By Allison Ortega-Benites ’26
“Selena,” the series on Netflix, is an amazing storytelling documentary, showing one of the most famous Mexican artists to this day. Selena Quintanilla was known as the “Queen of Tejano,” a big icon in the Hispanic community.
On Dec. 4, 2020, the first season of the series premiered on Netflix. This series allowed the audience to understand Selena’s journey and her impact on the world. Starting with the first episode, the viewer is shown Selena Quintanilla’s way of life. It starts with a young girl having big dreams and a passion for music. Selena and her family started with performing at restaurants and public locations. They started a band called “Selena y los Dinos,” which was getting more recognized with time. The series shares the personal struggles that Selena went through for her to become a legendary performer.
On May 4, 2021, the second season of the series premiered on Netflix. The second part of the series shows how popular Selena’s music was when she was just a teenager. At this point, Selena is getting recognized by her Mexican-American community. Selena and her band would have bookings at shows while her music continued to become more popular. In the early 1990s, Selena started to notice how much popularity she was gaining. In this series, it shows the audience all the details about Selena including her first Grammy, which was an accomplishment that she was proud of.
Other than learning about Selena being in the music industry, this series also explained how she passed away at such a young age. She died on March 31, 1995 at only 23 years old. In the second part of the series, it reveals how Selena’s killer Yolanda Saldivar met her, and how she planned on murdering her. Yolanda murdered Selena by shooting her once between her chest and shoulder. Selena was pronounced dead as she was rushed to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital in Texas. This made Selena’s Quintanilla’s fans very upset; Selena was such a nice person and did not deserve her life being taken away like that.
Selena impacted so many lives, including her fans. Other than Selena being recognized by her meaningful songs, she was also recognized by her heart because she always loved her fans. All of the actors on the cast did an amazing job playing the roles of each character. The actors made it realistic by giving and showing the same attitude on each character. It made the series seem even better because it’s like the audience is seeing the real character. This series did not miss out on anyone who was part of Selena’s life. There have been movies based on true events where there would be parts or people that would be missing, but this series did not have that problem.
For someone who has never heard about Selena Quintanilla, I would recommend this series to them. Some strengths that the series has are look-alike casts, good sets, and good costuming. The series did not miss out on the iconic outfits that Selena had worn for her shows, like the red flared jumpsuit she wore to her astrodome show.
My favorite part throughout the whole series is when Selena performs at the Astrodome. This was my favorite because at that point Selena is highly recognized and she performed all of her top hit songs. Her songs were mostly romantic and everyone would relate to her songs, which created more hits. The Astrodome was a big deal at the time and that had to be one of the most famous shows Selena ever had.
This series honors the life of Selena Quintanilla while it shares her life story, which is what made it wonderful. This series shows the audience Selena’s goal was for her music to be shared around the world, and she made that goal come true. With the help of her family members, Selena was able to share her Mexican heritage across the United States.
The Raider Press 