Jennifer Lopez honored the Queen of Tejano Music, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, at the Billboard Latin Music Awards Thursday, and sat down with "Today" to discuss why the singer's music and influence still resonates 20 years after her death.
"There is only one Selena," Lopez told "Today's" Natalie Morales in Miami. "And there only ever will be. She's just one of those special types of artists that — with her music and her spirit and her heart — really touched people."
Lopez performed a medley of the Selena's hits including "Como La Flor," "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" and "Amor Prohibido" in front of a montage of photos of the late singer. "That's what makes it so emotional," Lopez said. "When I'm out there dancing and I see her on the screen, I'm thinking, 'If she were here she'd be doing what I'm doing now.'"
Selena was shot and killed by her former fan club president Yolanda Saldivar on March 31, 1995, at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi. She was 23.
Lopez famously portrayed the singer in the 1997 biopic "Selena." At the time, the then 25-year-old Lopez was concentrating on her acting career and had not yet released an album of songs.
"You never know what's going to happen," Lopez said. "You have to live in the moment; you have to be present; you have to seize the day. So I decided right after that movie to make my first record, and I did."
