David Byrne Talks Collaborating With Selena on Song for Johnny Depp Film

To mark the 25th anniversary of Selena’s classic album Dreaming of You, Apple Music has announced that it will air a one-hour special Friday, July 17th on its platform.

Apple Music host Sandra Peña will lead the radio special, celebrating the record-breaking posthumous album and dissecting Selena’s life and legacy with a roster of guest stars. Demi Lovato, David Byrne, Karol G, Becky G and Keith Thomas will all discuss the impact the Tejano star had on their careers as artists.

“I was approached by the producers, I guess, of a film called Don Juan DeMarco that I think starred Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando,” Byrne recalls in an anecdote. “And I was told that there was a scene in the film where they go to a ballroom or a performance or a club. And Selena is the act that’s performing in the club. And they wanted to know, ‘Do you have a song or could you come up with a song that you guys could do together or that she could do?’ And so, I had the song that I was working on called ‘God’s Child.’ I thought it might be close enough that she might not feel too strange for something for her to do.”

He continues: “She recorded her parts in Spanish, and I thought it was incredible. The movie people never used it. I feel kind of sad about that. I thought, ‘What’s going to happen to this song now?’ As we all know what happened then, lo and behold, her posthumous album, Dreaming of You, the song finally found a place. Well, Selena’s relevant today because she managed to hold on to her Tejano roots and culture enough that her fans recognized that.”

The broadcast will also feature interviews with Selena’s family members Suzette Quintanilla, A.B. Quintanilla II and Abraham Quintanilla.

The special airs live on Apple Music’s global livestream at 6:00 p.m. ET.