Becky G had a moment that felt bigger than a typical award show performance. At Billboard’s 2026 Latin Women in Music ceremony, she took the stage to cover Selena Quintanilla’s “Dreaming of You,” channeling both reverence and personal interpretation into a track that clearly means something to her. The Mexican American singer kept it ethereal through much of the song, dressed in a sequined white ensemble with a matching headscarf, before letting a guitarist inject some rock energy into the second half. It was the kind of performance that reminded you why certain songs stick around.
But the real moment came later when Becky G won the Billboard Latin Women in Music Global Impact Award. Her acceptance speech, delivered in Spanglish with visible emotion, felt less like typical award show gratitude and more like a genuine reflection on what shaped her as an artist and person.
The Selena Connection That Goes Beyond Fandom
Becky G wasn’t shy about naming her influences. She spoke directly about Selena Quintanilla’s impact on her life, describing how the late icon showed her something fundamental: “Someone who showed us that we don’t have to choose between cultures or languages, and that we can be all of them at once.” There’s something specific and meaningful in that statement. It’s not just nostalgia or fan worship. It’s about recognizing how Selena broke a particular kind of ground, how she refused the false choice between assimilation and cultural identity that often gets pushed on Latinx artists.
This matters because the conversation around cultural code-switching and authenticity in the music industry is still messy. Becky G’s point suggests something worth sitting with: that you don’t have to be less of one thing to be more of another.
Beyond the Stage
The speech took another turn when Becky G brought up feminist activist Dolores Huerta. The shout-out felt deliberate, like she was expanding the frame of what “impact” actually means. “Someone who, for many decades, has dedicated their life to activism, fighting against injustices faced by women and immigrants here in the United States. That kind of impact goes far beyond any stage,” she said. It’s a reminder that the entertainment world doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and that some work is bigger than any award.
The closing message to women and girls carried weight: “Your voices matter, you do not have to make yourselves small. Just be you. We deserve to dream without limits.” It’s the kind of sentiment that can feel generic at award shows, but Becky G seemed to mean it. Whether that lands depends on what you bring to it as a listener.
The real question isn’t whether this was a good performance or a worthy award. It’s whether moments like this actually change anything for the next generation of artists trying to figure out who they’re allowed to be.
