WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are focusing 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:08.080 our lens on a figure who occupies this really 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.759 specific, almost mythical space in American culture. 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:14.019 Yeah, mythical is a good word for it. We're talking 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:17.320 about a woman who, in a lifespan of only 23 years, 00:00:17.579 --> 00:00:21.019 managed to. I mean, she fundamentally altered 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:23.640 the pop culture landscape, not just for Texas, 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:25.899 but really for the entire hemisphere. It's a 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:28.420 story that is... You know, it's incredibly difficult 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:30.839 to tell without getting overwhelmed by the ending. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.780 Right. Most people know the tragic conclusion 00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:34.859 before they even know the nuances of the beginning. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:37.920 But I think the mission today is to really push 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.340 past the headlines of the murder and examine 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:42.939 the work. The work, the struggle, the context. 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:45.219 We're talking, of course, about Selena Quintanilla 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:48.200 Perez. But to the world, she's just Selena. Just 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:49.979 Selena. And you see all these titles attached 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.399 to her name constantly. Queen of Tiana Music, 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:54.380 The Mexican Madonna, Queen of Cumbia, and... 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:56.880 maybe the most poignant one, The People's Princess. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.200 But looking at the source material we have today, 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:03.560 those titles, they almost obscure the reality 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.859 of the grind. They really do. This wasn't some, 00:01:06.859 --> 00:01:09.200 you know, overnight success story. This was a 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:13.140 story about labor. about economic survival and 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:16.359 about navigating a really, really complex identity 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:19.299 crisis between the U .S. and Mexico. That tension 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:21.280 is the central theme, isn't it? It's everything. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:23.700 She was this young woman from Texas breaking 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:26.959 through a genre that was, well, it was essentially 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:30.019 a... Boys Club. Absolutely. And she was navigating 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:33.299 that hyphen in Mexican American in a way that 00:01:33.299 --> 00:01:35.480 just hadn't really been done before on such a 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.040 massive scale. So we've got a massive stack of 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.180 sources to get through biographies, articles, 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:43.219 a lot of industry analysis from the time. We're 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:45.400 going to cover the financial ruin that basically 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.299 forced the family into music in the first place. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:49.319 Yeah. And the secret elopement that nearly ended 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:51.319 it all. We have to talk about that. And the fact 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.500 she had to learn Spanish phonetically, which 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:56.219 is just wild. We'll get into the specific stats. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.379 of her posthumous success that i mean it literally 00:01:59.379 --> 00:02:01.280 changed the music industry forever it really 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.540 did it even led to the creation of people on 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:06.319 espanol the ripple effects are huge so what stands 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.379 out to me in these documents is just the sheer 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:11.439 improbability of her rise when you really look 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:13.840 at the stats and the barriers language gender 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.340 geography she statistically shouldn't have happened 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:19.960 not at all but she did so let's go back to the 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:23.219 very very start because this story It doesn't 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:25.599 begin in a sold out Astrodome. It starts in Lake 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:30.020 Jackson, Texas on April 16th, 1971. And I found 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:32.280 this little piece of trivia in the notes. Absolutely 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:35.719 wild. The obstetrician who delivered her was 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:38.319 Ron Paul. The former congressman and presidential 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:40.319 candidate. It's one of those like bizarre historical 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.539 footnotes you just can't make up. Right. Before 00:02:42.539 --> 00:02:45.159 he was a politician, he was just an OBGYN in 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.860 Texas. But the more important figures in her 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:50.879 life, obviously, were her parents, Marcella Ophelia 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:53.800 Samora and Abraham Quintanilla Jr. And Abraham 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.259 is, he is really the architect of this entire 00:02:57.259 --> 00:02:59.990 saga. He was a musician himself, wasn't he? Had 00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:02.930 a band called Los Dinos back in the late 50s, 00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:05.389 early 60s. He did, and that context is so important. 00:03:05.530 --> 00:03:07.189 He tried to make it in the music industry back 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:09.789 then, but he faced a ton of rejection, and a 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:12.050 lot of it was due to racism. The classic story, 00:03:12.189 --> 00:03:14.590 right? Too Mexican for the white clubs. And too 00:03:14.590 --> 00:03:17.430 American for the Mexican clubs. That experience, 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:20.729 that bitterness, it really, really shaped how 00:03:20.729 --> 00:03:23.750 he managed his children's careers later on. He 00:03:23.750 --> 00:03:25.830 was determined they wouldn't face the same walls. 00:03:26.129 --> 00:03:28.469 And he recognized Selena's ability almost from 00:03:28.469 --> 00:03:31.319 birth. The sources say she was just six years 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.479 old when he noticed her timing and pitch were 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:35.800 perfect. Six years old. It's incredible. And 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:37.599 for most families, you know, a six -year -old 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.860 with a good voice is a fun party trick. Right. 