Making Celine latino friendly

[fabtasticfoo]

From today's National Post, this article:

 

Making Celine latino friendly

Matthew Coutts, National Post

 

A group of Spanish academics at the Université de Montréal has established a research group to tackle the question of why Celine Dion, who is worth more than $250-million and has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, has failed to capture the Latin American market.

 

The Research Group on Spanish in America has been designed to provide the Quebec diva with the tools to break into the market by studying her current Spanish-language songs, revising their translations, critiquing her pronunciation and looking for ways to expand her catalogue of Spanish-language music.

 

The group is helmed by Enrique Pato, a Université de Montréal Hispanic studies professor, who says Ms. Dion would need to correct diction faults evident in the four songs she currently has recorded in Spanish, including an airy version of All by Myself. The professor, a Madrid native, says Ms. Dion needs to pronounce each "Z" as though it were an "S" and learn to roll her "Rs" as Latinos do.

 

"Her pronunciation is really good but there are tiny mistakes that she could do better," Mr. Pato said. "It is really important for people to learn about artists and culture from other countries, and I think the best way to introduce yourself to another country is to speak the language."

 

At age 40, Ms. Dion has sold more records than any other woman in history, headlined an exclusive five-year showcase at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and has garnered two decades of accolades that include Junos and Grammy victories, Academy Awards and the Order of Canada. Her French and English-language records have topped charts in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia and she is ranked the fifth richest woman in entertainment, according to Forbes magazine.

 

Ms. Dion's agents were not able to comment on her success in Spanish-speaking nations, but it does seem tame compared with elsewhere. Her latest record, Taking Chances, managed to reach 40th place on the Mexican album chart and as high as eighth on the Spanish album chart.

 

Her current 132-city Taking Chances World Tour only included four stops in Spanish-speaking regions: a stadium appearance in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Jan. 31, and three Mexican stops in early December.

 

The Research Group on Spanish in America comprises 14 Master's and PhD students of Quebec and Latin American origin and is intended as a learning tool for linguistics students. The university noted that neither Ms. Dion nor her manager-husband, René Angélil, commissioned the research group, but Mr. Pato said the final product will be provided to her record label with the hope it will be of use in expanding her entertainment empire into Latin America.

 

He said if Ms. Dion released a Spanish album she could expand her potential fan base by over 400 million people.

 

"I don't know why people don't realize that here in Canada we have at least two of the most important singers in the world, Celine Dion and Shania Twain," Mr. Pato said. "We chose Celine Dion because we are in Montreal, you know."

 

The researchers have no plans to launch a study of Ms. Twain's Spanish-language oeuvre.

 

This sounds like something that might have been left over in the vault from 1997, when Celine and her label actually seemed to care about her success. But, no, it's current. The trick is that these are just some researchers at the Université de Montréal who were looking for a topic to study. It wasn't requested or commissioned by Celine or anyone else associated with her.

 

Of course, if Celine really wanted to become more popular in Latin America (and, really, this applies anywhere else, too) she could try some unconventional strategies like...oh, I don't know...releasing singles, doing promotion, and touring there.

 

Funny to see this as front page news on one of Canada's national newspapers, but then the Post has never passed up an opportunity to put Celine on the cover.

[CelineRules!]

So they actually put together a group of top university researchers to eventually conclude that the best way to win Latin American fans is to release a Spanish album? How brilliant!

 

 

 

Guess you have to keep yourself busy

[ce-line]

Thanks for the article! Very interesting.

[Lymon]

I'd love for Celine to release a Spanish album! The 4 Spanish songs she has are beautiful, and I know Celine said she wanted to record one at one point/

[Bradders]

If Sony see these figures they'll think good sales! Expect more spanish songs in the future...

[Matias]

Well as a spanish native speaker I can say that it is true, Celine is very well known here (Latin America) but only as the one who sung the Titanic theme song...ans we know there is more than just that song, but it would be nice if she expands her tours maybe to countries in South America ( Brasil, Argentina Chile )

We sometimes the fans, feel abandoned!!

i

[Davey84]

haha it's funny to see that céline is used as a study object! First I don't think she has any intents on capturing any market anymore! I think she's happy with the steady base she has now, and concentrates more on the family, then on her carreer, which is logical...

 

never the less, didn't céline say that she was learning spanish in her break??!! Or was that only to understand the maid? I guess An Existe Amor was a lousy attempt to break into the spanish market, but that was a little too late I think...

 

Personally I don't think she needs a spanish carreer, she already has a major english one, and the french one has been neglected since 2002 I'd rather have her focus on that again, then on a spanish one

[CelineDionFan710]

shes french candian. i would like a lived album tho

[maceta_biloxi]

Hello all!

 

A latino here, the pronunciation is not a problem because she does have an excellent pronunciation / accent, except in Mejor Decir Adios. I think is not something about promoting Celine because here you can hear her music on radio, some other artists make spanish version of her songs and I can tell you how many times you can hear Sola Otra Vez a day.

 

I think the market here is poor for an artist as divine as Celine Dion, I don't think most of the countries can afford bringing Celine for example for the Taking Chances tour, why because most of the countries here are third world countries.

