Selena y Los Dinos // Netflix
Selena’s new documentary on Netflix is the best life story we’ve seen about her life!
There’s new videos of her childhood singing. As a young fashionista, she went through tons of cute hairdos [photo below] that were in style.
Plus, there’s the resilient story of her dad of his challenges of putting food on the table. Those were tough family times, but he loved the talent from Selena and her brother, A.B. Selena had amazing work ethic, along with her happy personality, and killer voice.
Que viva Selena forever!
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About the documentary:
Tte tragic circumstances surrounding Selena Quintanilla’s death are well documented. In 1995, while on the verge of US pop crossover success, the 23-year-old Queen of Tejano Music was murdered by one of her employees, Yolanda Saldívar.
Selena’s life story has already been told in multiple ways, including through a movie, a musical and a podcast series. However, the touching Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy is the most empathetic and personal look at her life and career to date. Working alongside Selena’s family, who generously opened their archive of rare photos and home videos and sat for extensive interviews, director Isabel Castro uses intimate recollections and vivid primary sources to trace the artist’s ascent.
A natural vocal talent, Selena grew up fronting a family band put together by her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr, himself a former touring Tejano musician; in the documentary, we see Selena as a precocious young child, belting out ballads and upbeat covers onstage with her bassist brother AB and drummer sister Suzette.
Selena y Los Dinos, as they were called, quickly became a professional musical endeavor. In a clip from the mid-1980s, Selena – now a young teenager with a trendy new wave haircut – tries to put on a brave face when talking about the sacrifices she’s made for the band. “I have a lot of friends, but since I don’t go to school, I never get to see them,” she told a journalist, as her cheerful facade wobbles. “I’ve kind of lost contact with them.”
The documentary also touches on other challenges the group faced, such as the Tejano legend Luis Silva declining to give the band songs to record or Selena working to become fluent in Spanish to expand their musical audience. (Footage from an ill-fated mid-1980s concert in Mexico, where the group received a lukewarm-to-chilly reception, was particularly heartbreaking.) In other unguarded moments, where Selena looks tired or pensive during rehearsal, we see the toll of this hard work.
Selena did achieve her US mainstream pop crossover success, albeit posthumously: Her debut English language album, 1995’s Dreaming of You, reached No 1 on the Billboard 200 and the title track became a top 40 single. In the decades since, Dreaming of You has become her signature song, a beloved, timeless pop standard that’s kept her legacy secure.
Many documentaries about deceased musicians err on the side of lionizing their subject or leaning into treacly, heart-tugging moments. But Selena y Los Dinos is a sterling example of how to tease out the complexities of an impossibly sad story and get beyond sensationalized tabloid headlines. By focusing on Selena’s vibrant life and career, we have a deeper understanding of what the world lost with her death – but also who she was when she was alive: a radiant presence with limitless potential.
Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy is available on Netflix now.
