![]() Dion is absolutely showing off, but not to prove some point. Her melisma is less restrained, and her notes are bigger and longer. Her voice takes on more theatrical shades. It’s a cue for Dion to officially let it rip. Then something unexpected happens: strings and an electric guitar join in, and beams of light peer out from behind her. It’s very much within what would become Dion’s wheelhouse. She interprets the song as a wistful lament of unrequited love. She decorates the verse with little melismatic moments here and there, but she mostly plays it straight. Towards the show’s end, Dion sings acapella the opening lines of Elvis Presley’s classic song “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Dion takes her time, stretching the notes and letting them breathe, while also showcasing her stunningly rich tone. In 1993, Dion promoted the release of The Colour of My Love – including the #1 hit “The Power of Love” – with a concert special filmed in Quebec City, Canada. The best live example is arguably her best performance. (Of her catalog, “ It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and its rock-opera melodrama fits the bill best.) When they did, though, the results were extraordinary. Sadly, Dion’s two public personas rarely synced up at the height of her fame. She is delightfully self-aware and affable, happy to poke fun at her image while still singing artists half her age into the dirt. She takes her craft seriously, but not herself. Thanks to her headline-grabbing fashion choices during Paris Fashion Week and late-night TV appearances, people are realizing that Céline Dion is a camp goddess. (Her most successful attempt to skew younger was her 1999 smash “ That’s The Way It Is,” produced by Max Martin.)ĭion has since undergone a reappraisal, part of larger cultural reassessment of the ’90s. (Granted, she was a mainstay on AC radio stations well into the 2000s.) When she did try to switch things up – dance, R&B, even reggae – it registered to some as inauthentic. She was chintzy, square, and sang music for older people. Because that wasn’t “ hip,” neither was Dion. Audiences and critics often associated Dion’s persona with her hit songs, which were often criticized for being overly sentimental. That contrast didn’t quite translate at the time. Celine Dion at the 1993 Grammys and at the 1999 Oscars (Courtesy: Getty Images) She accepted her first Grammy Award in a sheer black crocheted gown, and famously wore a backwards white suit at the 1999 Academy Awards. Possibly a reflection of her French-Canadian heritage, Dion in interviews and public appearances was lively and animated, unlike the stately pop goddess image singing “Because You Loved Me.” She was also surprisingly outré in her fashion. She became a music icon singing mountainous love songs, but her public persona was quirkier and off-beat. (You could argue that Dion was the big draw of the Titanic soundtrack, which also sold 30 million copies.)Īs successful as she was, there was some confusion about who Céline Dion was compared to what she sang. In some ways, her commercial success eclipsed theirs: 1996’s Falling Into You and 1997’s Let’s Talk About Love sold over 30 million copies worldwide each. With hits like “Beauty and the Beast,” “All By Myself,” and of course “My Heart Will Go On,” she established herself as one of the top female vocalists of the era, alongside Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Her voice did things that other singers simply couldn’t. She dominated the ’90s with power ballads that showed off her remarkable vocal prowess. Céline Dion is one of pop music’s most misunderstood artists.
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