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.620 You have her seen for grandma. Exactly. For Abraham, 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.060 it was a business plan. The family was running 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:47.560 a Tex -Mex restaurant at the time, Papa Gallo's, 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.379 in Lake Jackson, and Abraham put the kids to 00:03:50.379 --> 00:03:53.039 work. It wasn't just Selena. No, it was the whole 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.740 family unit. You had her brother, A .B., on bass, 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.500 her sister, Suzette, on drums, and little six 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.879 -year -old Selena on vocals. Can you imagine 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.080 walking into a restaurant and seeing a six -year 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:05.659 -old fronting the band? But this wasn't just 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:07.849 a hobby for them. And this is where the economic 00:04:07.849 --> 00:04:11.129 context of the 1980s is so critical. You can't 00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:12.969 understand Selena's drive without understanding 00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:15.789 the Texas oil glut. You really can't. In the 00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:19.209 early 80s, the price of oil just collapsed. The 00:04:19.209 --> 00:04:23.810 Texas economy was and still is so heavily tied 00:04:23.810 --> 00:04:26.149 to energy. So when the oil market crashed. It 00:04:26.149 --> 00:04:29.069 had this massive domino effect. Disposable income 00:04:29.069 --> 00:04:33.360 just. People stopped going out to eat. And the 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:35.899 Quintanilla family was right in the blast zone. 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:37.920 The restaurant failed. The restaurant failed. 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:40.079 They were evicted from their home and they had 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.800 to declare bankruptcy. It was a total financial 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:45.740 catastrophe. And that bankruptcy is the catalyst. 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:49.360 It's what shifts music from being a side hustle, 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:51.160 something they do at the restaurant. To being 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.000 their only potential lifeline, their only way 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.790 out. They moved to Corpus Christi, and Abraham 00:04:56.790 --> 00:04:58.850 essentially decided that the band Selene y Los 00:04:58.850 --> 00:05:01.149 Dinos was going to be how they put food on the 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:02.870 table, period. And that's when he bought that 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:05.089 old bus, Big Bertha. Big Bertha. I mean, the 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.430 stories about that bus, it didn't have air conditioning 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:10.470 for a long time in Texas. It's brutal. It broke 00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:13.670 down constantly. This wasn't a glamorous tour 00:05:13.670 --> 00:05:17.399 bus. This was survival on wheels. They were playing 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:20.319 on street corners, at weddings, quinceañeras, 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.879 fairs, literally anywhere that would pay them 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.319 cash. Just for gas and groceries. That's it. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.720 Just enough to get to the next town and the next 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.439 meal. But this intensity, it inevitably clashed 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:32.920 with the fact that these were, I mean, they were 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:34.980 literal children. Selena was still in school. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.240 Until she wasn't. The demands of the road, the 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:41.680 late nights, the constant travel, it became too 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:43.819 much. Abraham pulled her out of school in the 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:46.209 eighth grade. And that caused a huge fight, right? 00:05:46.329 --> 00:05:48.569 I was reading about her teacher, Marilyn Greer. 00:05:48.610 --> 00:05:51.129 She was absolutely furious about this. Oh, she 00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:53.370 was. And you can see her point of view. She saw 00:05:53.370 --> 00:05:56.410 this bright student with a lot of potential being 00:05:56.410 --> 00:05:58.649 dragged into a life of playing in bars late at 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:01.569 night, exhausting travel. It didn't look right. 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:03.629 She actually threatened to report Abraham to 00:06:03.629 --> 00:06:06.209 the Texas Board of Education. She did for what 00:06:06.209 --> 00:06:08.910 she called inappropriate conditions. But Abraham's 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:11.680 response was. Well, it's very telling of his 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.800 mindset at the time. He told her to mind her 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.339 own business. Pretty much. In his mind, she didn't 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:18.259 understand. She saw a child being pulled from 00:06:18.259 --> 00:06:20.839 school. He saw the only way to save his family 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:23.689 from poverty. Education was a luxury they couldn't 00:06:23.689 --> 00:06:25.730 afford at that moment. To be fair to the narrative, 00:06:25.810 --> 00:06:27.629 though, Selena didn't just stop her education. 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:31.230 No, not at all. She earned a high school diploma 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:33.509 through the American School of Correspondence. 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.410 She was smart. She was ambitious. She was even 00:06:36.410 --> 00:06:38.889 accepted to Louisiana State University later 00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:41.449 on. And she enrolled at Pacific Western University 00:06:41.449 --> 00:06:44.029 for business administration. Right. So she clearly 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:46.209 had these intellectual ambitions. She wanted 00:06:46.209 --> 00:06:48.649 to understand the business side of things. But 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:50.889 that traditional path, you know, high school. 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:55.730 prom, college, that was all sacrificed for the 00:06:55.730 --> 00:06:58.050 band. So let's talk about the music itself. They 00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:00.569 were playing Tejano. And I think for a lot of 00:07:00.569 --> 00:07:02.310 our listeners, especially if you're outside of 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:04.589 Texas or the Southwest, that term might just 00:07:04.589 --> 00:07:06.970 sound like a synonym for Mexican music. Right. 00:07:07.089 --> 00:07:09.990 But it's a very specific thing. It's a very distinct 00:07:09.990 --> 00:07:12.990 regional genre. It's a fusion that was literally 00:07:12.990 --> 00:07:15.490 born on the border. You have to remember that 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:18.389 Texas had this massive influx of German, Polish 00:07:18.389 --> 00:07:21.250 and Czech immigrants in the 19th and early 20th 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:23.379 centuries. Which explains the accordion. You 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:25.040 always hear the accordion. That's exactly where 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.160 it comes from. They brought the accordion and 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:30.180 the polka rhythm. So Tano music takes those European 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:33.060 folk rhythms, the polka, and it blends them with 00:07:33.060 --> 00:07:35.240 traditional Mexican styles like ranchera and 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.480 cumbia. And then it gets an American twist. And 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.040 then this is the key. It mixes in American jazz 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:43.579 and country influences. It is the literal sonic 00:07:43.579 --> 00:07:46.319 representation of the hyphen in Mexican American. 