MUSIC: The Legacy of Selena to Latin Music

Today, there is a massive presence of latin artists on the media. One of the first to be successful on the recent era was Selena Quintanilla, that even though had a short life, surely still has a huge influence to this day, inspiring other artists' name or music.

Selena was the youngest of a family in which music runs through their veins. In 1980, she 'debuted' on the music scene with her siblings and together, they were Selena Y Los Dinos. They started recording in 1982 and released their first album in 1984.

The genre of their music that Tejano, a very popular type of music in the south of the United States that has influence from mexican music. During her first years, Selena was heavily critized for being a woman exploring a male-dominated field. However, at the end of the 80s, she was consired the queen of tejano music.

Quintanilla's popularity started to grow after 1987, when the won the Tejano Music Awards for Vocalist of the Year. Them, she signs contract with EMI Latin and records a self-titled album that same year. Her brother, AB Quintanilla, was its main producer and composer.

The 90s were even better. In 1992, she released the album Entre a Mi Mundo (Come Into My World), that debuted at the top of mexican Billboard for eight weeks and got Selena her frist GRAMMY. It's from this album that one of Selena's main track comes from. Como La Flor (Like a Flower) was her first single to reach #1 on the radios.

In 1994, her most expressive album. Amor Prohibido (Forbidden Love) with singles like Amor Prohibido, the classic Bidi Bidi Bom Bom (which was re-recorded by Selena Gomez in 2015) and my personal favorite, No Me Queda Más (I Don't Have Anymore). Because of this album, Tejano Music became extremely successful as never before, besides being one of the best selling albums of Latino Music in the U.S.

Much more than a best selling in music, Selena also was very successful in the fashion world. Her boutique is still open and carrying her legacy. In 2016, MAC Cosmetics put out a makeup line inspired by the singer. She also became the spokeperson for Coca Cola at the same time she became a sexy single and a influence for young latina women.

In March 31, 1995, Selena was murdered by Yolanda Salívar, who was the ex-manager of her boutique, after the artist discovered Salívar was stealing money from the store. The news of her death caused a comotion like never before among Americans and Latinos.

After her death, Selena became even more popular. Her post mortem album, Dreaming Of You reached #1 on Billboard 200, making Selena the first latina artist to ever do so. Up until 2015, Quintanilla was the best selling latin artist worldwide, having sold more the 65M records.

For those who wish to know more about Selena, Warner Bros made a biography movie starring Jennifer Lopez.

Selena was one of those artists who only appear once in a long time. Her stardom is as expressive/iconic as Michael, Madonna, Elvis, etc. Her legacy shall live throught the years and we can only thank her for opening the doors for latinos.