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Comment by pavel_lishin | Hacker News Reader

Did you just google "Selena" and paste the first Wikipedia result?

Because I doubt that all the rage among the hip, young kids of today is a Tejano singer who died in 1995.

I doubt that article was targeting 'hip, young kids' who wouldn't get the reference though. Selena when used as a mononym as far as I've ever seen has never been used to reference Selena Gomez (they typically always use her last name) and has always been used to reference Selena Quintanilla. Selena Gomez own name may even be some parental homage to Quintanilla considering how old Gomez is. Even Banksy has been active since the 90s.

You are correct! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Gomez#1992.E2.80.932006... "Gomez was named after Tejano singer and actress Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who died in 1995."

She's a huge icon in the South Western states. It has a lot to do with larger Hispanic populations. I grew up listening to her. At this point she's become a cool "retro" 90's touchstone.

Come to California (or Arizona, or Texas) and ask. I think you'd be surprised.

I lived in Texas from 1994 until 2011 or so - moved there when I was ten - and while I didn't really run around with a crowd that listened to much Tejano music, I have never once heard her mentioned.

Admittedly, her death took place before I was fully fluent in English - it's entirely possible that the wave of mourning had already ended by the time I would have really become cognizant of her.

Don't know what to tell you. I was living in San Diego at the time, and talk about her was everywhere. For years. And I'm not a Tejano music fan, it's just something you couldn't avoid if you lived/worked in the area.

That being said, I was already at the end of college/entering the workforce when she died, so like you said, I was probably at the right age to hear about it.

I can tell you than the last time I visited family in SD was last year, and there were still Selena posters/pictures/etc all over the place in the little corner stores.

Selena is timeless.

...And yet she's a good comparison when looking at Bansky... while Selena Gomez is a Disney product of no great note.

"This according to researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University in England, who said that as Instagram and YouTube have become more popular methods to share art, fewer young people are taking to the streets to make a name for themselves. In other words, kids these days are less Banksy and more Selena."

Banksy is being used to represent graffiti. Selena is being used to represent Instagram. Selena Gomez is the more reasonable assumption than Selena Quintanilla to represent Instagram since Selena Gomez has the most Instagram followers for any user.

Gomez may be a logical assumption but she has never been mononymous in the media; unlike Selena Quintanilla. It could be that the article is assuming that is the case? I am aware of 'both' Selenas but the elder is the only mononymous one. So it's a confusion of references.

Counter example: On the April cover of Vogue, Selena Gomez is referred to as Selena.

Possible salient point: Was her picture on the cover?

Given that she's featured on the cover, providing only her first name isn't in any way ambiguous.

http://www.vogue.com/slideshow/selena-gomez-april-vogue-cove...

Speaking as a millennial, all of my friends would immediately assume "Selena" means "Selena Gomez" in nearly any context. I've never heard of Selena Quintanilla.

If you don't know who Selena Quintanilla is, you might not a millennial. Perhaps you are Generation Z?

Aye, laddie, 'tis no true scotsman who doesn't know Selena!

I didn't realize I was on the tail end of millennials, but I was born in '93 and Selena died when I was one.

Old fogie here.

Selena Quintanilla went by the mononym 'Selena' and was a very popular Tejano singer in the early 90s. She was, very sadly, murdered at a motel in 1995 at age 23 by the president of her fan club when she confronted her about embezzling money.

Said women received life in prison for said murder.

There was a biopic movie made about Selena which was Jennifer Lopez's first role as an actress(1) (playing Selena, of course!) produced, in part, by her father. It was played all the time on Lifetime/Lifetime-esque channels around the turn of the century. Really, this movie was played -all the time-. I probably saw it at least 10 times just because it was on TV and there wasn't much else to do.

Any reference to just "Selena" I would assume was her because she was the only one who went by that monoynm. Gomez was never "Selena," she was "Selena Gomez."

In fact, in seems like Selena Gomez was actually named after Selena Quintanilla. At least according to Gomez herself.

(1) After, of course, her time as a Fly Girl. Which is performing, but not acting.

She has the largest Instagram following in the world, that seems to be of note.

"Spring Breakers" was not a uninteresting movie to act in and "13 Reasons Why" seems like a break out hit to have produced.

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