We recently learned that Céline Dion wasn’t originally a fan of what is now considered Titanic’s theme song, “My Heart Will Go On”, and we’re devastated.
Céline stopped by “Watch What Happens Live” this week.
She’s on tour again after completing a decade-long residency of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
She also has a new album coming, and new songs are out now. Celine is back, baby.
Andy started the session off with a speed round.
Or, as he called it, “It’s All Coming Back to Celine!”
Alright, so that’s actually pretty genius. Let’s do this thing, shall we?
Question One: “Growing up, which singers were your icons?”
Celine had a TON of influences.
“My 13 brothers and sisters were into The Beatles, the Creedence [Clearwater Revival], Doobie Brothers, Janice Joplin, Stevie Wonder…”
First of all, that is a lot of siblings.
Second of all, wow do they have good taste.
The next question kinda confused Céline.
“What was the first moment in your career where you did something and you thought, ‘wow, now that was iconic’?”
You can tell this question made her uncomfortable. No one loves to brag.
It took her a minute to think.
” Titanic was great, I mean Beauty and the Beast was amazing, I mean…to have a career just by itself is amazing. To be part of two classics is just like…it’s almost pretentious to say that, but — “
Andy reminded her of her recent residency.
“No, it’s not. I mean, they built that theater for you in Vegas, that’s pretty iconic.”
Céline legit had a “DUH” expression all over her face when she heard that.
“Oh yeah!”
Question Three:
“You met Princess Diana, you met the Pope, and you sang at Bill Clinton’s inauguration. Which public figure that you’ve been with has impressed you the most, would you say?”
Her answer was a total flex.
“I’ve had the honor of having many artists come to Caesar’s Palace to see my performance. Prince came many times. Michael Jackson. Just to name…”
Prince ? The Prince? I mean, it makes sense, but oh my God.
His next question led to the big reveal.
“Has there been a song in your career that you desperately wanted to record, but it went to someone else?”
Celine, being iconique , answered:
“No, because I would have done it anyway.”
She is the queen of building tension.
“But, you know what, there’s one song that I didn’t want to record.”
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Andy was dying to know.
“And I’m glad that I didn’t listen to me.”
Seriously, she dragged this out so perfectly.
My heart will NOT go on after this.
“My Heart Will Go On.”
Andy was shook . So was the audience. We’re talking almost cartoon-level gasps of shock at her revelation.
Andy asked the important question: “Why didn’t you want to record it?”
I feel bad for whatever alternate universe exists where she didn’t sing it.
“I don’t know! It didn’t appeal to me, it didn’t appeal to me…I was probably very tired that day. Very tired.”
Andy spoke for all of us again. “Thank god you didn’t listen to you.”
Her husband stepped in.
“And my husband said, ‘Let’s hold on’ and he talked to the writer, and he said, ‘Let’s make, like, a little demo.'”
Honestly, thank god René was there to recognize how special that song was.
The version we all know and love was the FIRST version.
“And I sang the song once, and they built the orchestra around it. I never re-sang it for the recording, actually. So the demo is the actual recording, but after that, I’ve sang it about 3 gazillion times.”
You can watch the whole thing here.
It’s worth a watch for Celine’s facial expressions alone. She’s an unintentional walking, talking meme.
Y’all, will I ever get over her almost not recording one of the most iconic songs of all time? Maybe not.
