Abraham Quintanilla Announces New Selena Music is Coming in April

It’s been nearly 30 years since Selena Quintanilla‘s death but her star has not waned with her fans and family continuing to keep her memory alive, solidifying her status as an icon. She was just 23 years old when she was killed and her English-language debut was released posthumously in 1995 but now her family has announced that new music is set to be released next month. In an interview with Latin Groove News, her father, Abraham Quintanilla, confirmed the news that a 13-track album is scheduled to be released in April — her 51st birthday would’ve been April 16.  The album is produced by her brother, A.B. Quintanilla and features songs with recordings of her voice when she was 13 that has been digitally altered. While some fans have been vocal about how her family continues to capitalize on her fame, Quintanilla said this album is yet another way he is preserving her memory and keeping her music alive.

“I said right after she passed away that I was going to try to keep her memory alive through her music, and we have done that,” he said in the interview. “Twenty-six years later, Selena is very present in today’s music world.”

He shared that 10 songs are part of the Q Productions catalog and the other three are reworked vocals and some feature new musical arrangements and stylings for example, he shared that a cumbia could become a ballad. The first song includes vocals from when she was 13 years old that have been digitally revamped to sound closer to what we know. “She sounds on these recordings like she did right before she passed away,” the 83-year-old said. “But if you listen to it now, the same song with different arrangements and the voice work to where she sounds like (she did) right before she passed away, it’s kind of amazing.” He shared that the album is complete and that Warner Music, who is releasing the album, is working with her sister Suzette Quintanilla on the album art.

Though fans can now look forward to some form of new music from the beloved Queen of Tejano music, her hits like “Amor Prohibido”, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”, and “Dreaming of You” continues to dominate on Spotify. Her songs were streamed a total of 452.5 million times across 177 countries in 2021, according to the music streaming platform. Quintanilla also explained that the public is unaware that the music contracts were never exclusively for Selena, they included A.B., Suzette, and Abraham explaining that’s why they continue to work on the music as well.

“Selena has been gone 26 years now. … What amazes me, and Suzette, my family, A.B., is 26 years later the public still remembers Selena. They haven’t let go of her. They’re waiting for a project like this to come out, and I know it will be well received by the public,” he said.