Dressed in an XL hoodie from the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Céline Dion presented, on Sunday evening, the “classic” clash between these two American football teams to the notes of her own classic, It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.
In a semi-humorous advertising video recorded for the NBC network, the Quebec performer declined the allusions between her popular 1996 song and the Cowboys-Steelers match, which links memories, important meetings, disappointments and passion . “But when you touch me like this, and hold me like this, it works, right? “, remarked Céline Dion, quoting the words ofIt’s All Coming Back to Me Now that could apply to a game on the field at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
This ad for the Sunday Night Football on NBC, broadcast here by RDS and CTV, ended with a shower of orange Gatorade for the 56-year-old Quebec singer, who raised her hands to the sky and laughed.
There was no Céline mini-concert at NBC or anything else. Only this 104-second clip is not particularly original. And honestly, this commercial association between Sunday Night NFL Football and Celine Dion seemed forced and unnatural.
But, okay. This other public appearance of the superstar is part of a long, carefully constructed sports marketing plan, which will culminate with the announcement of a new residence for the Charlemagne diva, in Las Vegas.
What Celine Dion sends as a message, in each of her media presences, is this: I’m really better, I won’t cancel any more shows, come see me soon in Las Vegas, the machine is running again.
To sell bundles of tickets in advance, fans must regain confidence in the singer’s solidity and vocal abilities, something she strives to reestablish month after month.
Céline’s gradual reintegration into showbiz is mainly through highly watched sporting events. In addition to the Paris Olympic Games, her dips at Boston Bruins games and her hello at the high mass of American football, the singer announced the selection of Ivan Demidov, first choice of the Montreal Canadiens, during the last NHL draft, held at the end of June.
Sport and its metaphors are not foreign to the entire construction of the image of the star of Charlemagne, who has trained like an athlete for 40 years and who imposes Spartan discipline on himself to remain at the top. Céline always pushes her notes further, higher and stronger.
June 25, in the documentary I Am: Celine Dion from Amazon Prime Video, the general public however discovered a Céline Dion psychologically ravaged and physically demolished by stiff person syndrome. This 1h42 film showed us Céline at the bottom of the barrel, addicted to her anxiolytics and unable to use her precious instrument.
A month later, on July 26, and after four years of absence on stage, Céline Dion capsized the entire planet by resuming The hymn to love by Édith Piaf at the very end of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.
Perched in the Eiffel Tower and drenched by cold rain, the Quebec megastar was super solid and imperial in her Dior dress embroidered with sparkling pearls.
This Hymn to love of 2024 was even better than the one she performed at the American Music Awards in November 2015, in memory of the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks.
It’s difficult to make a more dazzling and observed comeback than this one, worthy of a Hollywood film. Of a woman in crisis unable to record a ballad for the (very bad) film Love AgainCeline Dion stands up and triumphs with her golden voice in front of billions of people, their jaws on the ground. It went quickly. Very quickly, even.
This dazzling recovery has raised a few red flags: did Céline lip-sync in the Eiffel Tower? It seems like it was impossible for such a sick woman to put this immense pressure on herself to get the ball out of the stadium, without a safety net.
Especially when we know that stress or strong emotions, happy or sad, trigger severe muscle spasms in Céline.
The artistic director of the Paris Games ceremony, Thomas Jolly, swore that the performer had not used soundtracks and that she sang live, “without playback”.
Of course, the documentary I Am: Celine Dion was mainly filmed in 2021 and 2022, almost two years before the Paris Olympic Games. The fact remains that this recovery is ultra-rapid for an artist who consumed up to 90 mg of Valium per day and whose vocal cords no longer vibrated.
We are missing information to connect the almost dying Céline of 2022 to the flamboyant Céline of 2024. Is she taking a miraculous drug? Is she following revolutionary treatments that will change the lives of everyone who suffers from this rare neurological disorder? Is she still experiencing disabling symptoms?
It can’t be obvious when Céline’s illness will be well controlled enough to allow her to jump onto the ice and once again pump her fist in the air, the signature move she’s been performing for years. decades in every arena on the planet.
Watch the advertising video on X