Did Jennifer Lopez Sing in Her Performances in the ‘Selena’ Movie?
There is one role that really kickstarted Jennifer Lopez’s acting and later music career. That was Selena, which told the life story of Selena Quintillana-Perez. This is how the music performances were recreated for the movie.
Jennifer Lopez recently celebrated ‘Selena’
Lopez looked back on her first big movie role in March on the anniversary of Quintillana-Perez’s death. She posted a video that was a mix clips of Quintillana-Perez and her film together on Instagram. The caption read:
Join me today in #CelebratingSelena. I can’t believe it’s been 23 years since this incredible movie came out and 25 years since her passing. Selena was such an inspiration to me and I was so lucky to be chosen to play her. As an artist, this movie truly was an experience I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. Please share your memories of Selena and the movie with me below.
Jennifer Lopez, Instagram
Lopez starred in Selena back in 1997, which was two years after her death. There was controversy at the time because the actor is Puerto-Rican playing the Queen of Tejano.
She lip-synched the songs except for 3 words
The movie followed the singer’s personal life. But there are many scenes recreating her stage performances.
Although Lopez went on to have her own singing career, she didn’t sing through the performances. According to Entertainment Weekly, she lip-synched over the real singer’s songs in the movie.
However, Lopez did get to use her real voice for the first three words of the performance of “Como la Flor”. This makes sense given the film’s music would make or break it. The actor wouldn’t release her debut single, “If You Had My Love” until 1999.
Lopez had to work on getting the correct dialect for the role. She also studied her performances to recreate them in the movie. ”This is someone who’s fresh in the public’s mind,” Lopez said. ”So you need to do your homework on this gig.”
Lopez is excited about the Netflix series
The icon’s story is being told again in a Netflix series called, Selena: The Series. This time Christian Serratos will be taking on the role, and it sounds like Lopez is looking forward to it.
“Guys, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this new Selena series on Netflix,” Lopez said in a video shared by Netflix. “Playing Selena was kind of a landmark moment in my career and I was so excited when I saw the trailer and heard about it.”
She continued, “It’s a great way for this generation to get to know Selena. I love Selena. It’s a big part of my life and my career. And I can’t wait to see it. It’s on Netflix. December 4.” It’s currently unknown whether Serratos will be singing for the role.