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:48.920 But in the 80s, this was a man's world. Male 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:51.420 dominated is a huge understatement. It was a 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:53.759 boys club. And the promoters were explicitly 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.519 sexist about it. They told Abraham to his face. 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.860 To his face. They said a female lead singer couldn't 00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:02.000 sell records in this genre. They were refused 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.699 bookings constantly just because Selena was a 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:06.660 girl. The reason they were given was always, 00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:09.259 this is a historically male -dominated field. 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:11.800 So you have the gender barrier. And on top of 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.680 that, you have this massive linguistic irony. 00:08:14.779 --> 00:08:18.040 The future queen of Latin music, Selena Quintanilla. 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:20.879 She couldn't really speak Spanish. That is the 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.680 detail that always floors people. She was a native 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.680 English speaker. She grew up speaking English 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.339 in Texas. Her dream was to sing pop music. Like 00:08:28.339 --> 00:08:32.240 Donna Summer or Madonna. Exactly. But Abraham... 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:35.590 with his business hat firmly on insisted they 00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:38.610 do heritage music he knew from his own experience 00:08:38.610 --> 00:08:41.070 that looking the way she did the american pop 00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:43.389 market would be much much harder to crack than 00:08:43.389 --> 00:08:45.429 the latin market so she had to learn all the 00:08:45.429 --> 00:08:48.289 songs phonetically it was essentially rote memorization 00:08:48.289 --> 00:08:50.970 at first can you imagine abraham would teach 00:08:50.970 --> 00:08:53.549 her the sounds the pronunciation syllable by 00:08:53.549 --> 00:08:56.049 syllable and she would just mimic it It speaks 00:08:56.049 --> 00:08:58.250 to her incredible ear, though. It really does. 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:00.970 That perfect pitch we mentioned. She could mimic 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:03.649 the emotion and the accent so perfectly that 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:05.809 native Spanish speakers were completely convinced. 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:08.549 Even if, you know, offstage, she couldn't hold 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:10.809 a long conversation at first. So despite the 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:13.990 promoters saying no girls allowed, and despite 00:09:13.990 --> 00:09:16.669 the language barrier of the talent, it just won 00:09:16.669 --> 00:09:20.370 out. She recorded her first LP in 1984, but the 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:22.210 real shift, the moment things started to turn, 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:25.649 was in 1987. The Tishano Music Awards? She won 00:09:25.649 --> 00:09:28.350 female vocalist of the year. She did. And just 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:31.230 to show you how total her dominance became, she 00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:33.990 won that same award for nine consecutive years 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:36.649 after that. Nine years in a row. She basically 00:09:36.649 --> 00:09:39.610 retired the trophy. No one else stood a chance. 00:09:39.830 --> 00:09:41.850 And exposure on shows like the Johnny Canales 00:09:41.850 --> 00:09:44.950 show helped get her face out there. But by 1989, 00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:47.549 she was attracting some serious corporate attention. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.679 This brings us to the major label era. And it 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:52.700 starts with this fascinating little business 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:56.080 skirmish between EMI Latin and Sony Music Latin. 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:58.500 Right. Both wanted to sign her. Both wanted her 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.159 badly. And this is a classic case study in business 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.860 strategy versus quick cash. Sony came to the 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:06.100 table with a huge checkbook. They offered double 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:08.379 the signing fee that EMI offered. Double the 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:10.340 money. For a family that had been bankrupt just 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:12.259 a few years prior, that must have been incredibly 00:10:12.259 --> 00:10:15.279 tempting. It had to be. But Abraham was playing 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.419 the long game. He had learned from his own past. 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:21.700 He chose EMI Latin because of one man, Jose Bejar. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:24.539 And what did Bejar see? Bejar was the head of 00:10:24.539 --> 00:10:27.019 the newly formed EMI Latin, and he saw something 00:10:27.019 --> 00:10:29.299 that the execs at Sony, and honestly, even his 00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:32.179 own bosses at EMI didn't quite see. He saw the 00:10:32.179 --> 00:10:34.740 crossover potential. He saw the future. He explicitly 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:37.940 told his superiors, I have found the next Gloria 00:10:37.940 --> 00:10:41.059 Estefan. He believed Selena could sell to the 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:43.620 English -speaking market. Sony just wanted a 00:10:43.620 --> 00:10:46.159 Tejano singer for the regional market. Behar 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.039 wanted a global superstar. But even within EMI, 00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:52.299 Behar had to fight for her. Oh, yeah. His bosses 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:54.419 were deeply skeptical that a Mexican -American 00:10:54.419 --> 00:10:56.700 woman from Texas could cross over into mainstream 00:10:56.700 --> 00:10:59.539 pop. They actually denied his request for an 00:10:59.539 --> 00:11:01.580 English crossover album at first. What was their 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.220 reasoning? They told her she needed to build 00:11:03.220 --> 00:11:05.340 a bigger base first. Go prove yourself in the 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:07.580 Latin market and then we'll talk. So she went 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:10.600 to work. The album Ven Conmigo in 1990 was the 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:13.179 first Tejano album by a female artist to go gold. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:16.279 A huge milestone. But the real explosion was 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:20.059 Entre Ami Mundo in 1992. That's the one. That 00:11:20.059 --> 00:11:23.240 album contains Como La Flor. Which is arguably 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.679 her signature song. Absolutely. It's the song 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.200 everyone knows. And musically, that song is so 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:30.059 interesting because it's not just a traditional 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:33.450 polka. It has this synth pop drive to it. That 00:11:33.450 --> 00:11:35.750 was A .B. Quintanilla's genius as a producer. 