Speaker 1: It's nineteen eighty nine, the year Taylor was born. Just kidding,
Speaker 1: it's nineteen eighty nine and it is eighteen years old.
Speaker 1: Selena has two major record labels in a bidding war.
Speaker 2: So many offers on the table, a bitch got to
Speaker 2: eat on the couch.
Speaker 1: First, she was approached by the head of EMI Latin,
Speaker 1: the just launch Latin music division of major British record
Speaker 1: label EMI.
Speaker 2: It was Selena's second time at the Tejano Music Awards,
Speaker 2: and she cleaned house. She dazzled the crowd, and she
Speaker 2: and the Dinos took home.
Speaker 1: Six honors, convinced that they had found the next Gloria
Speaker 1: Stefan Music executive Jose Bahar found Selena backstage signing autographs
Speaker 1: and introduced himself as the head of EMI Latin, and
Speaker 1: Selena replied, yeah right, but Bihar was the real deal,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't the only scout in the crowd.
Speaker 2: The heads of Stony Music were in attendance too. They
Speaker 2: were just as impressed with Selena, and their eventual offer
Speaker 2: for her was twice as generous as emis for a.
Speaker 1: Young musician who had been living on the road in
Speaker 1: a converted bus with her family. This was the.
Speaker 2: Dream, But for any young artist, a decision like this
Speaker 2: can also be treacherous.
Speaker 1: I also think a lot about what it must have
Speaker 1: been like for Abraham back then, right, Like he had
Speaker 1: been in the music industry, but let's be honest, his
Speaker 1: band did not have anywhere near the success that Selena
Speaker 1: and Losinos.
Speaker 2: Were going to have.
Speaker 1: Contracts had to be hard. Like Abraham wasn't a lawyer,
Speaker 1: he didn't have access to that. And I think about
Speaker 1: how many times I've signed a contract that was not
Speaker 1: in my best interest. How many times you hear about
Speaker 1: musicians like even Taylor Swift, right, yeah, you think about
Speaker 1: one of the biggest artists in the world that had
Speaker 1: all of those resources, that had two parents, that probably
Speaker 1: could have hired whoever, and she still feels like she
Speaker 1: got royally screwed in these contracts because it's hard, it's
Speaker 1: a business that is not in the artist's favor. It
Speaker 1: can really make or break a career. I think, well, see,
Speaker 1: that's kind of how contracts work.
Speaker 2: I feel like they can make you until you think
Speaker 2: you're something, and then when you tried to go off
Speaker 2: on your own, that's where they have this contract because
Speaker 2: they own you, but you do need each other.
Speaker 1: One of the first like TV things I did. I
Speaker 1: think I signed away the rights for them to use
Speaker 1: my image in perpetuity.
Speaker 2: No, no, Stu.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So if you ever see a hologram of me
Speaker 1: at a casino.
Speaker 2: Gambling, you're like a casino girl. See and look, you're
Speaker 2: smart and you know all this shit now. But like
Speaker 2: they got you on your very first contract.
Speaker 1: Back then, they were like, we will pay you an extra.
Speaker 1: Then I was like, where do I sign? Where do
Speaker 1: I sign?
Speaker 2: We'll see, and that's where something like this happens.
Speaker 1: Up until this point, Selena and her family had dealt
Speaker 1: with small regional labels across Texas. This was a new
Speaker 1: level of.
Speaker 2: Business, and just as he had been throughout her whole
Speaker 2: career up until now, Selena's father, Abraham was the one
Speaker 2: in front of this decision.
Speaker 1: Around Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Abraham Keythinia had already
Speaker 1: garnered a reputation for being iron willed and stubborn and
Speaker 1: for his hair trigger temper.
Speaker 2: Behar had his own reputation, perhaps making him an Abraham
Speaker 2: a perfect match. Years later, Behar would say in an interview.
Speaker 1: Selena's father to this day says he signed with me
Speaker 1: because I already had a reputation in the business for
Speaker 1: being a little bit aggressive, especially in that region of
Speaker 1: the country. Although he tortured me for like five or
Speaker 1: six months, making it like he didn't want to sign
Speaker 1: with me, and all that he still tells me to
Speaker 1: this day, he knew he would sign right away.
