Transcript of Celine Dion’s Triumphant Return to the Stage New

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There's a classic moment in every Celine Dion concert that everybody in the room is waiting for, and it's when she's doing All By Myself.

All by myself.

So we're all waiting for it. Maybe I'm projecting my own feelings, but there's a really, like, a strong Performance anxiety. Is she gonna pull off that note? That note that we're all waiting for? You could feel the arena just holding its collective breath. And she does it! And then she lets out this very visible sigh of relief. It looked like she surprised herself. It was just a fantastic moment. And the people around us were screaming and crying. And, and I talked to the woman who was sitting behind me afterwards, and she said, that's when I knew she was back.

From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroweff. This is The Daily on Sunday. Last month, Celine Dion, widely considered to be one of the greatest singers of our time, made a triumphant and emotional return to the stage. It followed years of uncertainty about whether or not she'd ever be able to perform again after being diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called stiff person syndrome. My colleague Elizabeth Vincentelli was there to see it. And today, she'll tell us about how Dion found her way back to her voice and to her fans. Also, I love her so much. Can I say that? It's Sunday, October 11th. Elizabeth, welcome to The Sunday Daily.

I'm very happy to be here.

I want to start by proposing a theory about why this Celine Dion comeback is so compelling. She has clearly captivated so many people all around the world, and I think it's because her fans have this very special relationship with her. Like, not just her music, but her personality, who she is as a person. She is A diva, yes. But unlike most divas, she somehow feels very accessible. Like, she lets us into her world. She's vulnerable. She's extremely quirky in a way that feels unusual for a person of her status and fame. And I think that all of those things have made us, myself included, deeply invested in her return to the stage. What do you think of that?

Well, Celine Dion is an interesting case because on the one hand, she has all the signifiers of the diva. She lives in a gated community in Las Vegas. She has a warehouse of clothes, literally a warehouse of clothes. She's always very well put together. And yet, you get that very deep-seated feeling that she has not changed. She comes from a very hardscrabble family in Quebec, Quebec. She was the youngest of 14 kids, and her parents were running a little café piano bar. And there is a feeling that she is still that person.

Hmm.

That underneath everything, she has this very unique way to connect with people. And in that sense, she really— to me, she really is like Dolly Parton, who's another superstar who you felt you really have this very intimate conviction that she has not forgotten where she came from.

Mm-hmm.

There are people who really connect their background, their upbringing with who they are now. And regardless of how many, you know, bazillion albums they have sold, how many Vegas residencies, there's still that sense that they are of the people. And it's a very rare quality, and you can't acquire it.

Mm-hmm.

In her case, there is really the sense that under the, the Dior and the couture, there is still that same person.

Right. I love that comparison to Dolly Parton. Let's talk about your relationship to Céline Dion. When did that begin?

Well, technically, I mean, I was kind of not really paying much attention until I was dispatched to review her first headlining concert in New York, which was in 1994 at Town Hall. It was a lot of Canadians in the room. She, at that point, she's already famous. very famous in Canada. She's famous in France, but not superstar famous in France yet. And in the US, she already has, like, 2 top 10 hits.

Right.

You know, Power of Love and Beauty and the Beast. She really is not an unknown, but it's her first headlining show. And I went in pretty much neutral, not particularly interested in Beauty and the Beast, but okay, like, let's see the phenomenon. And also, You know, I'm a struggling freelancer. I will go review anything you throw at me.

Okay.

And I remember writing that she showed a very commendable restraint, which in retrospect is just like the funniest thing I could have written because that is one thing she's not known for.

Restraint.

Restraint. But also at the time, I'm listening to like Bikini Kill, and I was a huge grunge fan.

And so Celine Dion is not your style of music.

No, it's not. And, like, at this point, I'm listening more to, like, New York noise rock, pretty brutal stuff in general.

It sounds like you were impressed with her technically, but you weren't necessarily gonna go home and turn on Celine.

I did not go home and turn on Celine.

Mm-hmm.

So you have to remember, the '90s is really the decade when Celine Dion becomes Celine. That's the decade when she goes from slightly gawky, a little awkward Québécois girl who's well known in the French language market. That's when she morphs into the sleek superstar. She basically— I mean, she does not drop her last name, but she might as well drop her last name. She really becomes that kind of person. And there's some kind of big moments. You know, It's All Coming Back to Me Now.

