Anything For Selena!

Anything for Selena!

Once again, and again because they’ve done it before, they have brought back one of the most beautiful Tejano singers I know from her peaceful resting place to life. Selena will once again roam the radio stations in the United States and probably all of Mexico. But check this out, this time she will not be playing the same old songs but she will be playing the same old songs duet style and with a twist in genre. This is the part when everybody goes awwww and the audience starts clapping! This should be one of the greatest news that I have recently discovered but it is not. I don’t find it appealing or even remotely attractive to my taste in Tejano music because this is not Tejano music anymore although they are re-using a Tejano legend.

I have seen this before and how all of a sudden people who have passed away resurrect from the dead. There are many reasons for this kind of things to happen. One of those reasons is that it is easier to work with machines than with people. The only thing used here is the voice track from recorded material and the adaptation to a new beat per minute or rhythm with an addition of another vocal which in this case is a living one. For example the single “Amor Prohibido” which is now a duet with Samo, a guy from the not-so “ROCK BAND” as its mentioned from Mexico, Camila (is more of a pop band), was adapted to another type of genre; some version of pop, pop, pop corn. Now it is more attractive to the popular ear and a broader audience but it lost all of its original essence in the process.

I listened to this song three times in a row on different levels of quality to try and prove to myself that the “new” was always better, but failed terribly. Now, I can’t get that guy’s evangelically harmonious voice out of my head. He does know how to sing but that is not the problem. The thing here is that they are making a duet with Selena’s voice and a wrongful image is being given. When I first heard this I felt as if Tejano music was going to make a massive comeback with our beloved Selena but once I heard this song my dream vanished and I was left with nothing. Sadly but truly for me it feels as if Selena is just a pretty voice and a measure in sync with another tune. This “tribute” represents nothing more than a money investment.

Heck! Even Selena Gomez, Don Omar and Christian Castro are going to be on her songs “with her”. This is not a tribute but an experiment. The “Selena Vive” was millions of light years better than this thing because it was an actual tribute. If this continues our next stop is Pit Bull’s awesomely mixed song and his awesomely sang lyrics, uno, dos tres, cuatro along “El Chico del Apartamento 512”. Then we’ll have one on 3ball style and that will be it. I don’t think we could go any deeper than that. If the Quintanilla’s wanted to sample their daughter’s awesome voice they could have just said so. Sometimes I don’t get this family and their intentions behind of what they do with their daughters work. Is it to share something to the fans or just to find ways to make it last longer and profitable?

This is the first single they have shared with us on their website. I just can’t wait to listen to the rest of the songs and in an escalating manner become deeply depressed as every song divulges its content into my ears. Hardcore Selena fans can agree with me that this isn’t what we expected. Sometimes the commercial necessities erode a rich and culturally filled content for the purpose of commercializing it and to successfully find profit. But what about Texas and its Tejano roots, will they too be a feature of this “tribute”. Will the new listeners remember–if old enough– Selena as a Mexican American singer who was brought up in Texas or just as an accessory that sells even after dead? Or even better as a sing along tune that will be featured later on a talent show in Telemundo or Univision and for bodas and quinciañeras.

At the end the Quintanilla’s or Televisa can do as they please with their daughters work whichever the case. They could even add it to commercial ads if they wanted. There are a few songs that could easily be adapted to some car campaigns or apartment rental ads. I just know for a fact that this is not going to make an impact of any sort maybe only on some pockets but for any artistic or cultural purpose there is nothing here. As if music wasn’t austere enough they have dragged our beloved queen of Tejano into their commercial metal machine.