Taking Chances with Celine Dion

By Liem Vu
November 13, 2007

There she stands, statuesque, poised, fierce, and air-brushed: Canada's very own Statue of Liberty, Celine Dion, on the cover of her latest album. It's hard to believe that she's only 39. In retrospect, it seems like she's been around forever, yet with no signs of aging other than in her husband, René Angélil. Today, her latest album, Taking Chances, drops in stores, and surprisingly, it's quite hip and up to date with today's music trends.

Taking the place of Timbaland, who was originally going to produce, is a roster of the music industry's finest producers and artists including R&B's seductive Ne-Yo, Evanescence's broody ex-band member Ben Moody, and producer extraordinaire John Shanks.

Celine doesn't show any innovation in creating a new musical voice, but nevertheless offers up 16 songs of entertainment at the cost of having an overall thematically disjointed album. But it's not surprising, considering multiple producers from different genres were involved.

Searching for innovative and eclectic tones, Celine borrows influences from the Middle East, as well as her usual Pop and Rock. And for the purists, yes, Celine does include the ever obligatory super ballads.

One of the notable songs on the CD is "Eyes on Me," which combines an Arabic sounding riff that repeats throughout while being supported by a Timbaland-esque beat. Breaking through this diverse accompaniment is Celine's resonant voice demanding some unspecified individuals (the listeners?) to keep their eyes on her. The song is flirty, which seems out of context considering she's married with a son, but it's a track put together nicely and will surprisingly make you forget it's mommy Celine that's singing.

On a more low-tempo super ballad, "I Ain't Got Nothin' Left," Celine proves that not only is she a good vocalist, but, singing a Ne-Yo penned track, she's also still full of passion and emotion as well. The song is heartbreakingly melancholic with lyrics from a scorned woman who is angry, honest, and humbling at the same time. Ne-Yo does back up, adding harmony and a fair share of "oooh's" and "ahhh's."

In an attempt to infuse some Rock into the album, "Can't Fight This Feelin'" incorporates John Shank's conventional rock arrangement. Having penned all the songs in Ashlee Simpson's debut album, it's not surprising that this track sounds a lot like it could have been a song that was cut from Ashlee's endeavours.

Even Ben Moody's track, "Alone," fails in fusing rock elements into the conventional ballad form, something that Evanescence was able to do successfully. However, the failure can't be blamed on the producers - the tone just doesn't seem to suit Celine at all.

Overall, the album is just confusing. There are a few stand out tracks, but in the bigger picture, it seems like she was aiming to create hit singles without any sort of consistency. Apparently, R. Kelly was supposed to produce two tracks but for some reason - didn't. Thankfully for him, I think that staying in his closet was the best choice he could make, simply because the album is artistically lackluster. However, setting one's pride aside, the album is entertaining enough for one go, despite never reaching any artistic poignancy.

Original Release Date: November 13, 2007
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Sony