The Guardian revisits Céline Dion’s grandest songs
As Céline Dion reportedly returns to concerts after her stiff person syndrome diagnosis, The Guardian ranks the songs that defined her unabashedly romantic catalogue.
The Guardian has published an editorial ranking of Céline Dion’s greatest songs, bringing together the French-Canadian singer’s English- and French-language recordings. The selection traces a career built on vast ballads, emphatic vocals and a willingness to work across pop, dance and soundtrack music.
At its most dramatic, the list finds Dion in “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”, transforming Jim Steinman’s Wagnerian excess into a performance of total emotional commitment. “The Power of Love” similarly recasts a familiar song as an intensely personal declaration, while “Because You Loved Me” builds patiently towards one of Dion’s signature vocal climaxes.
“My Heart Will Go On” remains the catalogue’s defining cinematic moment, with Dion’s gradual rise from fragile whisper to full vocal fireworks. The Guardian also discusses the lighter pop of “That’s the Way It Is”, the gospel-tinged sweep of “Tell Him” with Barbra Streisand, and the reflective “A New Day Has Come”.
The ranking also makes room for Dion’s more unexpected turns. “Ashes”, from Deadpool 2, allowed her to play with her own image, while “I’m Alive” and “I Drove All Night” drew on dance production. Her French-language work is represented through songs from D’eux and 1 Fille et 4 Types; The Guardian says D’eux became the bestselling non-English-language album by a female artist.
The article places parts of Dion’s catalogue against the relationships and losses surrounding it, including “Encore un soir”, released after the death of her husband, René Angélil. It arrives as The Guardian reports Dion’s return to concerts following her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome, giving the retrospective a renewed sense of performance, endurance and scale.