There were nights when the wind was so cold.

All By Myself. And then, of course, '97, My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, which becomes this kind of, like, huge worldwide hit.

My heart will go on and on.

And the disdain for her is just as strong as the popularity. For her, she usually—

Wait, explain that. You're saying she's having all these hits, but there's a lot of the same—

There's a really strong critical— this is before the quote unquote poptimist moment when it becomes okay to reevaluate the way pop is perceived. This is really the peak. We're in the post-grunge era, and her brand of just straightforwardness and naked emotion does not go over well with critics. So words that come up a lot in reviews from that time are schmaltzy, bland, and loud. There's the sense that she works too hard on it. She works so hard at singing so loud. And people like this sense that you're not trying.

Got it.

That it comes to you naturally. And she just tries so hard.

It wasn't seen as cool, it sounds like.

Exactly. She's really the epitome of the uncool. Also, there's the sense that she's not staying in her lane. Um, it's really, there's this moment in the 1998 taping of the, the first VH1 Divas Live. And there's a moment when she's perceived as trying to upstage Aretha Franklin.

That's so funny because I remember that and Thinking— maybe it's just in hindsight, but that it was this incredible, beautiful showcase of all of these, like, power voices. And now it sounds like it was contentious.

At the time it was. Really was. Like, some people were like, who is this? And also a Canadian! Who is this Canadian trying to tell us Americans who know all about power belting Like, what to do. There's just really this sense of that. So another thing that she does at the time is that she's the first one in the modern era to have a residency in Vegas. Like, she goes to a room, a venue that is tailored for her show in 2003. Now, now this seems completely obvious.

Right.

Of course, Adele is doing it. I mean, everybody loves Adele.

Yeah.

At the time, this is seen as like, oh my God, this is where talent goes to die. Vegas. Talent goes to die in the desert.

This is the part where I have to come out as a lifelong Celine Dion fan. My mom's from Montreal. I have been listening to Celine forever, for as long as I can remember. So maybe I just feel defensive of her, but people were showing up for these shows, right? I mean, the critics may not have loved her, but the people did.

Right. But she's dismissed by the critical establishment as, oh, that Canadian belter who can— yeah, yeah, she has good pipes. She can sing, but, you know, she's in Vegas, and then all those hicks can go see her. I am kind of neutral on that. I don't really follow her career. And then in 2008, she finishes a run in Vegas, and she goes on tour because she's a workaholic.

Mm-hmm.

And I catch that tour. I catch a stop at Madison Square Garden. And that's really when I became a convert. That show blew my mind. And you have to understand, I'm really— I'm not a fan of arena shows. I don't like— when I go to a show, I don't like watching it on a screen, which often happens.

Yeah.

That show blew me away because she made me forget I was with 20,000 people. That's the first time when I saw for myself her personality. I had not been aware of that. And her— ad-libbing on stage, her off-the-cuff comments, the weird little dances that she breaks into, her banter between songs. Like, some of it felt completely like, what?

Because it sounds like what you were seeing was this really kooky side of this person where it's like, okay, her image is of a schmaltzy, you know, kitschy, belter, as you said. But in reality, what you saw was this weird, really funny person.

Yes, with a real personality because she had always been presented a little bit like the singing robot. Oh, she can really hit all this stuff. She's like a singing android. Like, she's almost not human. But like, where is the feeling? I mean, that— and Enrich was like, it was such a ridiculous accusation because she's full of feeling. It might not be your way to express feeling, her way is very sincere. She's just herself. And whether that's true or not, I don't know. I don't know Celine Dion. Maybe she's not like that at all. But I really fell in love with the stage Celine that night.

And did you have the sense at that time that you were seeing something that other people just hadn't, that your fellow critics hadn't, and that maybe if they did, their impression of her would change?

I really did feel that.

I felt—

well, first of all, I felt like there was some— like, it was a humility moment for me too, 'cause I thought, oh, well, her fans really, the ones who go to her shows, really, they already knew this. Why am I so late to this? It's always a very healthy feeling for a critic, I think, to have that moment. But at the same time, my friends and peers were like, oh my God, you went to see Celine Dion? That is crazy. Like, the tide has not turned yet. But it's about to because we're really at the moment when YouTube is about to explode. And YouTube was very, very good to Celine because what starts appearing on YouTube are videos of her appearances on talk shows, for instance.