Speaker 2: The day after the Tajano Music Awards, Abraham Caithania and
Speaker 2: jose bahar hammered out a deal over breakfast. Selena would
Speaker 2: be the first artist to sign to EMI Latin.
Speaker 1: The reason was simple. Abraham believed Selena was a star,
Speaker 1: and EMI would let Selena attempt a crossover album.
Speaker 2: But not without conditions.
Speaker 1: I'm your Hoe, Liliana Oscaz.
Speaker 2: And I'm Joseph Carrio And This is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1: A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
Speaker 1: how today's most famous Latin v stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra tuble.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only.
Speaker 1: Way we know how, with when us, whenasriesas, and a
Speaker 1: lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on
Speaker 1: our journey to find out what makes them so iconic.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Selena's very first album cover. Joseph. One
Speaker 1: word to describe it?
Speaker 2: Oh god, one word? Uh? Why I don't have any mark? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Question mark. It's just all so wrong, just everything about it,
Speaker 2: and it just makes me sad, you know, just looking
Speaker 2: at it. Do you don't want to buy that album?
Speaker 1: It's such an odd presentation of who we know and
Speaker 1: love as Selina Quintania. It's such an odd presentation of anybody.
Speaker 2: Period, any human alive. I would say, but how would
Speaker 2: you describe it? Like visually, what are you looking at?
Speaker 1: It's very like Moroccan Arabian nights in the desert, Like
Speaker 1: if a camel popped up, I would not be surprised.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she's.
Speaker 1: Wearing like a head wrap with big earrings and a
Speaker 1: big necklace and like a bralatt and the skirt that's
Speaker 1: maybe like bautique print. Let me just be very very honest.
Speaker 1: This is somebody at a label that has confused cultures
Speaker 1: and was just like thinking, oh, she's exotic, she's Mexican,
Speaker 1: and they're like, where have I been? That's exotic? I've
Speaker 1: been to Morocco and they just are basically conflating anything exotic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they put into this buckets. The good news is it
Speaker 1: didn't make sense to Selena either.
Speaker 3: They hated the makeup, they hated the hair, they hated
Speaker 3: the clothes, and Selena from the get was just not
Speaker 3: happy with this. And the label did end up calling
Speaker 3: this cover the worst they'd ever gotten, Like.
Speaker 2: Literally the worst they'd ever gotten. It was the worst
Speaker 2: that has ever been produced on planet Earth.
Speaker 1: It was also their fault. Our Girl had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with us.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's no shade to the album itself. It was
Speaker 2: a top performing debut that week on Billboard's Regional Mexican
Speaker 2: Albums Chart at number seventeen, our girls very first time
Speaker 2: on the chart.
Speaker 1: But the story of this cover tells you a lot
Speaker 1: about the high expectations around Selena at this point and
Speaker 1: all the competing pressures and conflicting visions creatively around her.
Speaker 2: Apart from the lifelong pressure to support her family with
Speaker 2: her art, Selena dealt with the pressure from the label.
Speaker 1: The parent label for Emi Latin saw the new division
Speaker 1: as a quote unquote gamble, so Bihar had to deliver
Speaker 1: and Emi had scoffed at Behar's claim that he had
Speaker 1: found the next Gloria Estephon, telling him he had only
Speaker 1: been in Texas for a week.
Speaker 2: Before the recording of Selena's major label debut was finished,
Speaker 2: Bihar and his fellow execs Stephen Finfer, had requested permission
Speaker 2: for her to begin recording material for a crossover.
Speaker 1: Album aka The Whole Reason Abraham chose Emi over Sony,
Speaker 1: but Emi insisted that Selena needed a bigger fan base
Speaker 1: in order for a crossover to be successful.
Speaker 2: Behar alleges that Emi didn't believe a Mexican American woman
Speaker 2: had crossover potential, and.
Speaker 1: So the strategy was to follow through on the parent
Speaker 1: label's expectation that Selena first dominate the Mexican and South
Speaker 1: American markets before attempting the English language cross.
Speaker 2: So but think about that for a minute. Selena ylos
Speaker 2: Dino's spent their whole childhood playing in shows in Texas.
Speaker 2: Their dad raises them on the Tahano music of his youth.
Speaker 2: They're listening to American pop. It's like what Abraham said
Speaker 2: all over again. They have to be more Mexican than
Speaker 2: Mexicans and more American than the Americans. I think any
Speaker 2: Latin person in the US who's ever had imposter syndrome knows.
