Twenty years ago, “Queen of Tejano music” Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was murdered at a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. The anniversary of her death has brought many corporate attempts to keep her legacy alive, including the announcement that a company specializing in “the virtualization of humans in various degrees of anatomical and mental detail” is in the process of making a Selena vocaloid, which is like a hologram, but more intricate. Then, in April, Jennifer Lopez, who played the Mexican-American singer in the 1997 biopic Selena, paid tribute to Selena at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Now, MAC Cosmetics has announced a collaboration that will celebrate Selena, and you can thank the internet. The collaboration is a response to a Change.org petition signed by over 37,700 Selena fans asking MAC to release a “Selena Quintanilla for MAC” limited edition collection:
As a huge fan and customer of MAC Cosmetics and Latina woman, we want MAC Cosmetics to create a line that represents the community that shops MAC make-up.
Selena Quintanilla is an iconic legend in our community and would she be alive, she’d be a perfect MAC girl!
As the petition points out, Selena makeup tutorials are already very popular on YouTube; it only took five months for the petition to collect 35,000 signatures and reached the initial goal of 5,000 supporters in a mere 24 hours. Once MAC realized there was definitely money in this idea, they responded to the call, saying they would “consider all types of feedback like this as we plan our collaborations.” Then, today, MAC Senior Vice-President and Group Creative Director James Gager released a statement about the line: “We have heard the passion and enthusiasm from her fans and wholeheartedly agree that her legacy embodies MAC’s philosophy.”
So far, there are no details on what products will be included in the new beauty line, although we imagine bright lipstick colors, black eyeliner, and brow pencils would be essential. MAC did announce that Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla will help create the collection. “I am so excited that MAC Cosmetics will be releasing a collection in honor of my sister Selena,” she said. “Helping to create this collection brings me back to all those late night conversations on our tour bus when she spoke of having her own makeup line one day. If Selena were here she would be beyond ecstatic to have this happening. History is being made.”
The line is set to hit shelves in 2016.