You know, I love singing, but I love to talk too. You know, being the 14th child of the family, when I have a chance to talk, I talk.

Her personality is everywhere. In those appearances on the daytime talk shows. Are you trying to have a baby?

Are you pregnant?

I am not pregnant. Okay.

Yet.

But we're working on it, and it's going fantastically well.

I was not aware of that. There's a completely, like, blind spot. And then YouTube appears, and a lot of others discover her because suddenly we start seeing those videos of her appearances on talk shows. They're supercuts. of her kookiest interviews. And there's many of them.

Yeah, yeah. Unlimited material out there. It's great!

Time to make the donuts!

Time to make the donuts. You know, that guy quit. You could be the new Dunkin' Donuts person.

Imagine!

And we realized, wait, she is an eccentric. There is a real person behind the pipes, so to speak. I really think YouTube and the clips of her appearance really helps change the tide.

Do you think also, Elizabeth, that what was cool started to change at the same time? Because you were talking about this period of time when irony was, you know, the thing you wanted to kind of embody. But as we start to get later into the aughts, It sounds like maybe some of the mores changed there too.

Yes, I think the cultural context is changing. But what's remarkable is the context that changes because she doesn't change. And she switches from the daytime talk shows to the late-night ones. And that's a big difference.

You didn't want to do that song?

No.

My Heart Will Go On?

I'm sorry.

In— in Calabria.

I think very telling is her appearance on The the Carpool Karaoke with James Corden that they shoot in Vegas, which is—

The best.

A classic.

It's the classic. It is incredible.

It's a total classic where she makes fun of Titanic.

Right.

She goes on a boat.

Yes.

With James Corden. I mean, it is an act of self-satire.

Near, far, wherever you are.

And everything that leads up to that moment too, when they're in the car.

Baby, shut the door, the door, door, door. Baby, shut the door, the door, door, door.

And even he seems stunned by her.

He does.

I've watched this one more times than I should admit. Um, it makes me laugh every time.

It is—

if you feel down, I would say, listeners, go watch the Celine Dion Carpool Karaoke with At one point, he makes her, like, give out some of her shoes. And the way she plays this out is incredibly funny. She has great timing.

Yeah.

Did that feel good?

Are you okay?

I need alcohol. Next pair.

What about this?

Because she's also making fun of herself for being a little bit of a diva and having, like, the largest shoe collection known to man.

Mm-hmm.

Yes. People realize that she has a great sense of humor, and she can also make fun of herself.

Mm-hmm.

And my third time seeing her was in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. In February 2020.

I saw that show.

And that was a very good show. It was amazing. And none of us in the crowd knew that she was already ill.

I know. I think about that all the time.

Don't—

please don't cry. No, I won't.

But I do think about that all the time.

No, I know. And she said in a recent interview, actually, that she had had symptoms for 17 years before the official diagnostic, which had been leading to, like, abrupt cancellations and things like that. But they could not figure out what was going on. It's a very rare disorder, so they could not figure it out.

Right.

And then in 2022, she makes a very dramatic announcement—

Hello, everyone.

—that she has been diagnosed with a neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome.

Which affects something like One in a million people.

It's a very rare disorder, and frankly, nobody really knew what it was.

Right.

I always give 100% when I do my shows, but my condition is not allowing me to.

And then she kind of disappeared to look after herself.

Okay. I want to talk about what we learned about what Celine is up against and how exactly this disease affected her voice. We'll do that after the break. We'll be right back.

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So I think, like a lot of people, had never heard of this disease, stiff person syndrome, before Celine's announcement because it really is so rare. So can you just explain how this disease affects the body?

So basically what happens is that you get this severe muscle stiffness and very painful spasms. that really kind of lock you, and you become unsteady. You have very— you have a hard time walking, for instance. And it affects many things in the body, including the vocal cords and the singing.

Right.

And as far as I know, I don't think there's any treatment. You can manage it, but you can't cure it.

Right.