00:11:36.009 --> 00:11:38.350 He was evolving the sound of Tejano, making it 00:11:38.350 --> 00:11:40.809 slicker, more modern, more radio -friendly for 00:11:40.809 --> 00:11:43.990 a pop audience, but while keeping that core cumbia 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:46.710 rhythm. And it worked. Como La Flor hit number 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:49.269 one on the regional Mexican charts and just stayed 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:52.549 there for months. But more importantly, it was 00:11:52.549 --> 00:11:56.120 the key that unlocked Mexico. And we have to 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.960 pause on the Mexico strategy because for a pocho, 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.539 which is, you know, a slang term for an Americanized 00:12:01.539 --> 00:12:03.620 Mexican conquering the music market in Mexico, 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:05.860 is incredibly difficult. There's a lot of cultural 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.740 gatekeeping. A ton. Pocho can be a derogatory 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:10.820 term. It implies you've lost your roots, that 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:13.519 you aren't Mexican enough. So when EMI booked 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.080 her for a press tour in Monterey, the executives 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:18.500 were sweating bullets. They were terrified the 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.399 press would just eat her alive for her broken 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.440 Spanish. They thought it would be a disaster. 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:24.419 They thought she'd be mocked. They'd call her 00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:28.139 a fraud. Instead, the complete opposite happened. 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:30.759 She won them over. She charmed them completely. 00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:33.000 She went into that press conference and instead 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.240 of trying to fake her fluency or be something 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:37.799 she wasn't, she was just humble. She apologized 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.519 for her Spanish. She hugged people. She was warm 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:43.240 and genuine. And the press loved it. They dubbed 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.179 her an artista del pueblo. an artist of the people. 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:48.399 And you have to look at the visual landscape 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:52.159 of Mexican media in the early 90s. The telenovelas 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.639 were dominated by very light -skinned, often 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.480 blonde, European -looking actors. And then Selena 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:00.220 walks in. And Selena looked like the audience. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.720 She looked like the people in the crowd. She 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.460 wasn't some distant, fair -skinned star. She 00:13:05.460 --> 00:13:08.460 was one of them. And that connection was immediate 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:11.340 and powerful. The proof was in the numbers. She 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:14.919 played to 70 ,000 people in Nuevo León. 70 ,000. 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:17.740 It was definitive proof. She wasn't just a Texas 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:19.840 regional act anymore. She was an international 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.179 star. And right as her professional life is going 00:13:23.179 --> 00:13:26.620 completely stratospheric, her personal life enters 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:29.340 this very dramatic, almost Shakespearean phase. 00:13:29.659 --> 00:13:33.220 Enter Chris Perez. The new guitarist. Chris was 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:36.279 a rocker. He had a heavy metal background, long 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:38.659 hair, very different vibe from the rest of the 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:40.179 band. Which probably didn't help with Abraham. 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:43.360 Oh, not at all. But he was a phenomenal guitarist. 00:13:43.710 --> 00:13:46.230 And the chemistry with Selena was, by all accounts, 00:13:46.389 --> 00:13:49.370 immediate. Her brother AB and Chris actually 00:13:49.370 --> 00:13:51.870 wrote the Coca -Cola jingle for the band together, 00:13:52.090 --> 00:13:53.950 so they were collaborating creatively from the 00:13:53.950 --> 00:13:56.250 start. And then there's the famous Pizza Hut 00:13:56.250 --> 00:13:58.669 moment. It's become part of the lore. They were 00:13:58.669 --> 00:14:00.870 at a Pizza Hut, of all places, and that's where 00:14:00.870 --> 00:14:02.809 they finally confessed they had feelings for 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:05.169 each other. But hanging over this whole secret 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:09.029 romance was the shadow of Abraham. Abraham was... 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.320 Well, incredibly protective is one way to put 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.980 it. But it was more than just being a protective 00:14:14.980 --> 00:14:17.379 dad, right? There was a real cultural anxiety 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:21.039 there for him. Yes. The sources say Abraham feared 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.100 Chris was a Matista. That was his big fear. In 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:26.779 that cultural context, he was terrified that 00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:29.019 Chris would marry Selena and then demand that 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:31.500 she stop singing and become a housewife. He saw 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:34.100 Chris as a threat to her career. A threat to 00:14:34.100 --> 00:14:36.620 her freedom, and let's be honest, a threat to 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:38.740 the entire family business that he had built 00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:42.059 from nothing. So when Selena's sister, Suzette, 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:44.879 caught them flirting and tipped off Abraham... 00:14:45.370 --> 00:14:48.149 It went nuclear. You fired him on the spot. Called 00:14:48.149 --> 00:14:50.450 him a cancer in my family, fired him, stopped 00:14:50.450 --> 00:14:52.750 the bus and literally left him on the side of 00:14:52.750 --> 00:14:55.870 the road. And he threatened to disband the entire 00:14:55.870 --> 00:14:58.090 group if Selena kept seeing him. An impossible 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:01.429 situation for her. Totally. So they did the only 00:15:01.429 --> 00:15:03.870 thing two young people in love would do in that 00:15:03.870 --> 00:15:05.909 situation. They kept seeing each other in secret 00:15:05.909 --> 00:15:09.590 and then they eloped. April 2nd, 1992. They just 00:15:09.590 --> 00:15:11.509 went to the courthouse. They figured forgiveness 00:15:11.509 --> 00:15:13.929 was easier to get them permission. Their logic 00:15:13.929 --> 00:15:15.929 was, if they were legally married, what could 00:15:15.929 --> 00:15:18.509 Abraham do? He couldn't stop it then. But the 00:15:18.509 --> 00:15:21.409 media found out almost instantly. Within hours. 00:15:21.710 --> 00:15:23.870 Abraham apparently heard it on the radio before 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:25.490 they even had a chance to tell him. It was a 00:15:25.490 --> 00:15:28.190 very tense standoff for a while. But he came 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:30.850 around. Eventually, yeah. He realized he was 00:15:30.850 --> 00:15:32.730 about to lose his daughter and his lead singer. 