Speaker 2: This is literally the nightmare.
Speaker 1: It's so true. It's exhausting to try to win at both.
Speaker 1: But as a Selena fan, I will say that she
Speaker 1: had the chops to do it right, like she had
Speaker 1: the raw talent to do it. But if we've learned
Speaker 1: anything through two seasons of becoming an icon, it's that
Speaker 1: a lot of these icons had like five, six, seven, eight, nine,
Speaker 1: ten albums before they had global success.
Speaker 2: Selena's brother ab expressed that the band couldn't take a failure,
Speaker 2: that under performing would put them at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the totem pool for the label.
Speaker 1: And I totally get that you only get one shot
Speaker 1: at this, but I think that's like scarcity mindset, and
Speaker 1: he needed to really believe in the talent that Selena
Speaker 1: and the band had, and I get it. As the
Speaker 1: lead producer for the album, I'm sure Abe felt tons
Speaker 1: of pressure right because Abraham had also stipulated that his
Speaker 1: son would produce the first full length album.
Speaker 2: If the record underperformed, the label would find a producer
Speaker 2: of their own for the follow up, like do a
Speaker 2: good job, or we'll find someone who can.
Speaker 1: As fate would have it, Aby did do a good job.
Speaker 1: The debut album featured plenty of the Tahano sounds Selena
Speaker 1: Ilosinos had cut their teeth on, like Quirostad, which dominated
Speaker 1: airways in Texas that year.
Speaker 2: It also had some curveballs, like my love dance track
Speaker 2: That's a Little Madonna a Little Gloriac. There was also Sukiyaki,
Speaker 2: a Spanish cover of a Japanese pops from the sixties,
Speaker 2: not My.
Speaker 1: Favorite's Gonna Lie, and the classic Besitos, which introduced Goumbia
Speaker 1: to Selena and the band's repertoire. The track was the
Speaker 1: first collaboration between AB and Pete Estubio, a songwriter AB
Speaker 1: would frequently collaborate on as time went.
Speaker 2: On, Was it synth Ritz and Cumbia ritmon Besitos pointed
Speaker 2: the way for Selena and the band's creative future.
Speaker 1: What I find so interesting about the association we have
Speaker 1: with Selena's style of music, which is the Hano music
Speaker 1: but also Gumbia music, is that in researching for this episode,
Speaker 1: in my head, I always thought that Cumbia belonged to Mexicans.
Speaker 2: Wait it does, Wait it doesn't.
Speaker 1: So Gumbia is actually Colombian. It's their music. It was
Speaker 1: brought to Mexico. I think, like in the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: and we kind of adopted it and obviously like added
Speaker 1: our own style of instruments to it.
Speaker 2: We borrowed it permanently.
Speaker 1: All told, Selena was really happy with the album. She felt,
Speaker 1: in her words, that all the hard work paid off.
Speaker 2: And it did, Hannah. The album would peak at number
Speaker 2: seven on Billboard's Regional Mexican Album chart, making Selena the
Speaker 2: Dehanna to watch.
Speaker 1: And it opened the door to touring across the Southwest
Speaker 1: into Mexico and through the Midwest Washington and Florida.
Speaker 2: We ain't in Texas anymore, Toto.
Speaker 1: Selena's success was a decent indication that EMI's quote unquote
Speaker 1: gamble might just pay off.
Speaker 2: Abe would remain the principal producer on the next album,
Speaker 2: nineteen nineties Ven Gonemule, and.
Speaker 1: Perhaps embolden by the success of her major label debut,
Speaker 1: Selena would begin taking some risks.
Speaker 2: Risks and looks and in love.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety, Selena's second album, Then Gonnigle, gave us
Speaker 1: the all time classic Bye Lastacumbia.
Speaker 2: Bye La Baye lah is Tacumbia. I just love that song.
Speaker 1: Also, by the way, let's not forget gave us Selena
Speaker 1: in a mohawk, and here to tell us all about
Speaker 1: that look is a man sporting a mohawk himself at
Speaker 1: the moment, Joseph, it's true. Do you want tell us
Speaker 1: a little about it?
Speaker 2: Yes. After the embarrassment of the last album cover, Selena
Speaker 2: decided to be bold. The night before they shot the
Speaker 2: new cover, Our girl had a punk rock makeover montage
Speaker 2: moment and hacked her hair off.
