Another day, another Aries birthday! As if the last week hasn’t been exciting enough with the birthdays of Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, and Mariah Carey, Aries season has just begun! Today we celebrate the birthday of another Aries, Celine Dion! In celebrating the Canadian powerhouse’s birthday, we’ve compiled a list of some of her best songs, from ballads to dance tracks. Love her or can’t escape her, Celine Dion’s impact on music is undeniable. Here’s what to expect from our Celine playlist:
Ballads
Celine Dion is a ballad queen. For that reason, we kicked off this playlist with her most well-known (and at one point inescapable) ballad, “My Heart Will Go On”. The theme song from Titanic debuted at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100, and went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. One of her other very known songs was 1996’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”. Classified as a “power ballad”, the song lives up to it’s name, with a dramatic instrmental, soaring Celine vocals, and of course, an epic music video. Over the years, Celine can always be counted on to deliver a stellar ballad, whether it be 2002’s “I Surrender” or this year’s “How Does A Moment Last Forever”. On that note, the original recording of “Beauty And The Beast” with Peabo Bryson (another Academy Award winner), is also here. It’s a Celine essential!
Upbeats
Ballad queen or not, Celine is no stranger to accelerating the tempo on her songs. 1990’s double punch of “Unison” and “(If There Was) Any Other Way” both hinge on the late 80’s pop sound. She takes on mid-tempo rock on the very unique and catchy “Ten Days” from 2002’s A New Day Has Come. On the same album she reached for the urban market with the stellar “When The Wrong One Loves You Right”. Those two might be some of her best material to date.
Covers
Over the years Celine has covered a wide array of songs, mainly in the pop and rock arenas. Her cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night” was ubiquitous when she partnered with Chrysler for an ad campaign in 2004. Despite being relatively unknown, Celine covered Heart’s “Alone” on 2007’s Taking Chances. Produced by Ben Moody of Evanescence, it’s an underrated, but amazing cover.
Another overlooked cover was 2005’s amazing take on the lather Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father”. An R&B legend, Luther passed away suddenly in 2005, and an all-star cast gathered to remember him. Celine’s own father passed away in 2003, and her rendition of the song is both powerful and chilling. The same can be said for 2016’s Queen cover “The Show Must Go On”. The song was the first Celine released following the death of her husband Rene Angelil.
Dive into our Celine Dion playlist below:
Bonus!
Finally, here are two of my favorite Celine Dion songs that you won’t find on Spotify. The first is an amazing dance remix of “To Love You More” by Tony Moran. The second is another Ben Moody-produced cut from Taking Chances that was only available as a Japan bonus track.