Two decades later and still beloved. On the 20th anniversary of Selena Quintanilla-Perez‘s death, former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon performed her smash single “I Could Fall in Love” on Tuesday, Mar. 31.
The former 3LW singer, 31, honored the late idol with a performance on her talk show, The Real, which included a special audience member. Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla was there to witness Bailon belt the tune, and to discuss her late sibling’s impact on millions of fans.
Suzette also discussed the popular 1997 biopic Selena, which starred Jennifer Lopez in the role of the assassinated singer. “Jennifer studied so hard to try to get it as perfect as possible. It is such a hard job to do — to have to mimic somebody and to have to learn how to act and be that person,” she said. “I think the one thing that the movie just kind of barely touched on [was that Selena] was so humble and so down to earth. She would really do anything for anybody if she possibly could. That was probably the only thing I could kind of say.”
From afar, Selena did so much for Bailon. “Twenty years ago, we lost the woman I consider my idol,” the “No More” hitmaker told viewers. “She single-handedly put Tejano music on the mainstream map and she’s the reason I am who I am today.”
The Real co-host also noted that her last public performance was a whopping six years ago. Bailon, who revealed on a recent episode of her talk show that she worried about releasing a solo album due to fear of criticism, overcame that hurdle on Tuesday.
“My first songs were Selena,” the singer shared. “Thank you for giving me the honor.”
Watch her perform “I Could Fall in Love” above.
