The power of Celine Dion
By Nick Lewis, The Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, April 03, 2008
In 2007, England's Q Magazine ranked Céline Dion as one of the three worst pop singers of all time, writing that she "(grinds) out every note as if bearing some kind of grudge against the very notion of economy."
In 2005, Maxim magazine listed her My Heart Will Go On from the movie Titanic as the No. 3 most annoying song ever, saying, "The second-most tragic event ever to result from that fabled ocean liner continues to torment humanity years later, as Canada's cruellest shows off a voice as loud as a sonic boom, though not nearly so pretty."
But that's the voice that has sold 200 million albums worldwide.
It's the voice that has won her twice as many Oscars as Martin Scorsese (two to one). And that's the voice up for six Juno Awards in Calgary this weekend, to add to the 21 she already has.
All of which raises a big, Canadian question: Why is Dion so polarizing?
"Even though it's in this post-modern, over-the-top way that can seem kind of synthetic, Céline Dion represents old fashioned values," says Carl Wilson, author of Let's Talk About Love, a book that examines why we love to hate Canada's most popular musician.
"She represents loyalty and family and romance, and a lot of people around the world relate to that, and see her as articulating those emotions in a way that they feel they are not able."
Wilson was no Dion fan when he took on the task of writing about one of Canada's favourite singers, but says he now has a newfound respect for her and her craft.
"Part of what my book works through is the instant reaction of, 'I would never listen to her,'" he says. "It's one thing to say, 'It's not my thing,' but it's another to say, 'I could never bring myself to.' Then it sounds almost defensive or threatened. It takes on a 'What does it mean if I do listen to her?' aspect that could say something about you that you don't want said.
"At that point it's less about the music and what the music says about you.
"The implication is that people who listen to her are stupid or declassé, everything about it is that this person is a loser on some level."
But where and why does this snobbery arise? Unlikely musicians such as Snoop Dogg and Timbaland have taken in her four-year Vegas gig, A New Day, and Prince reportedly went to see it a number of times. So why do self-professed "informed" people dislike her?
"A lot of it has to do with social position," Wilson says. "She's less likely to find sympathetic ears among university-educated, urban people, people who are most represented in Canadian media. And she's more likely to find sympathetic ears among people who don't necessarily have a stake in staying on the cutting edge, on seeming hip."
And perhaps nowhere is Céline as polarizing as in her native Canada, where it seems half the population would pay handsomely to see her perform live, and the other half couldn't be paid to. And that seems to come down to her being one of our musical ambassadors to the world -- we're either proud or embarrassed of it.
As for the Canadians who are proud of her, who came back from Las Vegas in "J'adore Dion" T-shirts, our collective embarrassment only reinforces their loyalty.
"One of the things I found in common with the Céline fans I talked to is that all of them had the experience of being made fun of, being put down," Wilson says. "And they have this great defiance, this great outsider pride, this sense of 'I understand this and you don't.' And it's admirable. It's nice to talk to people and hear that they didn't let that stigmatization get in the way of something they liked."
So where does this leave us with the Juno Awards? Will Céline's presence help or hinder TV ratings for CTV's big show?
"Because the Junos at their inception had made the strange decision to create the idea that there was a music scene in Canada, they celebrated what was doing the best, basically to reinforce the strength of the industry at a time when it was nascent," Wilson says. "But now, they're in a position where two of the best-selling albums are by Céline Dion. And they may want a different show, but they have to have a show that celebrates Céline Dion. And so you're going to have that polarizing effect.
"You know the TV critics are going to make fun of it, and the Junos will have to work hard to win those people back again. At the same time, you've got that silent majority who do like
Céline and who bought all those albums, and maybe they'll tune in and watch the Junos because of her."
But with time, we've all gone softer on Céline, and she isn't as polarizing as she once was. The seemingly inescapable My Heart Will Go On is a decade old now, and FM radio is filled with other targets of our irritation.
"Now I think she's moving into that mid-career space, where her singles aren't all over the radio and she is more into maintaining the fan base she already has," Wilson says. "Once she hits that veteran status, like a Paul Anka, that's when people will start to go, 'Well, she's important to the development of pop music in Canada.' She starts to become more of a heritage item. And I think that's starting.
"She still may be in a position of mockery, but in 10 years, no one will bother to make the effort."
