Maliya Kabs is 4 years old, but she’s incredibly fierce and confident. She’s also very unapologetic about her love for Selena.
The 4-year old gave her dad a surprise performance in their car. Selena plays through the speakers, and this 4-year old pulls out her confidence and flare like most of us wish we could. She dances as much as her upper body allows in the car seat, and her dad is enjoying every second of it.
The tracks of choice are “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”, and “Como La Flor”.
For those of us on the younger side, some important context is needed here : This is a different Selena. Way before Selena Gomez, it was Selena Quintanilla-Perez who came to mind when you heard the name “Selena”. The Mexican-American singer was a pop sensation in the 80s and 90s.
While there’s no confusion over who the name “Selena” refers to among the millennial and Gen-Z crowd, your parents might very well remember a different Selena.
Tay Kabs, her father, shared the adorable clip to YouTube. Before it gets to the singing parts, though, it shows Tay and Maliya engaging in some father-daughter discourse.
The topic? Being multilingual, and specifically who knew more languages at which age.
4-year old Maliya informs her father that her Aunt Catia taught her Portugese, she learned to speak Twi form her mother, that Teija (presumably a friend of hers) taught her French, and last but not least – her dad taught her Lingala. So Maliya is quite the polyglot for her age.
Her dad’s not one to be outdone, stating that he knew 12 different languages when he was her age. The 4-year old is unmoved by her dad’s boasts, and responds by asking if she can just listen to her tunes already.
Naturally, her dad happily agrees.
Things take a really funny turn when the music starts, and the fiery 4-year old starts jamming to the Spanish lyrics to “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”. The tune is way too catchy – which is plainly obvious when she begins gyrating her arms and shoulders like she’s doing the Samba.
Tay’s face instantly changes, and now he’s got the biggest look of confusion and disbelief on his face.
Just when did his little girl get this hooked on Selena? And why does she know Spanish and Portugese?
She grooves and sings to the Spanish lyrics, and upon hearing Selena sing the word “Canta”, snaps her fingers and points to her dad. “Canta!”, she remarks. When dad asks “What?“, she goes “It means sing!”, right before she returns to jamming to the song.
Maliya can’t stop grooving, especially when “Como La Flor” comes on.
Of course, her music taste is pretty diverse like many of us. When she’s done enjoying Selena, they start playing Tempo Antigo by Apollo G featuring Garry. Quite a change of scenery from the previous tracks, but it’s a pretty bangin’ track in all fairness.
The video proved way too adorable for the world, and it took very little time for it to rack up over 3 million views on YouTube.
Maliya’s jamming in the car with her dad caught the attention of new outlets like GMA, to whom Tay gave some more context.
Tay uploaded the clip to his YouTube channel, The Kabs Family. The clip went up just a few weeks ago in March 2021, and it’s already sitting at 3.5 million views. Maliya, you’re famous!
Maliya’s ear for Selena’s music was largely thanks to her mom, who herself is a big fan of the late Mexican-American singer.
Selena was a hot sensation in the Latin-American music scene in her day, right before she passed away in 1995 at the young age of 24. Her songs, image and smile made millions of people smile and dance during her day, and continue to do just that. I’m sure she’d smile quite a lot if she saw how much Maliya adores her music today.
Almost 3 decades later, a 4-year old girl in the UK is jamming to those same songs that graced the ears of Selena’s fans when she was still alive. Through little kids like Maliya, Selena still lives on.
Watch Milaya and Tay’s car jamming session down below, and please share this article too!
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