# Celine Dion: Why the hate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001 "2005-05-02T01:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/41 "2005-05-02T19:52:05Z")
At least Mariah is hot, in a skanky way. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/42 "2005-05-02T21:49:13Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Her branching out into English came in the early 90’s. There’s a tree that needs trimming, then. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/43 "2005-05-02T22:03:24Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > ::snip:: (I don’t like any of Mariah Carey’s songs for the same reason - never have.)::snip:: Mariah Carey sings?.. whodathunkit!. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Cadabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@Cadabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cadabra)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/44 "2005-05-03T01:52:35Z")
I don’t like her. The reason I don’t like her is because her music is so, well, bland. There is no emotion, no soul and no hint that she has put anything into it other than he fact that she sang the damn thing. To put it another way, her music is so white. It’s like wonder bread. Yeah it’s basically a food source but it’s tasteless and bland. It hurts me on a deeper level to know that Jim Steinman, one of the greatest songwriters of the rock and roll era, wrote and won awards for her bland renderings of his songs. I just hope he got paid and paid well. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/45 "2005-05-03T02:46:25Z")
Would the soullessness of her singing have anything to do with English not being her first language? If she doesn’t think in the language, it may be hard for her to “mean what she sings.” I’ve never heard any of the French stuff, but if it is noticeably better that may be the reason why. I, personally, am not a fan. In addition to being soulless, her music is too emotionally charged–it’s like watching a comedy that is nothing but an endless string of one-liners. Even if the jokes are funny at first, it’s going to wear thin fast, because the thing that makes comedies funny is that jokes can appear out of nowhere, they’re unexpected and the shock of the joke is often as funny as the joke itself. I think the same thing is true of vocal acrobatics; if there was a long lead-up to the final moments then that provides a true emotional arc to the song but it’s like she starts every song at its crescendo. I don’t think she gets too much abuse, she’s about on par with Michael Bolton, Kenny G, and other similarly afflicted soulless musicians. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/46 "2005-05-03T03:00:28Z")
I don’t hate her music. I even like some of it. But I’m with Miss Bunny. I can’t stand her public persona. The drama! To hear her tell it, it’s as if she is the first person to experience love, the first person to yearn for a child, the first person to ever get great news from the fertility doctor, the first person to struggle with work and family, the first person to give a concert that is demanding of her vocal chords. When I listen to her interviews I feel like I’m being tutored in “This is what it is like to FEEL these things deeply.” Newsflash: you didn’t invent love, Celine, nor any of the other stuff you yammer on about. And while I’m at it, here’s some more petty complaints: I thought her wedding headdress was butt-ugly, and I thought it was remarkably self-indulgent to have a vow renewal just a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/47 "2005-05-03T04:15:49Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > And then, trapped as I am listening to canned music at work all day, I began to hear some of the words in her songs, and have developed an unnatural hatred for “I Drove All Night” because the next line is “Is that all right?” Don’t know why that irritates me so much, but it does. That song was a remake. I accept every reason why Celine is hated, but I still like her. She’s my guilty pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/48 "2005-05-03T04:24:08Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > It’s the air raid siren effect of her singing. > > Makes people’s skin crawl, as they scan the skies for Stukas. If Celine’s music is playing, then I’m wearing a huge “BOMB HERE PLEASE” sign around my neck as I scan the skies. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/49 "2005-05-03T04:48:03Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That song was a remake. Yes, it was. Cyndi Lauper’s version was much, much better. **continuity eror** may have a point. My guilty pleasure is Shakira, and she has a hell of a voice. In her native Spanish, she sounds much more expressive and passionate, but in English, she sounds kind of flat. It may be somewhat due to the language barrier. However, Céline Dion is also rolling in money, so no matter how bad she may seem to us, someone’s liking it. My money’s on soccer moms. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/50 "2005-05-03T11:57:46Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > Yes, it was. Cyndi Lauper’s version was much, much better. Actually, “I Drove All Night” was a Roy Orbison song. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/51 "2005-05-03T14:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Would the soullessness of her singing have anything to do with English not being her first language? If she doesn’t think in the language, it may be hard for her to “mean what she sings.” I would say no; she speaks fluent English and I am sure she must be thinking in English when she speaks English. For the people who think she sounds much more soulful in French, do any of you speak French yourselves? I haven’t heard her French music, so I can’t say how her expressiveness is there, but I do believe that many people, when hearing another language that they don’t speak themselves, believe the other language to be beautiful, melodic, mellifluous, and expressive. The foreign speaker could be talking about cleaning his toilet but it “sounds” like some beautiful work of art. Could Celine’s French music “sound” that way to people who are just enjoying the sound of another language, and that it’s not that she is so much more expressive in French? > [@](#): > > and I thought it was remarkably self-indulgent to have a vow renewal just a few years later. More opportunity for everyone to “Look at me! Me me me and my wonderful husband, with whom I have a wonderful child! And we are so in love!” _Barf._ ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/52 "2005-05-03T19:58:59Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Her music is trite, overblown, and generic… it just strikes me as music for soccer moms, housewives, and older people who are afraid to listen to anything with guitars. Her fans would also favor the vanilla blandness of Michael Bolton or (eeeurgh) Josh Groban. I don’t know if she writes any the songs herself, but I doubt it. Others have touched on the overemotive wailing and howling. Just because a singer has a wide range or can use vibrato doesn’t mean she SHOULD. Plus doesn’t she have her own amphitheatre in Vegas where she performs regularly? So she’s essentially a big, pompous lounge act. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s exactly how I heel about her. And she beats her chest when she sings, which is a part of the over-emoting thing. I hate that type of music anyway, but he chest-beating is off-putting. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/53 "2005-05-03T20:24:28Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Actually, “I Drove All Night” was a Roy Orbison song. I knew that. Cyndi Lauper’s was still better, so 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001/54 "2005-05-03T20:31:42Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > I knew that. Cyndi Lauper’s was still better, so 😛 I have fond memories of Roy’s version because for some reason, they shot a video for it in the '90s (strangely, after Roy had passed away), shot in lush black and white and starring Jennifer Connelly. Pretty memorable stuff for a teenage boy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-why-the-hate/302001.md?page=2)