Friday, December 21, 2007

When you want it the most there's no easy way out

I'm not sure what it was that first got me thinking of Celine Dion the other day--I thought it might have been watching VH1's best songs of the '90's special ("I Want It That Way" at #3!) and seeing "My Heart Will Go On" on the list, but I actually started re-listening to this song before that part of the special aired. I've not really had any interest in checking out her new album, but Celine has released some good singles in the past, the following one--penned by Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, and Andreas Carlsson--being one of them. It was released back in 1999 to promote a greatest hits album and, though it may have been bandwagon jumping, who cares when the results are this good?

That's The Way It Is--this mid-tempo pop song sounds exactly like it was made by those three writers I just mentioned; it completely fits in with that whole Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, etc. sound from the late '90's and early 2000's. It--like the best of those songs--has a very classic vibe to it, the sort of song you'd be thrilled to hear those "best of '80's, '90's, and today" radio stations play. Given how rare that event would be nowadays, though, the song gets an added boost as well--kind of like bringing out the fine china or whatever (in a fun, catchy, classy pop song way).

To buy Celine Dion's album All The Way: A Decade Of Song, go here (physical) or go to iTunes.

Speaking of that '90's special on VH1, you just know VH1 is dying for the 2000's to end so that they can do "I Love The '00's" and an appropriate best songs series--and I can't wait for them. I'm such an addict to shows like that--actually, can they make a "best songs of 2000-2005" special right now? I'd so watch.

Next up: maybe an American group.

5 comments:

Adem With An E said...

Oh GOD I love those era countdowns. There was a period for about 2 months where Music Max in Australia would play a top 100 of some kind like that every weekend whilst I was living away from home and they kept me sane.

KILLER Celine song, by the way.

Anonymous said...

Great choice of single - is now the time to admit I am a bit of a Celine fan?! :) Her new album is def worth checking out - some of it is typical Celine but a few songs that are something a bit different for her!

Love the countdown shows, especially the xmas song ones which seem to be on ALL the time at the moment!

D'luv said...

I was such a huge Max Martin fan back then, and I remember waiting and waiting for that album/single to come out (actually, there wasn't a physical CD single in the U.S.) -- this was in the days before absolutely everyone was on the illegal downloading bandwagon and albums were still selling 10 million copies within a year, and you still had to wait till the album actually came out to hear the music!

I vividly recall walking through the Beverly Center doing Christmas shopping -- it was my first year in L.A. -- and some shoe store was playing the video for "That's The Way It Is" on a big flat screen TV. Incidentally, I was just there yesterday shopping, buying my mom a gift card from H+M.

Anyway, I ended up buying my mom Celine's greatest hits that year (I'm not huge on her) just so I could tape (!!) "That's The Way It Is" off it. Unbeknownst to me, my roommate surprised me and bought me the CD as well.

Damn, now I gotta go dig that song out -- thanks for the memory!!

D'luv said...

Ha! I just realized it may have sounded like "I'm not huge on MY MOM, so I only bought her Celine's greatest hits."

I meant, I'm not a big Celine fan, but that was one of the gifts I bought for my mom.

I'm not that tacky!

Poster Girl said...

I am SUCH a sucker for them! They could probably be about something I don't even like ("most awesomely bad power ballads" or something), and I'll totally get hooked--ESPECIALLY if they're running them all back-to-back as a marathon.

Is it? I'll have to take a listen, then! I didn't think much of the lead single, but I'm definitely open to liking more music from her. And there's never a bad time to admit that ;)

J'ason, thanks for sharing that story! And I'm glad I could spark some sort of memory for you. Ha ha, "tape"...how times change.