Speaker 1: We're talking jon Jet, needle drop, sink full of hair dye.
Speaker 2: That's the vibe. Selena showed up to the shoot the
Speaker 2: next day in a dyed black mohawk, and the label
Speaker 2: was livid. They're trying to present Selena as a good
Speaker 2: girl and she's over here looking red to smash a
Speaker 2: freaking guitar.
Speaker 1: Although the Dinos were still very much part of the equation,
Speaker 1: Emi Latin was promoting Selena first and foremost.
Speaker 2: And around this time Selena would start taking a bit
Speaker 2: more ownership of her personal life.
Speaker 1: It's time to talk about Chris.
Speaker 2: Selena's guitarist and eventual love interest, Chris Bettis would enter
Speaker 2: the picture during the recording of ven Gunmigo in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty nine, Aby recruited him off his big reputation within
Speaker 2: the Tano music scene.
Speaker 1: Lakintanias went to see him perform. Betez reciprocated, and after
Speaker 1: seeing Selena and the band's chops, he was sold.
Speaker 2: He loved the Dino sound, and on top of that,
Speaker 2: he was excited to learn about musical arrangement from ab
Speaker 2: I get Ce brothers.
Speaker 1: Beez introduced harder edge guitar work the Dinos sound, which
Speaker 1: would turn out to be a crucial ingredient.
Speaker 2: But Abraham wasn't crazy about his harder edged rocker look
Speaker 2: and insisted that Betty's clean up to align with his
Speaker 2: family friendly vision fors.
Speaker 1: Which makes Selena's jone jet moment all the more interesting.
Speaker 1: At nineteen, Selena was an adult, but Abraham was still abrahaming.
Speaker 2: And despite Beta's musical contributions, Abraham by all accounts, had
Speaker 2: a skeptical eye on him from the jump.
Speaker 1: Abraham was afraid Peez would sing the band, but Petez
Speaker 1: and ab formed a strong collaborative friendship, and the first
Speaker 1: routs of that friendship came the same year he started
Speaker 1: getting involved with the band.
Speaker 2: Selena would appear in a Coca Cola commercial in Mexico,
Speaker 2: which b T dubs that's how you know you've made
Speaker 2: it over there?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's a quick spot. Selena sings a little
Speaker 1: jingle to camera and dances with a.
Speaker 2: Partner in a red dress given to her by Mexican
Speaker 2: actress and singer Lucy Amendez.
Speaker 1: Which also tells you a little bit about Selena's growing
Speaker 1: footprint be on the Texas border. Oh and the jingle itself,
Speaker 1: it was composed by Aby and Chris.
Speaker 2: After Selena shot the commercial, ab treated the band to
Speaker 2: a vacation in a comple and that's where Selena and
Speaker 2: Chris's romance blossomed.
Speaker 1: Chris did try to fight it at first, and not
Speaker 1: just because he was being professional, but because he had
Speaker 1: a girlfriend in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: And the low it was arobi though on a few level, honey.
Speaker 1: But Chris ultimately couldn't fight it, and neither could Selena.
Speaker 1: So they confess their feelings for one another at the
Speaker 1: most romantic spot in the San Antonio metropolitan area, where
Speaker 1: over personal pan pizzas. Pizza hut, No, y'all, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I don't know they had personal pant pizzas, But what
Speaker 1: else are you eating? At Pizza Hut. Maybe the salad
Speaker 1: bar I don't know, but whatever they were at pizza.
Speaker 2: Hut, I was going to say, what was the oragor y'all,
Speaker 2: Selena and Chris were eighteen and twenty when they met.
Speaker 2: But it's such a teen romance. I mean a pizza hut.
Speaker 1: Come on, we know our girl loves a pizza. She
Speaker 1: loves Pepperoni pizza. But right, imagine passing through to pick
Speaker 1: up your favorite pie and seeing them huddle together at
Speaker 1: a table over to Cox. You think, aw get cute
Speaker 1: and head back to the parking lot.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't think for a second that that was an
Speaker 2: artist who was playing crowds up to sixty thousand people
Speaker 2: by that.
Speaker 1: Point, well unless maybe you'd seen that coke. But point being,
Speaker 1: Selena's career was at an inflection point when Petez joined.
