A night of celebrating, remembrance, and unity. The Grammys got it all wrong this year according to fans of the late queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla. Quintanilla was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Grammys this year and the main question of the night was, “where was the tribute?”
Selena won a Grammy Award for “Best Mexican/Mexican American Album” back in 1994 for her album Selena Live! A year before her tragic murder in 1995.
Selena’s music has positively impacted the Latinx community, and her legacy lives on till this day. She has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, her own makeup line with Mac Cosmetics, and Netflix, recently released the first part of “Selena: The Series.”
Considering all of this remembrance, love, and support, fans wondered why the late singer was not given a “proper” tribute at The Grammys this year. They commemorated her through a slideshow video, and fans were infuriated.
Fans expected much more from The Grammys, maybe a tribute performance? A speech? Literally anything else besides a slideshow that lasted a couple of seconds. To fans, it was a slap in the face for everything Selena achieved throughout her 23 years of life.
Los Premios Juventud, a Latinx award show on Univision, had a Selena tribute performance 25 years after the singer’s death this past August.
Latinx artists Danna Paola, Natti Natasha, Ally Brooke, and Greeicy gathered together and sang a medley of Selena’s songs while embodying her fashion sense and authentic dance moves throughout the performance.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lRJgKybXlg[/embedyt]
Since the bar was set pretty high, fans assumed The Grammys would have done something similar to celebrate the queen of Tejano music. This is where the frustrations in the lack of Latinx representation at American award shows comes in. Music is diverse, and it should be equally celebrated everywhere.
On the bright side, Quintanilla’s family and widower Chris Perez were ecstatic and happy to know that Selena’s legacy and success continues living on.
In life and in death, her shining soul will forever live on and will continue to be celebrated.
Hopefully Selena Quintanilla will get the tribute she truly deserves for this award at the Latin Grammys or at other award shows in the near future.