{"id":680198,"date":"2026-09-09T11:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/680198\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:16:08","slug":"how-france-fell-in-love-with-celine-dion-france-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/680198\/","title":{"rendered":"How France fell in love with C\u00e9line Dion – France in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Two years after her dazzling performance atop the Eiffel Tower for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, C\u00e9line Dion is back in the French capital for a series of sold-out concerts \u2013 and fans are over the moon. Some 500,000 people are expected to attend the concerts. <\/p>\n

In the Paris<\/a> suburb of Nanterre, dozens of fans took part in a karaoke event organised by the city, hoping to win the last remaining tickets.\u00a0\u201cIt takes me right back to my childhood,\u201d said one fan who has been listening to the singer for four decades. For another fan, the Canadian singer is the true Queen of Pop: \u201cI\u2019d rather go and see C\u00e9line than Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> or Lady Gaga. I love them too, but C\u00e9line is on another level!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another of her biggest admirers has made a career out of being C\u00e9line. S\u00e9bastien Costic has imitated Dion across Europe for the past 30 years. A former primary school teacher, when he performs, he has the full C\u00e9line look: custom-made accessories, gowns, wigs and high heels. Since the announcement of C\u00e9line\u2019s comeback, bookings for his tribute shows have doubled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Costic, Dion holds a very special place in the hearts of French people: \u201cToday, you almost forget that she isn\u2019t French. You feel like she\u2019s one of us (…) because she\u2019s so close to people \u2013 in her attitude, her popularity, and through the songs she\u2019s shared with the world. She has also helped people around the world discover the French language<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After being diagnosed with a rare and debilitating neurological condition, Dion was forced to put her career on hold in early 2020. Then, against all odds, she made a surprise appearance on the Eiffel Tower<\/a> during the Paris Olympic Games<\/a>. Her resilience was celebrated around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cD\u2019eux\u201d: A turning point\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1994, C\u00e9line Dion<\/a> teamed up with popular French song-writer Jean-Jacques Goldman for the album D\u2019eux. Their partnership struck the right chord: around 11 million copies were sold, making it the best-selling French-language album of all time.\u00a0Co-producer Erick Benzi explains in this edition of France in Focus that, \u201cIn the United States, a singer\u2019s voice is often used as an instrument. In France, we\u2019re more into storytelling\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dion rethought the way she sang. It took her \u201croughly ten seconds\u201d to understand that in French, she didn\u2019t need to push every single note, Benzi recalls.\u00a0As a result, C\u00e9line recorded three songs in one day, instead of one. Her extraordinary efficiency earned her the nickname OVNI or \u201cObjet Vocal Non Identifi\u00e9 (Unidentified Vocal Object, a play on words of the acronym OVNI which stands for Objet Volant Non Identifi\u00e9 \u2013 the equivalent of UFO in English).\u00a0<\/p>\n

A star who keeps it real\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

C\u00e9line Dion\u2019s voice is not the only reason for her vast success. She has won audiences over with her generosity and her genuine connection with fans.\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s incredibly sincere. She doesn\u2019t act like she\u2019s a star\u201d, says Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Zaydman, adding \u201cC\u00e9line Dion is the youngest of 14 children. Her parents didn\u2019t have much money. When she was little, she slept in the drawer of a dresser! So I think she\u2019s stayed true to her roots.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

C\u00e9line has never shied away from sharing the challenges she has faced in life: the death of her husband, Ren\u00e9 Ang\u00e9lil, her personal struggles and, in 2022, her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years later, her surprise appearance on the Eiffel Tower, where she performed \u201cL\u2019Hymne \u00e0 l\u2019amour\u201d, moved the entire nation.\u00a0Today, fans are counting down the days until they can finally see their idol on stage: the international superstar who calls France her second “chez moi\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years after her dazzling performance atop the Eiffel Tower for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, C\u00e9line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[84583,19689,1067,18,117,2220,218766,19,17,337],"class_list":["post-680198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-celine-dion","tag-concert","tag-culture","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-france","tag-france-in-focus","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117240803222910074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}