Speaker 2: The record were selling, the fan base was growing, and
Speaker 2: the band was branching out.
Speaker 1: Musically, and yet Abraham saw Chris as a threat. So,
Speaker 1: to Selena's dismay, she and Chris would keep their relationship
Speaker 1: a secret.
Speaker 2: I can kind of see why Abraham feels like that,
Speaker 2: where this person coming in. If he influences his daughter,
Speaker 2: he can probably you know, she might side with him,
Speaker 2: and that's just a natural threat. I would say, like
Speaker 2: as a as a macho man. Right, we'll call it that.
Speaker 1: Well, I think saying I think using the word macho
Speaker 1: here is kind of the perfect way to describe what's
Speaker 1: going on.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You have Abraham who is very much like household, head
Speaker 1: of musical group, head of everything in his head, and
Speaker 1: to me, it's like a control thing, right. I think
Speaker 1: he wanted to control his daughter. I think he wanted
Speaker 1: to control Selena the performer and exerting control over her
Speaker 1: by telling her who she could and couldn't date. It's
Speaker 1: just another way that he really wanted to kind of
Speaker 1: like live out his vision for this family group. But
Speaker 1: you know, Selena was a teenager, Like teenagers are going
Speaker 1: to do what teenagers do.
Speaker 2: That's what I was going to say. You know. Also,
Speaker 2: the thing is is that she's just also so young
Speaker 2: like and unfortunately he does see her as a meal
Speaker 2: ticket and you can't fuck with with my money.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the vibe that I get after having
Speaker 1: read so much about the relationship. It was kind of like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be poor, I don't want to
Speaker 1: be broke. My entire success, our entire livelihood as a
Speaker 1: family is riding on the success of this band. And
Speaker 1: you know, you throw in a curveball, and let's be honest.
Speaker 1: Chris did not have the best history, right. He had
Speaker 1: had some like big party on the road. He had
Speaker 1: had some kind of brush up with the law. There
Speaker 1: were allegations of drug use, right, So he wasn't like
Speaker 1: a straight and narrow right. He played the guitar, he
Speaker 1: had long hair, all of these ideas of like what
Speaker 1: Abraham deemed, you know, not a good influence on his daughter.
Speaker 1: He kind of possessed all of those things. But what's
Speaker 1: crazy is that battle between Chris and Abraham. It went
Speaker 1: on their entire relationship even after Selena passed away. You know,
Speaker 1: the two of them have been battling for her since
Speaker 1: the day they met. And I get it, like I'm
Speaker 1: going to be I'm going to have opinions about who
Speaker 1: my son ultimately wants to be with. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like we all know how that
Speaker 1: turns out if you exert authority there, like they're going
Speaker 1: to push and Selena pushed. In any case, Selena and
Speaker 1: Chris would eventually be found out by Suzette midway through
Speaker 1: a tour.
Speaker 2: Okay, first of all, I know you know Susette, So
Speaker 2: tell her that I'm pissnoid with her that she narked
Speaker 2: on her sister. Well, Selena's mother was approving of the relationship.
Speaker 2: Abraham pulled Chris off the tour of us and told
Speaker 2: him it's over.
Speaker 1: But Selena and Chris continued dating in secret. You can't
Speaker 1: stop love bus. Okay, and we can't confirm whether Selena
Speaker 1: still had the mohawk at this point, but off the
Speaker 1: energy is there.
Speaker 2: Just imagine she does have the mohawk for this next part,
Speaker 2: because it's just better that way.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm there, I'm there.
Speaker 2: One day, Abraham again stops the bus. He stomps over
Speaker 2: to where Selena and Chris are sitting and shouts again
Speaker 2: that it's over, but Selena screams.
Speaker 1: Back at him, that's kind of big, Like maybe this
Speaker 1: is about a little more than a secret relationship, like
Speaker 1: that kind of big.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Chris tries to mediate between the two until Abraham
Speaker 2: calls him, quote unquote a cancer to the family.
Speaker 1: Damn Abraham. Well, with Chris now in the fray, Abraham
Speaker 1: threatens to disband Selena E Loosino's if the relationship continues,
Speaker 1: that is so much drama.
Speaker 2: Like you need to do least guys saw him.
Speaker 1: I know the young lovers stand down, and Abraham fires
Speaker 1: Chris from the group.
