Why I’m Not Thrilled About Selena Gomez Tapping Into Her Latinx Roots
“She doesn’t even go here!”
I’ll preface by stating that I am not a Selena Gomez fan. I don’t dislike her at all; I just find her music and acting unremarkable. Her come up, her grind, and her advocacy for mental health are a different story. I deeply respect her. I just don’t stan.
With that being said, when I found out she was releasing music in Spanish, my heart swelled with pride. I am so excited for artists who have Latinx heritage to explore that part of themselves and include their people in their fan base in a much more intimate way.
It doesn’t come easily for many artists
Kali Uchis’ most recent album, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), was exactly the album I’d been waiting for her to make since I discovered her. It was a deeply personal work and it showed. Although many of her fans, especially English-only-speaking ones, were not as receptive. In October of last year she tweeted:
“today i drop another song in spanish which i know means another day of disappointment for my english speaking fans who do not wish to make the attempt to listen to music in languages they can’t understand”.
She hadn’t even dropped the album yet or made it known that the entire album was in Spanish. Once that happened, she had to respond to disappointed fans stating:
“PLZ stop acting like i died just bcoz i made a latin album u know this is just my second album & i have more albums coming right”.
It skews the playing field
In contrast, Selena Gomez has a much larger and more adoring fan base comprised of people who believe she can do no wrong — people who will support and defend her to death no matter what she releases. Her single De Una Vez became the biggest female Spanish solo debut on Spotify with more than double the streams of its predecessor, Medicina by Anitta, in less than a week. Now Selena is topping charts she has never been on and didn’t try to be on for the first ten years of her career.
The struggle matters
Selena Gomez is doing just fine. She has a cooking show, a makeup line, an acting career, and 250 million followers on Instagram. I don’t want to take anything away from Selena by any means. I think it’s an important time for artists to be as inclusive as possible and I really appreciate what she’s created. The song is a bop, I’m not gonna lie.
When you think of some of the humble beginnings of some of the biggest Latinx solo artists who have already been making music for the community since the beginning of their careers, you can’t help but think it’s not exactly fair. Bad Bunny, for example, was just working in a grocery store in 2016, not that long ago right? It’s not a unique story either. Many Latinx actors and musicians came from pretty much nothing; it’s one of the reasons their fan bases are so passionate and devoted. We quickly and deeply resonate with them.
Kali Uchis had to beat haters away with a stick when she released her album in Spanish and Selena Quintanilla had to go platinum before she could release an album in her first language: English.
I’ll still check it out
I am going to listen to any Spanish language music she drops, and I’ll probably enjoy it thoroughly. She is a Latina and I’ll never not support someone trying to make something for my community. I just can’t help but think of those who worked much harder to get much less.