So in June 2024, there's a documentary that comes out. called I Am Celine Dion. And it's filmed almost entirely in her house. And we see her pottering around and doing stuff with her 2 younger sons and making coffee. And she's in her sweatpants. And one of the things that the documentary covers is how this affects her voice.

My lungs are fine. It's what's in front of my lungs that's so rigid Because of Stiff Person Syndrome.

This is her instrument, right?

It's her instrument. She can't—

Her voice.

She can't do what she loves doing. And by all accounts, she loves singing. She breaks into song all the time, and she can't do it.

It's like I know you. That's what happens.

It's like I know what I wanna do, and now you can show me. Yeah.

She's a huge perfectionist. And she has no control on what she is doing when she's singing. She could start croaking. She could just— like, the notes won't come out.

And that's what happens.

And it's very difficult for me to hear that and to show this to you.

That is devastating.

Yeah, it's so raw. I mean, you can almost hear her heartbreaking.

I don't want people to hear that.

So in the film, we see her going to the studio, working on songs.

You don't have to find the answers, just keep trying.

Trying to sing, trying to reconnect with her— the voice that we all know. And sometimes it goes okay, and sometimes it doesn't at all. And then she goes to a physical therapy session, and she has a seizure. Mm-hmm. And fortunately, her therapist is there, and he helps her.

And she keeps spasming.

That could lead to a crisis.

She's laying down, and she's completely— she's— her face is frozen in this rictus of pain. Okay, I'm gonna lift you. Ready? 1, 2, 3. There's all these merciless close-ups of her. It's incredibly— I cannot believe she let that Yeah.

I mean, I saw the documentary, and it was almost unbearable to watch this scene in particular.

And it goes on and on and on.

Wait.

Do you have pain? Squeeze my hand if you have pain.

Squeeze my hand if you have pain. Okay?

It takes quite a while for that seizure to subside. And This is when you realize, oh my God, how long has this been going on? Is this like this every day? What? It's a really awful scene. And it's— I mean, we already— of course, we already knew she was human. But this shows a level of vulnerability that she often had been accused of concealing in her songs.

Hmm.

Her songs, when she sings, come across, even when it's a painful song, plea of, like, all by myself, it's all by myself, I'm gonna make it. Like, she turns that into a statement of strength. And so her songs, even the tender ones, are— you feel like this is someone in control. And the documentary shows someone who is not in control. Every time something like this happens, it makes you feel so embarrassed and so, like, you don't like to And the film ends on this kind of question mark. Like, can she still sing? We don't know. It feels unresolved.

I would say, having watched it, that the assumption was that she may not ever be able to perform again.

It was pretty bleak. Which makes what happened next even more insane.

Okay. Tell us what happened next.

Flash forward one month, a mere month after the release of the documentary. July 2024, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

Ceremony of the Games of the 33rd Olympiad.

The athletes will soon make— And there's this wild rumor that Celine has landed in Paris. She has arrived. Why would she be there? Perhaps she will perform. How? Where? Nobody knows.

Why do I have goosebumps when I know what's gonna happen? Keep going.

We're all so invested in her life. And so we're watching, and I was actually part of the New York Times team covering the opening ceremony, and we don't know what's gonna happen.

This is so cool.

And it's pouring rain.

It was so miserable. And then the opening ceremony builds up to this moment of pure glory. where it ends with the Eiffel Tower. And who's on the Eiffel Tower? Celine Dion. I think I might have screamed. And she does a song that everybody in France knows, Hymne à l'amour. identify with Edith Piaf.

So this was obviously a huge, huge moment. But it was just one song, right?

Mm-hmm.

We don't know yet whether she's back to form.

Right. And then nothing really happens until March. of this year when she announces a string of shows in Paris. That is not just one show, that's several shows in a huge— it's the largest indoors arena in Europe. And it's a real show. It's not one song.

So what's your reaction?

I've gotta be there.

Well, I wanna hear all about that night, your response, the fans' response. And most importantly, Celine's performance. We'll be right back. So, Elizabeth, you traveled to Paris to have this full-circle moment with Celine. This is last month. You had tickets. This is the very first concert of this weeks-long run of shows that she's doing. Take me to that night of the show. What was it like to be there? Let me live vicariously through you.