Speaker 2: Abraham told Texas Monthly that he dropped the guitarist off
Speaker 2: at a Waterburger parking lot and told him to find
Speaker 2: his way home. Which that's harsh, but you could do
Speaker 2: words and Waterburger. I love me a number seven, so
Speaker 2: do I.
Speaker 1: In the Texas Toast hits every time, so good A
Speaker 1: breakfast Burger probably wouldn't ease the hurt of losing your
Speaker 1: girlfriend and your job at the same time. But Chris,
Speaker 1: by his account, had been exhausted from dealing with all
Speaker 1: of Abraham's drama and moved back to San Antonio.
Speaker 2: Selena, however, was devastated. The two would continue to try
Speaker 2: to see each other whenever she was in the area,
Speaker 2: in secret, of course, but this would.
Speaker 1: Prove too hard for Selena, so one night she banged
Speaker 1: on the door of his hotel room in Corpus Christy
Speaker 1: and demanded he elope with her, And just.
Speaker 2: Like that, Selena and Chris, at twenty and twenty two,
Speaker 2: were married, at the Nuess County Courthouse. Abraham initially took
Speaker 2: the news badly, but eventually accepted their marriage and allowed
Speaker 2: Chris back into the band.
Speaker 1: Duh, Chris would say, in hindsight, I thought with great
Speaker 1: certainty that remembering those marriage vows would always be a
Speaker 1: sort of glue holding us. We had every intention of
Speaker 1: living happily ever after. Nobody could stop us from doing
Speaker 1: that now.
Speaker 2: And these sure were Selena's crowning musical achievements were soon
Speaker 2: to follow, starting with her bona fide breakthrough album.
Speaker 1: If the test was for Selena to prove that she
Speaker 1: had star power in Latin America, you could say she
Speaker 1: had already passed.
Speaker 2: With flying colors, Baila Estakumiya became a hit single in Mexico,
Speaker 2: Her concerts were drawing crowds in the tens of thousands,
Speaker 2: and we already told you about the Kogas.
Speaker 1: Selena Ilosino's continue to weave modern popin' dance tracks into
Speaker 1: their albums, planting the seeds for that long awaited crossover.
Speaker 2: But we can't talk about crossovers without talking about the
Speaker 2: album that made Selena a bonafide.
Speaker 1: Star, nineteen ninety two's Ententre Amimundo featuring Goma. But you
Speaker 1: have to like whisper it.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: She builds bitch, she doesn't give it to you right away,
Speaker 1: she teases you.
Speaker 2: Chrees.
Speaker 1: Gomla would become Selena's signature track, solidifying her star status
Speaker 1: in Texas and Mexico.
Speaker 2: The song tells a story of this woman and literally
Speaker 2: my life seeing her ex with a new flame. Though painful,
Speaker 2: she accepts the need to move on, comparing their past
Speaker 2: love to a wilted rose.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, she's glad to have loved and lost than to
Speaker 1: never have loved at all.
Speaker 2: Me on good day brunch.
Speaker 1: On the flip side, there's Gegrillaz where she tells off
Speaker 1: a former lover, singing and I am translating here, what
Speaker 1: did you think that you were going to find a
Speaker 1: love greater than mine that would make you happier? Well,
Speaker 1: now you know it's not so easy.
Speaker 2: Me on an even better day at brunch.
Speaker 1: We have definitely both been both of these songs, maybe
Speaker 1: sometimes on the same day at the same brunch.
Speaker 2: Truly, And that's the beauty of Selena on this album.
Speaker 2: Lyrically to Hano music usually told tales of deceitle women
Speaker 2: and male victim.
Speaker 1: Hed Selena flipped that script on its head, using the
Speaker 1: genre to give voice to deeply felt female characters and
Speaker 1: their experiences. Entremi Mundo exemplifies just how far Selena had
Speaker 1: come as a vocalist, how far ab had come as
Speaker 1: a songwriter, and how in sync the whole band had become.
Speaker 2: The track list incorporates power pop, R and B, disco, rock,
Speaker 2: and funk in the Tehano and Tejano cumbia sounds that
Speaker 2: Selena and company had perfected over the years.
