Whenever Selena performs live, she is considered to be innovative and engaging as seen in her song, “Como La Flor.” She performs with an energizing spirit, dancing choreography and engaging with both her Spanish and English-speaking audience. Selena’s recordings, especially in this song express love and pain as well as strength and passion and she does so through her performance and delivery of the song. Selena makes a grand opening at her live performance in Astrodome being brought in a carriage waving at her audience. She is represented as the Queen of Tejano and she takes in every moment of this concert as part of her great success in the industry. With this performance, she gets to prove wrong the many people that doubted her ability and talent as an artist. At the start of her performance of “Como La Flor,” she sings acapella with sudden bursts of melodies building on the anticipation of the very popular and best-selling song at the time. She starts off with a short introduction thanking her fans for making the song such a success. Another aspect to notice is that her backup singers are males. This is interesting because you would expect females singing background or no background vocalists at all in Tejano music. She changes this by having them sing in very high registers and allowing them to steal the spotlight at the bridge of the song. They all decide to dance in a very provocative and scandalous manner which is another aspect of Tejano music that you would not expect.
Moreover, Selena is famous for her signature dance moves which include various 360 spins that end up captivating her audience. Her dance moves actually resemble a combination of salsa and Afro-Cuban. In the Tejano industry, dancing on stage or movement of the hips is rarely seen when performing. Lydia Mendoza was never seen choreographing or dancing to her own music. Selena isn’t afraid to show off her talent. Lydia was reserved when it came to her outfits when performing on stage. We also have to take into consideration that she was living in another time period. Selena challenges the gender view and style of Tejano music with this. According to Susan McClary, dancing is feminine! She incorporates cumbia in her repertoire which gives her the freedom to dance showing her feminine side (McClary, 151). Her femininity resonates in her choreography, vocals, and revealing outfits. She had her own boutique in where she would design her own clothes showing the control over her own career and body which according to Jacqueline Warwick, in “Girl Groups, Girl Culture,” was not possible because producers and songwriters were the ones who had control over music (Warwick, 94). It is not typical to see a female Tejano artist succeed like how she was succeeding let alone performing and dressing up in a seductive manner.
Selena finds another way to challenge the Tejano gender views through her lyrics of “Como La Flor.” The lyrics of her song tell the story of the love she once felt for a man and he would end up loving someone else so all she did was wish him nothing but the best. Her pain is felt through the use of her high vocals and an increase in pitch in the line “Ay, Ay, Ay, como me duele.” This song focuses on her perspective after being in a relationship that only hurt her. This makes her one of the few female artists to do so since the 1940s primarily because of the few opportunities women had at the time to voice their opinions and feelings.