When it comes to Latina music, especially females stars of the genre, one of the very first names that might be mentioned is Selena. Of proud Tejano Mexican-American stock from Texas, Selena Quintanilla-Perez rocketed to fame in the late 80s to the early 90s in the Tejano music scene, before her tragic death in 1995. Her posthumous English-language crossover album became a poignant reminder of what could have been if she had been more fortunate. Selena’s life has been famously covered in a 1997 biopic starring Jennifer Lopez, but Netflix has scored a bio-drama series with approval from the late singer’s family, which premiered early in December of last year.
While the series has been torn
between high Netflix viewership and middling critic reviews, the global
streaming giant was confident enough in “Selena: The Series” to give the green
light for a second batch of episodes coming in a few months. Netflix gave
notice that the next set of episodes for “Selena” will be made available for
streaming this coming May 14. This will be welcome news for viewers of the show
who have been left hanging at episode 9, when the secret love affair between
Selena and her band-mate (and future husband) Chris Perez is revealed to her
father.
“Selena: The Series” stars
Madison Taylor Baez and Christian Serratos as the child and adult versions of
Selena Quintanilla, who is encouraged by her father Abraham (Ricardo Chavira)
to form a band with her siblings AB (Gabriel Chavarra) and Suzette (Noemi
Gonzales), transitioning from English covers to Spanish-language Tejano music. The
first nine episodes chronicle Selena’s growing years as a performer on tour
with her family, her increasing fame even as her band-mates fade to the
background, and her fateful meeting with Chris Perez (Jese Posey) and her big fan-turned-future
murderer Yolanda Saldivar (Natasha Perez).
The Netflix drama, which
premiered on December 4 of 2020, has scored no less than 25 million household
views for the first 28 days since its debut. Reviews however are more
ambivalent, with comparisons to the movie that launched Jennifer Lopez’ own
star-studded career decades ago. As for the real (and late) Selena, she will be
receiving a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 63rd
Grammies this coming March 14.
Image courtesy of Good Housekeeping
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