Maya Georgi
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(L-R): Selena Quintanilla, Beyoncé, Celia Cruz Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images; Mason Poole/Parkwood Media/Getty Images; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images Beyoncé just released the 20th anniversary edition of her 2006 classic B’Day with a definitive Latin music twist. Bey sings in Spanish for a handful of songs, uses samples from icons like Celia Cruz and Selena Quintanilla, and even taps Maluma for a brand new track. It’s an exciting display, but it’s not her first rodeo with Latin music.
On new track “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor),” Beyoncé interpolates Selena Quintanilla’s 1992 hit “Como La Flor,” which took the music world by surprise. But the move has been a long time coming for Queen Bey. As a Houston native, the superstar used to listen to Selena on the radio. On new track “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor),” Beyoncé interpolates Selena Quintanilla’s 1992 hit “Como La Flor,” which took the music world by surprise. But the move has been a long time coming for Queen Bey. As a Houston native, the superstar used to listen to Selena on the radio. Speaking to MTV Tr3s years ago, she recalled actually meeting Selena in Texas.
“I did actually meet Selena in The Galleria mall in Houston, but I didn’t say much to Selena because I wasn’t a celebrity and I just saw her and said, ‘Hello’ and kept it moving,” she recalled back then. “Definitely growing up in Texas, I heard her on the radio and I think listening to her album, even though I didn’t know exactly what she was singing, it helped me in the studio with my pronunciation.”
The Irreemplazable EP from 2007 was actually Beyoncé’s first full foray into Latin music. The project featured eight tracks that were mostly recorded in Spanish with the help of Rudy Pérez, a Grammy-winning producer behind some of the biggest ballads in Latin music. The superstar also tapped Mexican icon Alejandro Fernández for “Amor Gitano” and Puerto Rican rapper Voltio for the Timbaland remix of “Get Me Bodied.” The Selena influence is loud and clear on the norteña remix of “Irreemplazable.” Most notably, the EP features “Beautiful Liar,” Beyoncé’s pivotal collaboration with Shakira.
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Beyoncé’s work with Latin music, and Colombian musicians specifically, didn’t stop there. In 2017, she hopped on J Balvin’s “Mi Gente” and helped turned it into a hit that defined Latin pop’s power in the mid-2010s. The following year, Queen Bey even invited Balvin to perform the track with her at her historic Coachella headlining set. “It was a life-changing thing for culture in general,” Balvin told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “Those moments that mark a before and after in our game of urban or Latin music in general. That really was a step up.”
Beyoncé continues to show her love for Colombians with the B’Day reissue by releasing new song alongside Colombian hitmaker Maluma, who could barely believe the achievement himself. The singer took to social media to film his reaction to the song’s release. “Marica, I never thought I would say this. Be ready for what I’m about to say. ‘Get You Bodied (Tumbao)’ featuring Beyonce is out now. Nothing more, nothing else. Colombia in the house, que chimba,” Maluma said on his Instagram stories.