Well, before we get there, we have to talk about the buildup to that night and the reason why we were in France. France is the country where she became a superstar. You might argue it was in the US, but France is really where she connected deeply, very deeply, and emotionally with a really big audience. She has a huge repertoire of French albums. And in fact, her 1995 French album Deux remains to this day the biggest-selling French-language album of all time.

Oh, wow.

The point is she has this huge huge kind of parallel stardom in France that helps create this incredible buzz, it sounds like.

Yes. There's posters everywhere. I went to the Céline pop-up shop at the Galeries Lafayette.

Wow. Okay.

Where they were selling the Céline macaron assortments and t-shirts.

That's a real thing?

It's a real thing. Yes.

They put her face on them, or?

No, it's a— no, not— oh, please, Natalie. It's classier than that.

Okay. I'm American. I'm not French.

No, the, the, the, the kind of star pastry chef Pierre Hermé did a, a, a, a Celine collection. Uh-huh. So apparently she picked her favorite flavors. God. And there were some really, there were some classics, you know, like caramel passion fruit combo. Interesting. And then there was one with like cucumber water and like, anyway, there were some really interesting choices in there.

Okay. If this was in Vegas, we would've put her face on donuts. I'm just saying. And they would've flown off the shelves. It sounds like it was—

No, it was actually a classy, classy box.

Uh-huh. Okay.

And €38, by the way.

Wow.

Okay.

For 8. Like, it's not a cheap macaron. So she's everywhere. The city, the city has organized a public karaoke battle. That was really hilarious. So she's everywhere. Like, the coverage is so intense. There's actually on French public radio, there's a daily debate at noon. It's called the Noon Debate. And one day the question was, is Celine Dion the greatest singer of all time or not? And they had a pro and a con. Celine Dion est-elle la plus grande chanteuse du monde? C'est notre débat du jour.

Wow.

I feel like the pro was better, but I would be biased. But just to give you an idea of the expectations.

Okay, so incredible buzz leading up to this thing. It's finally the night of the show. What was it like to be there?

I went to the arena with my brother. So we're pretty much very excited as we walk into the arena. And then we have to wait for almost an hour. And of course, my mind is racing to some backstage drama where she's collapsed. I mean, I'm having flashbacks to the documentary. We don't know what's happening.

I would've thought the same thing.

It could be jitters. It could be— some kind of intervention? I— we don't know, but she's very late.

Do you think other people felt that way too, were worried in that way?

I don't know that anybody could have seen that documentary and not think that. Like, it must have been in the back of everybody's mind.

Right.

And finally, the lights go down, and she walks out. And of course, the crowd erupts. And there's this moment which she just kind of soaks up the The applause and the love that's emanating from the arena. And then we hear the intro to the song called On ne change pas, which means, we do not change. It's, I think, it's just a fantastic song. And it's a very, very emotional song because it really is one that is drawn very directly from her life. And she has to stop singing. She's crying. tearing up just talking about this. It's great.

She literally stops singing because she's crying.

Yeah, she's just— she has to pause, and she's just, like, really verklempt. And everybody's kind of, like, roaring and applauding and trying to, like, will her to continue. And frankly, I had that little pit of anxiety almost the entire time. Even when I was like, okay, we're home free. She can— we've done it. She's good. I still couldn't help myself thinking, oh my God, what's next?

So how long did she end up singing for? And just describe what that was like.

Well, the set was really masterfully built because it started very slow with slower songs, but that are not belty songs. You could tell also her voice was warming up. She looked a little tense at first, and yes, nervous. I had not seen her look nervous possibly ever. Then she started doing faster stuff. I Feel Love by Donna Summer, which merged into I'm Alive, which was a great, great segue. She did another huge French hit, which is a duet with one of her backup singers. J'irai où tu iras. I'll go wherever you go. A song that is a perennial at French weddings. And towards the end, my brother said, it looks like she has de-aged.

Hmm.

He said, look at her face. She looks 20 years younger than when she started the show. And he was right. Like, her face had completely relaxed. Like, the lines of tension had disappeared.

Mm-hmm.

It was wild. Like, she has been completely rejuvenated by this. Like, she had regained her confidence.

You will save me, my heart, and my heart will—

Can I just ask how this is possible? How Celine managed to do this? Most of us left her in this documentary at a point where she was really struggling. So how did she get to this point where now she's singing for hours on end?