00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:35.610 He apologized, he accepted the marriage, and 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:37.809 he welcomed Chris back into the band. And that 00:15:37.809 --> 00:15:40.070 stability... finally having her personal life 00:15:40.070 --> 00:15:43.149 settled, it seems like it set the stage for 1994, 00:15:43.649 --> 00:15:46.850 which was really her peak year, the year of Amor 00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:50.710 Prohibido. If you're looking for the moment that 00:15:50.710 --> 00:15:52.730 Tejano music broke through the glass ceiling 00:15:52.730 --> 00:15:55.250 into the mainstream consciousness, this is it. 00:15:55.690 --> 00:15:59.539 Amor Prohibido was released in March 1994. It 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:01.779 shifted the culture. It took Tejano out of this 00:16:01.779 --> 00:16:03.799 regional niche. And brought it to a younger, 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:06.559 wider, more diverse audience. The track list 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.559 is just insane. Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, No Me Queda 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:12.399 Mas, the title track, Fotos y Recuerdos. It's 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.980 hit after hit. Bidi Bidi Bom Bom is such a perfect 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:17.039 example of that evolution we were talking about. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.659 It's not Tejano. It's not pop. It's not reggae. 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:22.750 It's all of them at once. It is. And the story 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:25.090 behind it is that it started as just a soundcheck 00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:28.389 improvisation, just nonsense words and a fun 00:16:28.389 --> 00:16:32.190 rhythm. And A .B. heard it and molded it into 00:16:32.190 --> 00:16:35.429 this reggae cumbia pop fusion masterpiece. And 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:37.730 the album was huge. It became one of the best 00:16:37.730 --> 00:16:39.830 selling Latin albums in the U .S. and it broke 00:16:39.830 --> 00:16:42.370 barriers in places like Puerto Rico and Central 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:45.009 America, where Tejano music usually didn't travel. 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:48.940 She was a phenomenon. And by 1994, she's a mogul. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.820 She's not just singing, she's building an empire. 00:16:51.100 --> 00:16:53.840 She opened her two boutiques, Selena, etc. One 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.000 in Corpus Christi, one in San Antonio. And these 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.580 weren't just like... Little clothing stores? 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.320 Oh, no. They were full -service beauty salons. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:02.340 She was designing the clothes herself. She was 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:05.059 deeply involved. And they were wildly profitable. 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.500 Hispanic Business Magazine estimated she was 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:10.160 earning over $5 million just from those ventures. 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:12.400 Which brings us to the fashion. It was such a 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.940 huge part of her brand. The bust years, the high 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:17.220 -waisted pants, the purple jumpsuit. The purple 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:19.799 jumpsuit from the Astrodome. Iconic. She was 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:22.019 often called the Mexican Madonna because of the 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:25.099 bust years. But the context was so different. 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:28.309 In the 90s, the mainstream fashion ideal was 00:17:28.309 --> 00:17:32.910 heroin chic. Kate Moss, super thin, grunge. And 00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:35.650 Selena was unapologetically curvy. She embraced 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:38.670 her body type. And for millions of Latinas, seeing 00:17:38.670 --> 00:17:41.049 a body that looked like theirs being celebrated 00:17:41.049 --> 00:17:44.650 on stage like that, it was revolutionary. It 00:17:44.650 --> 00:17:47.460 was a huge confidence boost. A whole generation. 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:49.339 She was controversial for some, though. Oh, definitely. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:51.819 More conservative parents thought her outfits 00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:54.359 were too provocative. And it's noted that Selena 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:56.480 actually became an inactive Jehovah's Witness 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:58.859 because her stage clothing clashed with the faith's 00:17:58.859 --> 00:18:01.839 modesty standards. But she owned her image. It 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.599 was her choice. Okay, so let's set the scene. 00:18:03.869 --> 00:18:07.349 It's early 1995. She has massive hits, profitable 00:18:07.349 --> 00:18:10.589 boutiques, a happy marriage. She's in the studio 00:18:10.589 --> 00:18:13.309 actively recording the English language crossover 00:18:13.309 --> 00:18:15.890 album that everyone expects will make her the 00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:18.029 biggest star in the world. The dream is about 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:20.269 to become a reality. And because the boutiques 00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:22.809 are expanding so fast, she needs help managing 00:18:22.809 --> 00:18:25.130 them. She can't do it all herself. And this is 00:18:25.130 --> 00:18:27.250 where the story turns dark. This is where the 00:18:27.250 --> 00:18:30.079 family brings in Yolanda Saldivar. Yolanda started 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.099 as just a fan, right? An obsessed fan, basically. 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.140 Yeah, she was a registered nurse from San Antonio 00:18:35.140 --> 00:18:38.319 who approached Abraham repeatedly, begging him 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.740 to let her start a fan club. She was persistent. 00:18:40.859 --> 00:18:43.880 She seemed super organized. And above all, she 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:46.599 seemed incredibly dedicated to Selena. So he 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.019 let her. And she became president of the fan 00:18:49.019 --> 00:18:51.299 club. And she became a close friend to Selena. 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:54.059 She integrated herself into the family's inner 00:18:54.059 --> 00:18:56.839 circle. So when the boutiques got too big for 00:18:56.839 --> 00:18:59.440 Selena to handle day to day, promoting Yolanda 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.880 seemed like a natural choice. In early 1994, 00:19:02.299 --> 00:19:05.400 she was made the manager of the boutiques. And 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:07.539 almost immediately, the red flag started going 00:19:07.539 --> 00:19:09.700 up. Staff members started complaining about her. 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:12.559 It was classic manipulative behavior from what 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.039 the sources describe. She was firing people she 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.259 didn't like. She was creating a wedge between 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.019 Selena and her longtime. staff. Her behavior 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:23.460 was described as erratic, possessive, controlling. 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:26.509 People tried to warn Selena. Multiple people, 00:19:26.569 --> 00:19:30.150 her cousin, some of the fashion designers, even 00:19:30.150 --> 00:19:33.009 Abraham, who was usually the suspicious one, 00:19:33.089 --> 00:19:35.690 specifically warned her, telling her to be careful 00:19:35.690 --> 00:19:38.109 with Yolanda. But Selena dismissed it. She did. 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:40.910 She was a naturally trusting person and she knew 00:19:40.910 --> 00:19:43.049 her father was often suspicious of outsiders. 00:19:43.430 --> 00:19:45.569 So she kind of wrote off the complaints as just 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:48.130 Abraham being Abraham. She just couldn't believe 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.910 that someone who claimed to love her so much 00:19:50.910 --> 00:19:53.029 would ever hurt her. But the betrayal wasn't 00:19:53.029 --> 00:19:55.680 just emotional. It was financial. That's where 00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:58.920 it all unraveled. By January of 1995, the fan 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:01.180 club members were getting angry. They were sending 00:20:01.180 --> 00:20:02.839 in their membership checks and getting nothing 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.240 in return. No newsletters, no merchandise, nothing. 00:20:05.500 --> 00:20:07.900 So Abraham stepped in to investigate. And he 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.559 found the smoking gun. He found financial discrepancies, 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.319 forged checks. Yolanda was embezzling money, 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.200 a lot of money. The initial amount they found 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:17.980 was over $30 ,000. So the family confronts her. 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:21.599 On March 9th, 1995, Abraham, Selena, and Suzette 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.819 sat Yolanda down and confronted her with the 00:20:23.819 --> 00:20:26.880 evidence. Abraham was furious. He fired her on 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:28.779 the spot and banned her from having any contact 00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:31.779 with the family. But, and this is the detail 00:20:31.779 --> 00:20:34.039 that is so incredibly frustrating in hindsight, 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:37.220 Selena kept talking to her. She felt she had 00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:40.200 to. It was a practical matter. Yolanda still 00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:42.599 had all the bank records, all the financial statements 00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:45.759 for the boutiques. It was tax season. Selena 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.380 needed those papers to file her taxes properly. 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.079 She thought she could just get the paperwork 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.720 and then cut ties for good. Exactly. A clean 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:55.019 break. She didn't realize the danger she was 00:20:55.019 --> 00:20:57.680 in. This leads us to the final days of March 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:02.019 1995. Yolanda is stalling. She's not handing 00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:04.380 over the documents. She's playing games. She 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:06.259 comes up with this story claiming she had been 00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:08.680 sexually assaulted in Mexico. It was a clear 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.599 distraction tactic, a way to garner sympathy 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.140 from Selena and delay having to hand over the 00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:15.259 incriminating bank records. And on the morning 00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:18.480 of March 31st, Selena, being the person she was, 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:21.299 actually took Yolanda to a medical clinic to 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:23.700 get checked out. Right. And the nurse there, 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.279 a woman named Carla Anthony, noted a lot of inconsistencies 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.900 in Yolanda's story. She pointed out that since 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:32.140 the assault allegedly happened in Mexico, the 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:34.259 exam should be handled differently, probably 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:37.099 in San Antonio. It was clear Yolanda's story 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:39.079 just wasn't adding up. They leave the clinic 00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:41.599 and they go back to the motel where Yolanda is 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.579 staying. The day's in in Corpus Christi, room 00:21:44.579 --> 00:21:48.660 158. It was just before noon, around 11 .48 a 00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:51.440 .m. Inside that room, Selena finally demanded 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.279 the financial papers. The final confrontation. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.369 An argument started. As Selena turned to leave 00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:00.430 the room, Yolanda pulled a .38 caliber revolver 00:22:00.430 --> 00:22:02.210 from her purse. And she shot her in the back. 00:22:02.430 --> 00:22:04.970 One shot. It entered her right lower shoulder. 00:22:05.210 --> 00:22:07.410 And this is the medical tragedy of it all. The 00:22:07.410 --> 00:22:09.789 bullet severed the subclavian artery. That's 00:22:09.789 --> 00:22:11.529 a massive blood vessel. It's one of the main 00:22:11.529 --> 00:22:13.750 arteries that comes directly off the heart. The 00:22:13.750 --> 00:22:16.089 blood loss would have been catastrophic and almost 00:22:16.089 --> 00:22:18.410 instantaneous. But Selena didn't die instantly. 00:22:18.609 --> 00:22:23.789 She ran. My God, she ran 392 feet. 392 feet. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:26.640 From that room, across the parking lot, all the 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:29.160 way to the motel lobby, leaving a trail of blood 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.720 the entire way. She burst into the lobby, terrified, 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:35.420 and collapsed at the front desk. And even in 00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:37.740 that state, she had the presence of mind to identify 00:22:37.740 --> 00:22:39.940 her killer. With her last bit of consciousness, 00:22:40.180 --> 00:22:43.200 she managed to tell the clerk two things. Yolanda. 00:22:44.180 --> 00:22:47.559 Room 158. She made sure justice would be done 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:49.619 before she lost consciousness for the last time. 00:22:49.779 --> 00:22:51.799 The paramedics arrived quickly, but the damage 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:54.480 was done. She was clinically brain dead by the 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.380 time she reached the hospital at 12 p .m. The 00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:00.259 trauma surgeon, Dr. Louis Elkins, performed what 00:23:00.259 --> 00:23:03.640 they call heroic efforts. They literally opened 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:06.279 her chest cavity. They massaged her heart by 00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:09.000 hand. They pumped liters and liters of blood 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.500 into her system. But it was too late. The artery 00:23:11.500 --> 00:23:13.619 was completely severed. There was no way to maintain 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:16.039 blood pressure. She was pronounced dead at 1 00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:20.240 .15 p .m. She was 23 years old. Just 23. Meanwhile, 00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:23.069 back at the Days Inn. The situation hadn't ended. 00:23:23.269 --> 00:23:27.049 No, it had turned into a massive standoff. Yolanda 00:23:27.049 --> 00:23:28.930 had gotten into her pickup truck in the parking 00:23:28.930 --> 00:23:31.589 lot, and she was holding the gun to her own head. 00:23:32.130 --> 00:23:34.829 For nine and a half hours, she held the police 00:23:34.829 --> 00:23:38.250 and the FBI at bay, threatening suicide. The 00:23:38.250 --> 00:23:40.509 whole city was on lockdown. It was a media circus. 00:23:40.589 --> 00:23:42.789 She was talking to negotiators on a cell phone. 00:23:42.930 --> 00:23:45.789 She finally surrendered later that night. The 00:23:45.789 --> 00:23:48.579 public reaction to this news? I don't think we 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:50.759 can overstate it. It was a seismic shock. You 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.420 really do have to compare it to the deaths of 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:57.400 John Lennon or Elvis or JFK for the Latino community, 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:00.019 especially in Texas. The world simply stopped. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.059 People were weeping in the streets. There were 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:04.380 spontaneous vigils everywhere. But the mainstream 00:24:04.380 --> 00:24:08.089 American media was. A bit confused at first. 00:24:08.170 --> 00:24:10.789 I remember Tom Brokaw on NBC having to sort of 00:24:10.789 --> 00:24:12.890 explain who she was. Right. He used the phrase 00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:15.769 the Mexican Madonna just to give his largely 00:24:15.769 --> 00:24:18.029 white audience a frame of reference. But some 00:24:18.029 --> 00:24:19.849 outlets got it. The New York Times understood 00:24:19.849 --> 00:24:21.950 the gravity. They ran the story on their front 00:24:21.950 --> 00:24:24.150 page for two days straight. And the funeral was 00:24:24.150 --> 00:24:27.630 massive. Tens of thousands of people. The estimates 00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:31.170 range from 30 ,000 to 40 ,000 fans who came to 00:24:31.170 --> 00:24:34.549 the viewing to file past her casket. And tragically, 00:24:34.589 --> 00:24:36.490 the family made the decision to have an open 00:24:36.490 --> 00:24:38.759 casket viewing. Why did they do that? Because 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:40.819 of the horrible rumors that were already flying 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:43.619 around. Rumors that she wasn't really dead, that 00:24:43.619 --> 00:24:45.660 it was a publicity stunt, or that the coffin 00:24:45.660 --> 00:24:48.200 was empty. Abraham felt he had to prove to the 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:50.539 fans that she was really gone. It was just a 00:24:50.539 --> 00:24:52.859 heartbreaking decision to have to make. There's 00:24:52.859 --> 00:24:54.920 a grim coincidence regarding that day, too, in 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:57.940 the notes. Yeah. On the very same day as her 00:24:57.940 --> 00:25:00.380 funeral in Corpus Christi, there was another 00:25:00.380 --> 00:25:03.099 workplace shooting in the city where a disgruntled 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:06.849 employee killed five people. In any other circumstance, 00:25:07.150 --> 00:25:08.849 that would have been the biggest national news 00:25:08.849 --> 00:25:11.289 story of the day. But it was completely buried. 00:25:11.450 --> 00:25:13.250 Almost completely buried by the overwhelming 00:25:13.250 --> 00:25:16.009 coverage of Selena's funeral. Speaking of coverage, 00:25:16.130 --> 00:25:18.170 this brings us to a really pivotal moment in 00:25:18.170 --> 00:25:20.430 the American publishing industry. It centers 00:25:20.430 --> 00:25:22.829 on People magazine. This is a business legend. 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:26.170 The editors at People in New York saw this huge 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:29.470 outpouring of grief and decided, kind of on a 00:25:29.470 --> 00:25:32.069 whim, to print a commemorative issue dedicated 00:25:32.069 --> 00:25:34.789 to Selena. They figured it would sell well in 00:25:34.789 --> 00:25:37.349 Texas and maybe California. They had no idea 00:25:37.349 --> 00:25:39.289 what was coming. They were not prepared. It sold 00:25:39.289 --> 00:25:42.220 out instantly. Everywhere. We're talking nearly 00:25:42.220 --> 00:25:45.619 one million copies. It was the first time in 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:47.960 the entire history of People magazine that a 00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:50.940 single issue had completely sold out at the newsstand. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.119 The executives in New York finally had their 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:56.500 aha moment. A huge one. They realized they had 00:25:56.500 --> 00:25:59.259 been ignoring a massive, passionate, and lucrative 00:25:59.259 --> 00:26:01.980 demographic. They realized the Hispanic market 00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:04.440 in the U .S. had immense purchasing power and 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:06.720 a deep hunger for representation. And that one 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:09.220 issue led directly to... The creation of People 00:26:09.220 --> 00:26:12.569 en Español. That magazine exists today because 00:26:12.569 --> 00:26:14.809 the Selena commemorative issue proved there was 00:26:14.809 --> 00:26:17.410 a giant untapped market for it. Of course, in 00:26:17.410 --> 00:26:19.009 the midst of all this grief, there were culture 00:26:19.009 --> 00:26:21.630 wars. We have to discuss the Howard Stern incident. 00:26:21.970 --> 00:26:25.329 Ugh. This was just ugly. Howard Stern was at 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:28.470 the absolute height of his shock jock era. And 00:26:28.470 --> 00:26:31.650 just days after her murder, he went on air and 00:26:31.650 --> 00:26:34.190 mocked her, mocked the mourners and played her 00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:36.950 music with gunshot sound effects layered over 00:26:36.950 --> 00:26:38.869 the tracks. The quotes from that show are pretty 00:26:38.869 --> 00:26:41.630 vile. They're awful. He said Alvin and the Chipmunks 00:26:41.630 --> 00:26:44.750 have more soul and Spanish people have the worst 00:26:44.750 --> 00:26:47.309 taste in music. He was tapping into a really 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:50.289 deep, ugly vein of racism and dismissal of Latino 00:26:50.289 --> 00:26:53.809 culture. But the backlash was swift. Organized 00:26:53.809 --> 00:26:56.490 and effective. It was. The League of United Latin 00:26:56.490 --> 00:26:59.890 American Citizens, LULAC, organized a boycott. 00:27:00.029 --> 00:27:02.450 They went after his advertisers. Sears pulled 00:27:02.450 --> 00:27:04.970 their ads. McDonald's pulled their ads. It got 00:27:04.970 --> 00:27:07.630 so heated that a judge in South Texas actually 00:27:07.630 --> 00:27:10.109 issued a warrant for Stern's arrest for disorderly 00:27:10.109 --> 00:27:11.930 conduct. That couldn't have been legally sound. 00:27:12.069 --> 00:27:14.750 It was legally dubious at best, but it was symbolic 00:27:14.750 --> 00:27:17.769 of the absolute rage in Texas. Stern eventually 00:27:17.769 --> 00:27:19.769 issued a statement in Spanish saying he didn't 00:27:19.769 --> 00:27:22.130 mean to cause anguish, but it really highlighted 00:27:22.130 --> 00:27:24.509 this. massive divide between mainstream shock 00:27:24.509 --> 00:27:27.029 culture and the Latino community's genuine grief. 00:27:27.230 --> 00:27:30.069 Politics got involved, too. George W. Bush was 00:27:30.069 --> 00:27:32.309 the governor of Texas at the time. He was. And 00:27:32.309 --> 00:27:35.690 he declared April 16th, her birthday, as Selena 00:27:35.690 --> 00:27:38.710 Day in Texas. This was just a few weeks after 00:27:38.710 --> 00:27:41.390 the murder. And even that, a simple proclamation 00:27:41.390 --> 00:27:44.829 of mourning, drew backlash. It did. Some European 00:27:44.829 --> 00:27:46.869 Americans wrote letters to the editor complaining, 00:27:47.230 --> 00:27:50.289 asking why she deserved a special day. Her birthday 00:27:50.289 --> 00:27:52.910 happened to fall near Easter that year, and people 00:27:52.910 --> 00:27:55.990 argued it was disrespectful to the holiday. But 00:27:55.990 --> 00:27:58.990 the Mexican -American community defended it fiercely. 00:27:59.089 --> 00:28:01.670 It became this proxy war for validation, a way 00:28:01.670 --> 00:28:03.930 of saying, our heroes matter just as much as 00:28:03.930 --> 00:28:06.869 yours. And finally, on the controversies, there's 00:28:06.869 --> 00:28:09.089 the issue of the gun itself. Yeah, years later, 00:28:09.230 --> 00:28:11.950 in 2002, a judge ordered the revolver that was 00:28:11.950 --> 00:28:14.099 used in the murder to be destroyed. cut up into 00:28:14.099 --> 00:28:16.319 pieces and thrown into Corpus Christi Bay. And 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:18.099 historians were upset about that. They were. 00:28:18.500 --> 00:28:21.019 Historians and museum curators argued that, as 00:28:21.019 --> 00:28:23.099 tragic as it was, that gun was a significant 00:28:23.099 --> 00:28:26.079 historical artifact, that it belonged in a museum 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:28.420 as part of the story. But the court decided to 00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:31.119 essentially erase it from history. So now we 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:33.180 have to look at the legacy. Because typically, 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:36.940 after a tragedy like this, posthumous fame fades 00:28:36.940 --> 00:28:40.240 after a while. With Selena, it just exploded. 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:43.440 And that brings us to Dreaming of You. This was 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.279 the English language crossover album she was 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.920 working on when she died. It was released in 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:49.599 July 1995, just a few months after the murder. 00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:52.200 The numbers are just staggering. On its first 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:56.920 day of release, it sold 175 ,000 copies. In its 00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:01.799 first week, 331 ,000. It debuted at number one 00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:04.599 on the Billboard 200 chart. She was the first 00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:06.980 Hispanic artist to ever do that. And she achieved 00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:09.740 a record that I think still stands out. Five 00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:11.559 of her albums were on the chart at the same time. 00:29:11.819 --> 00:29:14.359 She was the first female artist in history to 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:16.599 have five albums on the Billboard 200 simultaneously. 00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:20.019 Dreaming of You went on to sell over 3 .5 million 00:29:20.019 --> 00:29:23.019 units in the U .S. alone. To this day, it's the 00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:24.960 best -selling Latin album of all time in the 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:26.900 United States. The terrible irony, of course, 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:29.079 is that she finally achieved that massive crossover 00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:31.059 dream. But she wasn't there to see it. She conquered 00:29:31.059 --> 00:29:33.079 the English market in death. And then came the 00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:36.380 movie. For a whole generation of people, General 00:29:36.380 --> 00:29:40.319 Lopez is Selena. That 1997 biopic was absolutely 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.920 crucial. It was a major Warner Bros. production. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:45.259 It's interesting. Salma Hayek was actually the 00:29:45.259 --> 00:29:46.970 first choice for the role. Oh, I didn't know 00:29:46.970 --> 00:29:48.869 that. Yeah, but she turned it down. She felt 00:29:48.869 --> 00:29:51.589 it was still too soon after the murder, too raw. 00:29:51.869 --> 00:29:54.450 So they held massive casting calls, and they 00:29:54.450 --> 00:29:56.609 found Jennifer Lopez, who was mostly known as 00:29:56.609 --> 00:29:58.450 a dancer from New York at the time. And there 00:29:58.450 --> 00:30:00.509 was a backlash to that casting, too, initially. 00:30:00.650 --> 00:30:03.869 Huge backlash. People protested because J -Lo 00:30:03.869 --> 00:30:06.569 is Puerto Rican, not Mexican -American. They 00:30:06.569 --> 00:30:08.789 felt she wouldn't understand the specific culture, 00:30:08.990 --> 00:30:12.089 the nuances of the Tejano world. But her performance 00:30:12.089 --> 00:30:14.660 silenced everyone. It was a star -making performance. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.420 It launched Jennifer Lopez into superstardom. 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:21.000 But more importantly, it cemented Selena's story 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:23.619 in the global consciousness for a new generation. 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.039 And the commercial viability of the Selena brand, 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.119 it just hasn't slowed down. In 2016, MM Cosmetics 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:32.500 released a collection. And that was driven entirely 00:30:32.500 --> 00:30:34.960 by an online fan petition that got hundreds of 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.099 thousands of signatures. And when it finally 00:30:37.099 --> 00:30:39.000 launched, it became the best -selling celebrity 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:42.920 line in the entire history of MM Cosmetics. There's 00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:45.339 Latin history, all history. All of cosmetic history. 00:30:45.420 --> 00:30:48.059 It sold out in minutes. The demand was insane. 00:30:48.339 --> 00:30:50.299 And we've seen the Google Doodle, the Netflix 00:30:50.299 --> 00:30:53.099 series in 2020, the posthumous Lifetime Achievement 00:30:53.099 --> 00:30:56.160 Grammy in 2021. She just received the National 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.079 Medal of Arts. She is, without a doubt, more 00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:01.940 famous and more influential now than she was 00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:04.299 even when she was alive. But I want to end on 00:31:04.299 --> 00:31:06.240 a really provocative thought that I found in 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:09.309 our research. We always talk about how she opened 00:31:09.309 --> 00:31:11.430 the doors for the Latin explosion of the late 00:31:11.430 --> 00:31:15.190 90s for Ricky Martin, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez 00:31:15.190 --> 00:31:18.089 and Ricky Glacius. And she undoubtedly did. She 00:31:18.089 --> 00:31:20.589 proved to the major labels that the market existed 00:31:20.589 --> 00:31:22.390 and was profitable. But there's a quote here 00:31:22.390 --> 00:31:25.170 from John Lanner, who was the Latin music editor 00:31:25.170 --> 00:31:27.269 for Billboard magazine at the time. And it really 00:31:27.269 --> 00:31:29.549 just stops you in your tracks. He said the Tejano 00:31:29.549 --> 00:31:33.470 market died with her. Wow. It's a devastating 00:31:33.470 --> 00:31:35.369 observation, but if you look at the data, he's 00:31:35.369 --> 00:31:38.190 kind of right. Tejano music, that specific genre 00:31:38.190 --> 00:31:41.049 of polka fusion from Texas, it peaked with Selena. 00:31:41.329 --> 00:31:43.910 After she died, the genre's mainstream popularity 00:31:43.910 --> 00:31:47.069 receded. It never became the global force that, 00:31:47.109 --> 00:31:50.170 say, reggaeton is today. So in a way, she wasn't 00:31:50.170 --> 00:31:52.589 just the queen of the genre. She was the load 00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:55.029 -bearing wall holding the whole thing up. Exactly. 00:31:55.789 --> 00:31:58.710 Without her charisma, her star power, and her 00:31:58.710 --> 00:32:01.150 brother's ability to modernize the sound, the 00:32:01.150 --> 00:32:03.690 genre just couldn't sustain that level of mainstream 00:32:03.690 --> 00:32:06.549 interest. It retreated back to being a regional 00:32:06.549 --> 00:32:09.549 niche. It forces you to ask that big what if. 00:32:09.930 --> 00:32:12.470 If she had lived, if she had personally led that 00:32:12.470 --> 00:32:14.789 Latin explosion instead of just being its symbolic 00:32:14.789 --> 00:32:18.750 martyr, would we all be listening to Tejano today 00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:21.430 the way we listen to Bad Bunny? Or was she just 00:32:21.430 --> 00:32:24.859 a singular, unrepeatable anomaly? It's the tragic, 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.299 unanswerable question. It makes you realize the 00:32:27.299 --> 00:32:30.160 fragility of culture sometimes. That one person, 00:32:30.220 --> 00:32:31.940 the right person at the right time, can hold 00:32:31.940 --> 00:32:34.059 up an entire industry. And when that person is 00:32:34.059 --> 00:32:36.940 gone, the silence can be deafening. And that 00:32:36.940 --> 00:32:39.279 is where we leave it today. A story of incredible 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:42.519 triumph, devastating loss, and the legacy that 00:32:42.519 --> 00:32:45.099 literally reshapes the world. Thanks for diving 00:32:45.099 --> 00:32:45.940 in with us. Thank you.