From Texas to Los Angeles, Selena fans can now get an up-close look at the late Tejano Music superstar’s legacy with her new special pop-up exhibition at the Grammy Museum.
Selena: From Texas to the World is now open to the public, and her family unveiled the exhibit a day early on Wednesday with support from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla, who is also the CEO/President of Q-Productions and the executor of The Selena Estate,
“Do you want me to be real? It’s badass. I normally don’t cuss, but I think it’s insanely powerful,” she told TheWrap of her sister’s lasting impact on pop culture.
“Thank a million things and then some to the fanbase that feel that her music is still relevant. I love the fact that they look up to Selena, not just as an artist but as a person. She kept it real, she laughed at herself, she giggled at herself and made fun of herself. Who she was on and off stage was the same person, and that plays a huge role,” Suzette continued. “We’re now two generations that she’s been gone, and it’s just crazy — it’s something that doesn’t happen to every legend that’s passed away. I know for a fact it has to do with our culture, because us Latinos? When we love, we love.”
Thirty years after the singer’s murder, this marks the first time her artifacts have been available outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi. Selena herself won the Best Mexican/American Album Grammy in 1994 for “Selena Live!” in addition to a 1995 nomination for “Amor Prohibido.” She was posthumously honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
“All these artifacts are in our museum back in Texas, but to see them displayed in the way that the Grammy Museum has tells a story,” Suzette shared. “It feels like home. It’s not just an outfit on a mannequin, and that’s the beauty. It speaks to you in a different way. I walked in and I cried, it was a moment.”
The opening event also featured an appearance from St. Jude patient Valentina, who Suzette hadn’t seen since before her hair grew back: “To have her here was a great surprise.”
“This is Selena paying it forward, she loved children,” Suzette further gushed. “Her foundation gives almost 90% back to her community, normally to just children. Everything is always giving back to the younger, because they will be leading this world.”
Consisting of dozens of fashion pieces, personal items, instruments and more, Selena: From Texas to the World is open through March 16 at the Grammy Museum.
