Album Review: Courage by Céline Dion

Celine Dion is something of an iconic enigma. Her humble-beginnings-to-fairytale-riches arc underpins her tremendous – and tremendously lauded – vocal talent and her often ignored versatility as an artist. Although MOR types will lap up her epic ballads, she has also charted various other creative waters. Her influences are soft-rock, gospel, R&B and classical and usually every album has a couple of little surprises, like the ethereal Tori Amos-esque Refuse To Dance and the R&B pop banger Misled on The Colour Of My Love, or the superb indie-lite Ten Days and the key-shifting Rain, Tax (It's Inevitable) on A New Day Has Come.

Full Review >>

The Québécois balladeer's first English-language album in six years opens with a shock. Recorded in the aftermath of her husband's death in 2016, Courage is suffused with lyrics about loss and rebirth, themes you'd expect to be bolted to Titanic-sized ballads. But on opener Flying on My Own, those emotions are anchored to a gloriously camp electro-dance stomper, with Dion's powerhouse voice ricocheting around a squelchy 2010-era beat.

Full Review >>

F or decades, you knew where you were with Céline Dion. She belted out power ballads, she wowed the crowds in Vegas, she sold millions and millions of records. And she would never, ever be fashionable. There were no unexpectedly funky B-sides for DJs to dig out and confound the dancefloor with; no forgotten early concept album (bar an unreleased Phil Spector collaboration) hinting at an intriguing musical path not subsequently followed.

Full Review >>