course. So then they start going to Abraham and they were like, you telling him the same thing.

So Abraham kind of starts to look into it and he actually tells Selena, like, I don't think that you should trust this woman. And Selena kind of brushes this off as him being overprotective as he tended to be. Just like with Chris, full circle. Kris Jenner. Wait, what was her husband's name? Rob. Oh, Chris Perez. Chris Perez. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I always have Kris Jenner on my list. Full circle, listen to our Kris Jenner episode. Exactly. So yes, she thought that he was being overprotective with Kris. Rob.

Rob, if you're out there, we're thinking of you. Where are you? Literally. Were you at the wedding? Why weren't you? I don't know. Okay. Well, so anyways, that's Selena. The second red flag. By January 1995, Selena's fashion designer, Martin Gomez, and her cousin, Deborah Ramirez, and clients had expressed their concerns with Yolanda's behavior and management skills. Like, was she just mean to people? Was she stealing money? Well, on the movie, she...

She was like, the people were like, we're raising money together to buy Selena like a really nice ring. And Yolanda would be like, let me just take that. And then they would like never see the money again. She's like, I know a person to buy the ring from. And then she would take all the money and like gave Selena the ring and told her it was her gift. And I think she was really mean to people. Abraham started noticing that she was acting strange. Like she would...

jump in front of fans if they were like kind of close to Selena and Abraham would be like Yolanda we have security for that you don't need to do that oh god so she's getting like possessive and creepy when she did an interview with the Dallas Morning News report the reporter said her devotion to Selena bordered obsession I mean it sounds like that yeah it's a good analysis that's right

So the third red flag, Abraham starts getting calls from people and the fan club. And they were like, we sent our money in, but we never got anything. So what's going on?

So that made him really look into things. He looks into things and discovers that Yolanda had embezzled more than $30,000 via forged checks from both the fan club and the boutiques. So she's straight up stealing from them. What a nightmare. What a nightmare. He then holds a meeting with Yolanda, Selena, and Suzette. And he confronts Yolanda. And he's basically like, if you can't give me evidence that you didn't do this, then I'm getting the authorities involved. And she couldn't.

He bans her from seeing Selena. Yolanda, the next day, March 10th, shows up to the recording studio and she's not allowed in. And they told her she's no longer welcome. The next day, this is according to the A&E doc, the next day, Yolanda buys a gun. Now, despite all of her family saying that they're done with Yolanda, Selena keeps in contact with her. And

wants to forgive her. I think she just didn't want to believe that someone she loved so much could betray her like that. So in the A&E doc, they said that Yolanda was so pleased with staying in contact with her, with her idol, Selena, that she returned the gun.

But then Selena starts asking Yolanda for business documentations that she needed to file her taxes and was like, I need you to give these to me. And so Yolanda bought the gun back because Selena was asking... Because Yolanda knew she was stealing. Yeah. So...

On March 30th, Yolanda, so before this, Yolanda goes to Mexico and, or after this, Yolanda goes to Mexico on business. I don't know what business. An associate said she seemed devastated and was inconsolable. On March 30th, Yolanda returned to Texas and checked into a Days Inn motel. She contacts Selena and said that she claims to have been raped in Mexico. So Selena was like, I will take you to the hospital tomorrow morning, first thing.

They go to the hospital the next morning. At the hospital, the physical exam comes back as inconclusive. And Selena, according to the A&E docs, told the nurses she pulled them aside and told them she thinks she's lying. She wanted to say something drastic to get her attention? 100%. So Selena and Yolanda return to the hotel. And at this point, Selena asks for the documents again.

And I think that Yolanda knew that it was over at that point and that Selena was starting to catch on, that she was a liar. And I think that Yolanda thought that if I can't be around you, nobody can be around you. So only Yolanda knows exactly what happened in that room. But prosecutors argue that at some point just before noon, Selena tells her that the friendship is over and takes off a friendship ring that she had of Yolanda's. Yeah, it's a lot.

Yolanda took out the gun and aimed it at Selena. Selena tries to run away and Yolanda shoots her in the back. Yolanda shot her once on the right lower shoulder, severing the subclavian artery and causing severe blood loss. Critically wounded, Selena ran towards the lobby so she hit an artery. Oh my God. She collapsed onto the floor with a trail of blood behind her as the clerk called the emergency services.

According to Wikipedia, again, I don't know if this is factual, Saldivar chased after her, calling her a bitch. Before collapsing, Selena named Yolanda as her assailant and gave the number of the room where she had been shot. So there was a nearby unit. Paramedics arrived two minutes after the call, but Selena's heartbeat was slowing down and she was losing a lot of blood. By the time she reached the hospital, nurses said she had no sign of neurological function. Hmm.

Doctors opened Selena's chest for a blood transfusion. This was contrary to her religious beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. Oh. There are rumors that I think that we can definitely debunk that Abraham denied her a blood transfusion. It's not true. The timeline doesn't work. Yeah. But they said even if that did happen, her, well...