Speaker 1: This is say Lena, This is her like everything about
Speaker 1: this hits. The red lipsticks, the simplicity of the makeup,
Speaker 1: the body yaddi yadi, the crop top, the hair on
Speaker 1: her head being like wild and free. The font this
Speaker 1: is the Selena font. When you think of Selena's name,
Speaker 1: it is written in one font. She owned this font.
Speaker 2: This is it yeah and in red hello.
Speaker 1: And this album had banger after banger after banger. I
Speaker 1: mean La Caracacca, but also like Las Cadna's Gomo La floor,
Speaker 1: sila quiere is like there's a lot here.
Speaker 2: Unlike the self titled record, the Selena we see on
Speaker 2: the album cover here is her own woman she's wearing
Speaker 2: an outfit she designed herself.
Speaker 1: An outfit that once again said Abraham's hair on end.
Speaker 1: But by that point Selena had staked out her territory
Speaker 1: and no one could argue. With the album.
Speaker 2: Sales, Interramimundo fild fifty thousand copies in pre sale and
Speaker 2: would peak at the number one spot on Billboard's Regional
Speaker 2: Mexican Albums.
Speaker 1: Chart, dethroning one of the Hano music's long standing acts,
Speaker 1: La Mafia, granting Selena her first certified gold album and
Speaker 1: cementing Selena's status as the Queen of.
Speaker 2: The huntm Interramimundo singles La Carcacca, Gomona Floor, tekre Jaz
Speaker 2: and Amame would come to dominate airwaves in Texas.
Speaker 1: And in Mexico. To boost the album, EMI Latin President
Speaker 1: Jose Bihar sent Selena on a press tour in Monterrey.
Speaker 2: The Mexican press would call Selena an artist of the people,
Speaker 2: and Comona Floor climbed the Mexican charts along with Intremimundo.
Speaker 1: All throughout Texas, Selena played sold out shows, including a
Speaker 1: record breaking show at the Houston Astrodome attended by nearly
Speaker 1: fifty eight thousand people.
Speaker 2: In Mexico. She was the standout of the Festival Acapulco
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three, and she drew seventy thousand attendees to
Speaker 2: her show at La Verria and then We Will Leon.
Speaker 1: The same band that had struggled to get through the
Speaker 1: door at the Hannel music venues throughout the Corpus Christi
Speaker 1: area was now playing two massive crowds.
Speaker 2: This incredible moment in Selena Elosdino's career would be immortalized
Speaker 2: in their nineteen ninety three live album Selena Live.
Speaker 1: If you are new to Selena, and what I mean
Speaker 1: by new to Selena meaning you've never watched her performances,
Speaker 1: you've only watched the movie or you've only listened to
Speaker 1: the songs, I really encourage you to go back and
Speaker 1: watch the videos of her live performances. There's two in
Speaker 1: particular that for me are the moment where she's performing
Speaker 1: Gomola floor and by les La Cumbia. I think that's
Speaker 1: from the live album that performance, and then also when
Speaker 1: she's at the Ferria Monterrey when she performs La Carcacca.
Speaker 1: They are because any people confuse, kids confused j Loo's
Speaker 1: performance of Selena, how dare they with Selena's actual performances.
Speaker 1: You guys, she does these long, extended versions of the song.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that she doesn't like have choreography.
Speaker 1: She obviously does, but so much of it feels really
Speaker 1: almost kind of like improvised.
Speaker 2: No, she was just vibing out. And that's what I
Speaker 2: think that people could see.
Speaker 1: You look at the stage presence that she has in
Speaker 1: these clips. She really was such an icon. Like it's
Speaker 1: incredible to watch her and the band just takes their
Speaker 1: cue from her, like they're gonna riff as long as
Speaker 1: she's gonna dance and as long as the crowd is
Speaker 1: loving it. She's there to serve one community only, and
Speaker 1: that is every person in the audience.
Speaker 2: That's it, and you see it, like watching these videos,
Speaker 2: I was just kind of like, wow, like she just
Speaker 2: feels at home.
Speaker 1: She had it. Selena electrified the crowd with her vocals
Speaker 1: and her charm. She had turned out to be every
Speaker 1: bit a star as Abraham imagined back in his mentor's
Speaker 1: record shop. On the next Becoming an Icon, Selena's rise
Speaker 1: is cut tragically short. Becoming an Icon is presented by
Speaker 1: Sonoo and Iheart's Michael gudda podcast network. Listen to becoming
Speaker 1: an icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast