Selena lives: The new generation of Latinas embraces the queen of Tejano music 30 years after her death

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March 31, 2025, brand 30 years since the death of the SELENA Quintanilla-Perez musical superstar.

The music “The Queen of Tejano” died at the top of her popularity after Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club, pulled her in a Corpus Christi hotel. The Texas Board of Pardons and words rejected the conditional liberation of Saldívar on March 27.

Decades after Selena’s death, her music, her style and her charisma continue to inspire generations of young Latinas. The Grammy Award winner opened the duration of a path that endured far beyond her musical career.

His songs can be heard playing at Quinceañeras and family gatherings across the country. Little girls celebrate their birthdays by organizing parties on Selena.

From her bright red lipstick to her joyful personality, Selena continues to influence a new generation of Latinas. They underline it as a symbol of empowerment which has constantly kissed its culture and its identity.

Trinity Gomez, nine, said that she was listening to Selena’s music all her life. “She inspired a lot of people to sing and dance and be very confident,” she said.

Gomez is part of the Danzavida of San Antonio Dance Company, who maintains Selena’s music and dance alive through tribute performances.

Krystal Diaz Mendez, owner of the company and artistic director, explained that “(Selena) is a magnet for the young generation and our young people”.

The girls aged three to 17 in the Diaz dance company now put on the singer’s emblematic purple combination while dancing to successes like “Como la Flora” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”.

The emblematic concert of Selena from 1995 to the Houston Astrodome filled was his last major performance and took place a month before his death.

The concert has become a touchstone in pop culture, with hundreds of millions of views on YouTube.

So, what brought out more recent generations?

Diaz Mendez said it was because of the authenticity of the artist and his tenacity. “Even a little girl from Texas (may wonder”) “If she had the ability to make such an impact on people around the world, then why can’t I do it myself? “”

At just 23 years old, Selena became the first woman artist of Tejano to win a Grammy, expanding the reach of the genre to other audiences.

Sonya Alemán teaches a course centered on Selena at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

Alemán uses the singer’s music in his class to discuss the Mexican American identity. “When you play her, when you know her, when you sing with her, when you dance with her, it is an assertion of their American or Tejano Mexican identity,” she said.

Growing up, Selena’s dominant language was English, but her success came to sing in Spanish. She went up when she went wrong in interviews in Spanish and often laughed with a smile on her face.

Alemán says that the singer’s bicultural and bilingual identity resonates with his students. “A good number of them are non-Spanist speakers. They indicate Selena as someone who helped them accept this aspect of their identity,” she said.

Trinity, nine, agreed: “It’s very (inspiring) for me. As it is difficult for me to speak Spanish, it’s like that.”

Trinity’s mother Graciela said it was empowered to share her own Selena love with her three daughters and see them kiss Selena.

She said that the singer has become a connection force in their family.

“They want to know more about her. They want to be more confident. They want to be happy. And everyone is just together, gets together and appreciates Selena as a whole,” she said. “For me, it’s just something really beautiful to live as a parent.”

Selena’s career has been interrupted, but the young generations of girls still kiss her inheritance, and they aspire to achieve in their lives what she could not achieve in hers.