She was brain dead, but her body had lost so much blood that the transfusion didn't even work. Yeah. And on March 31st, 1995, at 1.05 p.m., Selena was announced dead. She was 23 years old. So young. So sad. It's so devastating by someone... It's so fucked up. It's so fucked up. Like, you can get into, like, fandom and how creepy that is. And, like, it's just from someone that she knew like that. And obviously Yolanda...

Speaking about mental health and your ability to buy a gun in that state, she was not well. Clearly. She was, you know, like giving signs of multiple issues. 100%. And she was able to buy a gun, return it, and then buy it again. Yeah.

No, of course not. Of course not.

She surrendered after a nearly nine and a half hour standoff with the police and the FBI. Because she had a gun. Yeah. A loaded gun still. Yep, exactly. Nine and a half hour standoff. By that time, hundreds of fans had gathered at the scene and many wept as the police took Yolanda away.

People were obviously completely devastated. Reactions to her death were compared to the following deaths of John Lennon, Elvis Presley, JFK. Her death was the front page news in the New York Times for two days. God, because it's like there's so many levels to it. It's like it's a beloved pop star. It's

It's a murder from someone that she trusted and loved. Like, that is like... There's so many levels. I mean, just devastating. Devastating. Her funeral drew over 60,000 mourners, many of whom traveled from outside the United States. On April 12, 1995, two weeks after Selena's death, George W. Bush, governor of Texas at the time, declared her birthday, April 16, Selena Day in the state. He said, So I'm glad we can agree on something.

It's so sad. It's so sad. Also, it's just like for really one thing. Um, she was just, just starting. She was just starting. Um, on October night in October, 1995, a Houston jury convicted Sal Devar Yolanda, a first degree murder. And she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years in 2025, she is up for parole and,

If I was Yolanda, I would want to stay in prison because there's still people out there that there is a huge group of people out there that have feelings towards Yolanda and they are not well. I mean, everyone, she's like the name Yolanda in 1995 dropped from one of the top names.

I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'd want to stay in there too. Because, yeah. She's one of the most hated women, I think, ever. Can you request to stay in? That's a really stupid question. Charles Manson did. That's true. But then his request was denied, so I don't know. Do they ever accept her? That's a great question. She should think about that. She should. Yikes.

So, Selena. She never got to witness her crossover success. Dreaming of You, the crossover album Selena had been working on at the time of her death, was released in July 1995. It sold 175,000 copies on the day of its release. A then record for a female vocalist and sold 331,000 copies in its first week. This song, I Could Fall in Love, is so beautiful and it's just like...

I think Selena would be, she's already one of the biggest artists and she died before her time. Like what she would do now would be, would have been incredible. Yeah. It would have been incredible. You know, Selena was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Grammys. There's been a MAC Cosmetics Selena line in 2016. In 2019, Forever 21 launched a Selena clothing line.

There was obviously the 1997 Warner's Brother movie that launched Jennifer Lopez career. JLo said that her mom, JLo's mom and Selena's mom would watch her on the monitor together and just cry together.

Oh, God. Yeah. There's also a 2020 Netflix series called Selena the Series. It's got some criticism. It truly has. It says, people say that it focuses on the men in her life more than her. There's also apparently some whitewashing in it. Netflix, do better. Do better. Literally do better. Yeah.

Apparently there's a new Selena album coming out. It said in the article I read April 2022, but I couldn't find anything about it.

So we'll look out for that. Yeah. And I'll end with this. In an interview, she was once asked, when you're gone, how do you want to be remembered? To which Slayna responded, not only as an entertainer, but as a person who cared a lot. And I gave the best that I could. And I've tried to be the best role model that I could and the best person that I could. And that I tried to help out.

I'm like crying. It's just like so upsetting. It's when I was doing my research. There's just something. She has that something that I think everyone connects with her immediately. And that is the story of Selena Quintanilla. We love you, Selena. That's it. You did a beautiful job. She seemed like a beautiful person in every way. She definitely was. And I'm glad she was like,

I hope that she knew, like, how loved she was. Like, I think that's, like, what always makes me so emotional about, like, these people that die at a young age. Like, I hope that you know that even, like, two women right now in L.A. in 2022 are doing a podcast about you and, like, it's, like...

you know, that you just still touch so many people and people are interested in you. And she lives on. I really encourage you guys to check out her music. Yeah. I don't know Spanish at all and it still resonates with me and it's so fun and I've been playing it. I feel like Selena's going to be at the end of my year, my Spotify wrap up. Selena will be at the top. That's gorgeous. I hope it's mine too. She's incredible. And I, yeah, explore outside your box. Yeah. That's,

that's the perfect way to end it. Yeah. Like, I didn't know much about her before this and now I'm like, I felt that's all I want to listen to. She's so good. Just keep exploring. That's right. And we love you, Rami, so much. We really do. We're always here for you. We are. Truly. That's right. A text, a DM, an email. We love. We love nothing more, honestly. We love nothing more and we are thinking about everyone in the Rami community. That's right. And with that, XOXO. Right answers mostly. We'll make it the most.

I don't know.

I had a hope in the bottom of my heart that one day you would stay with me.