She has said in an interview that basically it was a mix of therapies, vocal therapy, physical therapy, She's mentioned immunotherapy, and also regular Pilates, ballet classes. So, it's a mix of working on the voice, working on her body, working on her movement.

Right.

Physical therapy, I think, is really important. And we could see that in the documentary. She worked very closely with her physical therapist. And I think it was being able to take the time off and work on herself in a house that clearly has been probably modified and has, you know, like the space for her to do what she needs to do. I really don't think she would've committed to not just one, but like a string of shows, and then there's more in the spring, were she not convinced, 100% sure that she could pull it off.

What was the quality of her voice? I mean, what's your assessment of that?

to be clear, her voice has changed. This is not the pristine, crystal clear, clarion loud voice of the '90s. And that's 2 things. One is natural aging. A voice changes with age.

Right.

That's just going to happen. And then you have the effect of the illness. And I think we all are aware that No, she's not going to sing like the Celine from 1995.

Mm-hmm.

But I'm not sure that she's quite ready to fully embrace that yet. I think when she starts dropping All By Myself or My Heart Will Go On from her setlist, I think that's when she will embrace the new voice. This is complete, like, guesswork on my part there, but I think that is where she needs to go if she wants to have a career the career that she can have.

Right.

So, at the show that I saw, I think she clearly pulled it off. And to be clear, it's a mix of vocals and also this dramatic presence.

She still has it.

She still has it, yes. Being a stage animal is— it's a very unfair situation. You have it or you don't.

So, how did the show end?

Listen, it's all a blur, frankly. It was such a blur. There was this sense of like, oh my God, like, we did it.

I made a promise. I made a promise to come back and to be back on stage.

So here I am singing for you and singing for me, singing life. And I mean, we. We did it. There was this sense of, like, we carried her through this. She did it thanks to us. Like, I'm totally patting our collective back there, but—

No, but I think it's a testament to her deep, kind of ingrained sense of connection to all of these people that everybody felt that way.

Yeah. No, it's absolutely true. So we left the arena, and we headed back to the subway. And was really packed with people. And there was a spontaneous sing-along to one of her biggest French hits where the crowd just sang along as it walked to the subway. And when that song was over, they just did it again, over and over.

And this was obviously the first of many shows. has now been going on for weeks and weeks. And the fan reaction to her has been maybe the biggest story in all of this next to the comeback, right? There have been just video after video, not just of the fans adoring her, but of Celine engaging with her fans in Paris.

Celine! Celine! Celine!

It was really wild because, of course, Everybody knew what hotel she was staying at. So the people were outside, like, greeting her, and she would spend, like, 30 minutes to an hour sometimes, like, talking to people, like, dancing on top of cars, like, singing along with them.

No, it's been amazing because you can sense the joy in it on both sides. I think for a lot of her fans, The feeling is it's not just that Selene is back, it's that we're all back with her.

Well, she provides a very stable presence. We often feel unmoored. We're unmoored by technology. We're unmoored by events beyond our control. And she has endured incredible hardship. something that really kind of attacked her very being. And she has come back. And there is the sense that she has really not changed that much underneath the couture outfits.

Thank you so very much for your support, your patience.

Céline Dion is still Céline Dion.

Céline Dion will always be Céline Dion. I am Everything I am because you loved me.

Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much for bringing your energy and hers to the show.

Thanks for indulging me and letting me talk about Celine.

Anytime. Today's episode was produced by Elissa Dudley, with help from Tina Antolini. It was edited by Wendy Doerr, engineered by Rowan Nemesto, and it contains music by Diane Wong, Dan Powell, Rowan Nemesto, and Marian Lozano. We had production assistance from Dahlia Haddad. That's it for The Sunday Daily. I'm Natalie Lozano. Bye. I'm Kelly Kitrowe. See you tomorrow.

This week on The Wirecutter Show, we are inducting longtime favorite products into our new Hall of Fame. Why should people care about this ice cream scoop?

Well, do you eat ice cream? That's one, you know. I think they've been a pick since 2016, so around 10 years.

I don't think I would change anything about this tool.

I mean, I can still give you the model number in my sleep.

Find out what makes these top picks so special on The New York Times app or wherever you listen.