Selena
Dreaming of You (1995)Some 20 years after its release, a copy of Selena’s posthumous crossover smash, Dreaming of You, popped out of the woodwork as I perused mom-and-pop shops in the Little Portugal neighborhood of Toronto. The album debuted on the Canadian charts at No. 59 the week it came out.
Selena’s death rattled my young existence as a native South Austinite. She was the first Mexican-American woman I recall seeing on television. Undoubtedly a superstar, she was also just a girl from Texas with big dreams – just like me.
Today, Selena’s fifth and final LP remains her apex. It’s a flawless introduction. Incomplete at the time of the Corpus Christi singer’s murder, it rounded out masterfully with some of her signature Spanish-language hits.
Traditional mariachi songs (“Tú Sólo Tú,” “El Toro Relajo”) and infectious cumbias (“Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” “Como la Flor,” “Amor Prohibido”) commingled with Selena’s first English vocals. Cohering with contributions from mainstream producers and songwriters (Full Force, Diane Warren, David Byrne), it’s still a tragic reminder of what could have been for this powerhouse woman with an incomparable voice and timeless talent.
Dreaming of You felt as though something that belonged to me and to my community had been shared with the world. More than that, it was the first time I saw non-Mexican-Americans love her as much as I did. Something about that made me more proud of her than ever before.
I found my voice through Selena. She was my voice when I felt I didn’t have one. Dreaming of You helped Selena’s fans heal.
Even now, this classic fulfills that role.
This article appears in November 23 • 2018.