Sony
Pop, 2023
Look, I hate to admit this, but I can be a softy too. I have been listening to Celine Dion for a long time now, back before everyone knew her from that you-know-what song from that movie.
It is one thing to read about rich people suffering and going, “Oh dear, thank goodness they have money to get all those top tier treatments!” but it can hurt when it happens to someone that has given me some great music to cherish. Her peak musical highlights, if you ask me, were during her Celine Dion and Falling for You days, the former winning me over when we have the whitest woman the world has ever seen doing an amazing cover version of Patti LaBelle’s If You Asked Me To.
Oh yes, the past is relevant here, because Love Again comprises five new songs and six picked from her older albums. I’m waiting for that movie to hit streaming because I’ve heard very mixed reviews about it, but for Ms Dion, I’ll not tarry for the soundtrack of the movie.
Anyway, from experience I know I’m a rather… eccentric, shall we say, fan of hers in that I’ve always preferred her more upbeat songs.
Hence, while many praise the title track, a ballad made a hundred times more poignant when she sings “Just keep moving!”, I actually feel that the song is tad on the cheesy side, and it only moves the heart because of Ms Dion is currently dealing with stiff person syndrome.
Ditto Love of My Life—it is absolutely gorgeous, and the chorus is lilting and achingly sweet, but I’ve heard many similar ballads from her before. It drives a blade through my heart because I can’t help thinking sadly that this may be one of the last songs she would ever release, and no, I really don’t want that to be true.
Then, there is The Gift, an upbeat song that makes me break into laughter the moment Ms Dion shows everyone that she’s going to roll and groove with the best of them. People always look at me funny when I say this, but yes, while Ms Dion may look like an icy stick insect of snooty upper class demeanor, songs like this and other ludicrously fun uptempo tunes she has done prove, to me, that she is actually a super cool person that has no qualms or shame in letting her hair down and getting the crowd to party and go through silly dance moves with her.
Then, there is this part that hits super hard when I think of her current circumstance:
It’s a cure, a light, an answer, and a healing
There’s an anthem we have in our blood we’re needing
I am also very fond of I’ll Be, a mid-tempo song that is patterned after her previous inspirational rallying anthems for love, peace, and cakes such as That’s the Way It Is and such.
Sure, my favorite songs of the lot happen to be the least sappy, least ballad-y ones of the lot, but hey, that’s me being in a fan in my own unique and awesome way.
As for the older songs, well, there are some rather typical picks to no doubt show the ups and downs of the vapid romance between what’s his name and what’s her name in the movie. They include in here the album version of A New Day Has Come, which is a lovely, orchestral tune that is a complete 180 from the more upbeat remixed version for the radio and the music video.
I love both versions, but the sappy orchestral version here probably means that there must be some treacle-soaked scene that will see the hero softly reassuring the heroine that, there, there, she is indeed the most awesome lady in the world and he is in love with her because her awesomeness compels him to. The more upbeat version is a completely different song in terms of mood and atmosphere—it’s a song of hope and promise with a hint of defiance against the odds.
At any rate, this is a part retrospective time down nostalgia lane and part showcase of new songs. I enjoy the whole thing on the whole, but I also wonder whether it hits the feels because of Ms Dion’s health status, rather than the songs themselves.
Still, there’s The Gift, and I can’t regret anything when I discover my new earworm!
