Latinx Rock Band Release Punk Version Of Selena’s “Fotos y Recuerdos”

We’ve heard countless of covers paying tribute to Selena — but never a punk version. Downtown Boys, a Latinx rock band, released last week the most insane cover of Selena‘s “Fotos y Recuerdos.” It’s unlike anything we’ve heard before. The band from Providence, Rhode Island featuring a badass Latina front woman Victoria Ruiz, alongside Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Mary Regalado, and Joe DeGeorge.

The song has an even deeper meaning for Ruiz. “The image on the video is one of my grandma’s old photos. My grandpa, who passed as far too young an age, is poking through the water. My grandma doesn’t read or write, so it’s through her photos and her memories in which so much lives on. This song is for her,” Ruiz said on Instagram.

“Selena Quintanilla reminds us that, while it often feels like history repeats itself, our mystic chords of memories – even memories of thoughts – become part our protection,” Downtown Boys stated in a press release. “Our most gracious fotos and recuerdos break history repeating itself by being endless. And yours can be for you and no one else.”

The band, known for their bilingual tracks, has been releasing music since 2012. Their political statements and dual language songs isn’t a response to the Trump Administration as some people believe, but a response to life as a Chicana in the U.S.

“It’s been assumed that we’re doing this because of [the current presidential administration] and its not true,” Ruiz told Rolling Stone in 2017. “We just want people to walk away with something that they can connect to, even if that connection is a new question.”

“I know that a lot of the people that are close to me had to deal with never feeling enough: never feeling Latinx enough, never feeling American enough,”Ruiz told Rolling Stone. “That’s very personal, but I know my experience couldn’t have happened if I wasn’t part of this greater collective ancestry and future.”

Here’s the amazing track: