A nervous Celine Dion leaves Caesars Palace for pop arena

Posted November 25, 200717 yr

Saturday, November 24, 2007
Nekesa Mumbi Moody
Associated Press

Las Vegas- Though she's undeniably warm and gregarious, you can hear a bit of irritation creep into Celine Dion's voice when her years away from the pop-music world are referred to as "time off."

"I don't think it was a break," she said politely but firmly. "I worked for five years."

Indeed, Dion's "A New Day" concert extravaganza on the Las Vegas Strip may have been more demanding than pop life. The French-Canadian chanteuse performed several days a week in the ambitious Franco Dragone- directed show, which was heavy on dancing, theatrics and, of course, Dion's booming voice.
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The career of Celine Dion the Entertainer was vibrant and thriving. But for all practical purposes, the career of Celine Dion the Pop Diva was all but dormant where it once had its biggest impact - the recording industry.

While thousands packed Caesars Palace to hear her sing every night, Dion - who has sold 50 million albums in the United States alone since her 1990 debut and had one of the biggest songs in pop history with "My Heart Will Go On" - disappeared from the charts.

Though she released a French- language album and a CD to accompany an Anne Geddes photo book titled "Miracles," Dion decided not to put out a pop disc during her Las Vegas tenure. Her last proper studio album release was 2003's double-platinum "One Heart," released just as the show began.

So as "A New Day" winds down this year, and she releases her comeback record, "Taking Chances," this month, Dion finds herself in many ways starting over, trying to reclaim her place after being a pop queen in exile.

"She's more nervous than she was before. The fact that she hasn't been in the pop arena for five years, she's pretty nervous about it - and me, too, by the way," said her husband and manager, Rene Angelil.

"We don't know if people will accept her, if the fans are still there. We know that she has fans . . . [but]a lot of things have changed in the music business in the last five years."

Something else has also changed as well: Dion's sound. The woman known (and often parodied) for her bombastic love ballads now has a harder edge to her music. Some of the songs are decidedly uptempo and would fit in easily on a Kelly Clarkson CD, with their emphasis on heavy guitars.

And on the album's most intriguing track, "The Woman in Me," Dion sounds like she's singing in some nefarious dive bar. Growling her way through the blues belter, she blows away her reputation for sometimes saccharine material.

Even the album's first single, the ballad "Taking Chances," seems more mainstream pop than her usual adult contemporary vibe - like a calculated attempt to capture new listeners.

While Dion admits to being "more nervous" about her new album than past ones, she's also quick to assert that she's not obsessed with trying to recapture the multiplatinum status of her glory years. Part of the reason for that is also the reason she planted herself in Las Vegas for five years: her 6-year-old son, Rene-Charles.

"I do worry, but for the important things," she said forcefully before a performance at Caesars Palace. "My priorities changed since I became a mommy. I love to sing, I love to perform - [but] it is not my life."