Following her death, Abraham expressed how he wanted to keep the singer's legacy alive and that public knowledge of Selena was very important to him.

[8][9] The album's release started a "buying frenzy" for anything related or containing Selena among Hispanic and Latino Americans.

"[11] He explained how he wanted to preserve Selena's legacy and that it's important to him that public consciousness of the singer remains intact.

[12] Since Selena's death, her family has been criticized by fans and the media for exploiting the singer and cannibalizing on her murder by releasing more music.

"[11] Chris Riemenschneider of the Austin American-Statesman did not approve of the remastered version of "Soy Amiga", calling it a "fluffy pop song" that lacks "any passion.

"[1] Along with "Soy Amiga", other songs on the album including, "Como Quisiera" and "Costumbres", were released prior to Selena signing a recording contract with EMI Latin in 1989.

[11] "Como Quisiera" was originally a "Tex Mex tune" and remixed into a midtempo mariachi recording, while Juan Gabriel's "Costumbres", was turned into a "feisty yet palatable cumbia style" track.

[11] Riemenschneider found "Only Love" and "A Million to One" to be musically similar as "jazz-light" numbers that failed to convey the singer as having mainstream potential.

Christopher John Farley of Time magazine said the producers who excluded the songs regretted this move following the impact of Selena's death.

[14] Riemenschneider called the track a "lazy, mournful mariachi" that finds Selena "belting her own special borderland blues, but she leaves little to cry at the end.

He wrote shock jock Howard Stern—who poke fun of the singer's death and her mourners—as one of those "Selena's doubters".

[14] "Tu Robaste Mi Corazon", originally recorded as a duet with Emilio Navaira, was re-recorded with Pete Astudillo, former Selena y Los Dinos band member.

"[28] Because of the new mixes and unreleased content, Natalia Pignato and Umatilla High of the Orlando Sentinel reported that they "love this CD" and that it displays "the bittersweet success of unfulfilled promise.

"[14] In a poll conducted by News-Press in January 1997, DJs were asked to pick their top ten albums they would bring on a deserted island, Siempre Selena was among those chosen.

[31] John Lannert of Billboard magazine called the album "a collection of previously unreleased English- and Spanish-language tracks" with what he said to be "sonically touched up early Latino numbers".

He found that Selena's fan base has "not grown weary of slow-paced love songs [such as] "Como Quisiera" and "Tu Robaste Mi Corazon.

"[20] Riemenschneider found the album to "[offer] a wide and impressive range of mostly unheard music from Selena's too short career.

[33] Local Tejano disc jockeys further hyped the craze predicting that the album would be "wildly popular" because of Selena's fans.

[34] Presale copies and interest in the album gave music retailers high hopes for the recording, believing it would be a sellout.

[11] Riemenschneider called EMI Latin and the singer's family an "oxymoron" for their marketing scheme, or rather lack thereof of Siempre Selena.

[1] Riemenschneider believed their reasoning behind the insignificant promotion to be an avoidance of "Selena overkill" with the soundtrack and biopic that were due in a few months.

[40] After 14 consecutive weeks at number one on the Regional Mexican Albums chart, Siempre Selena was dethroned by Grupo Limite's Partiendome el Alma.