 

Also, the music styles are sooooo different and some of them are sooooo horrible (like reggueton), Celine is classic pop that right now is not one the most popular styles down here.

 

Is not about the language is not about promotion.

[celinecolombian]

Well if she and her team decide to expand her carrear in here, it would be great. As Matias wrote, she's only known for "the titanic song" not even for the name of the song

And a complete spanish album would be truly a good move

[Hilda]

a spanish album would be interesting for her if she wanted to do it now. I think if she did....it would be purely for her wanting to try something new....not to gain more fans....otherwise she would have done it ages agao - its not like she ever ignored it - i remember hearing sola otra vez loads in spain in the 96 period. I think being the worlds biggest selling female is prrrooobbaly quite enough for her haha. and a franco/anglo career is more than most artists bother with.

[Black Kitten]

i enjoyed this article! a very fun read. but it's true. she doesn't have to have a career in 3 different languages. she's achieved a fame most artist could only dream of having. but it would be quite interesting if she'll release a full length Spanish album. for a change...

[Shall]

Interesting article:) I would like her to launch a spanish album. It makes me feel very relaxed when I enjoy her spanish songs!

 

BTW, when I read this ---- He said if Ms. Dion released a Spanish album she could expand her potential fan base by over 400 million people.----In a sudden I realized that if Ms. Dion released a CHINESE album she could expand her potential fan base by over 1.3 BILLION people. Haha~~~~~~~~~~

[bruno_oliveira]

Well as a spanish native speaker I can say that it is true, Celine is very well known here (Latin America) but only as the one who sung the Titanic theme song...ans we know there is more than just that song, but it would be nice if she expands her tours maybe to countries in South America ( Brasil, Argentina Chile )

We sometimes the fans, feel abandoned!!

i

 

well she doesnt need spanish songs

she need is to promote here

a promo tour would be nice...

Edited February 19, 2009 at 02:31 AM by bruno_oliveira

[CelineFanInSoCal]

Remember back when she went on her break and she stated her aspirations and goals for her break?

 

Learning Spanish was on the list, wasn't it? Along with picking her own tomatoes, learning to water color, driving her own car and cooking pasta...

 

I wonder what goals were crossed off her list? Cooking the pasta, probably. LOL

 

I've played her Spanish stuff to friends who's native tongue is Spanish, and they were impressed that she even recorded in Spanish, but thought some of the lyrics were a little weird, along with some pronunciation. Remember though, Spanish, like many other widely spoken languages [think French, English, etc], has many dialects, colloquialisms, and region-specific accents, slang, and translations. The Spanish spoken in Spain has differences from the Spanish that spoken in Mexico, which is different from what's being spoken in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and the list goes on and on.

 

Considering Celine is recording for the WORLD, and not for a more specific group or region, her Spanish is pretty darned good, especially considering it's not her first language, second language, or even third language. She's a mainstream artist who's influenced by other genres and pays homage to them in her own way. She's recording a more general Spanish, trying to reach most Spanish speakers through the songs' translations.

 

Remember the issues JJG had when she started recording his songs during Deux? Celine's pronunciation and articulation from her native tongue compared to the French that's spoken in France was different, and required some work on her part.

 

I don't see this as such a huge deal, and I think that considering Celine's a bilingual singer [English and French], with an established fan-base and is beyond successful, and at this point in her career it isn't something she's too overwhelmed with. Maybe a lot of this stemmed from how excited the folks in Mexico were when she finally came to their neck of the woods for this tour and wanted more of her and more shows on their leg of the tour.

[Leo]

They probably saw the huge success Madonna had in Argentina, Brazil and Chile and they asked themselves: "How come our Celine can't do the same?" Madonna grossed $ 52 million with 11 shows that attracted more than 713,000 people.

 

Non-Spanish speaking artists don't sing in Spanish and they are huge. Nowadays nobody records a song/album in every language so that they can make a breakthrough in every market. Christina Aguilera released an album in Spanish in 2000 and it was a huge success but Jennifer Lopez did the same in 2007 and it flopped. So, releasing a Spanish album won't make Celine successful, especially if it includes the convers mentioned in the article which appeal to old people. It can help as long as radio stations play her music. The key is promoting her English albums and touring Latin America/Spain.

 

Regarding album sales My Love shipped over 30,000 copies in Brazil and All The Way keeps selling. In 1998 a magazine said that Let's Talk About Love sold 800,000 copies. Her albums sold well in Argentina too: Falling Into You (more than 80,000 copies), Let's Talk About Love (120,000), All The Way (60,000) and A New Day Has Come (20,000). Live In Las Vegas was certified Platinum in both countries without a whisper of promotion. One Heart had good promotion, but radio stations stopped playing Celine shortly afterwards. Anyway, Celine is a model for every young girl who wants to become a singer and even though many people can't hum a song of hers (except for MHWGO) or can't recognize her face, they know her name and she is regarded as one of the best singers in the world.

 

It's not our fault. Celine's management never cared about us. She cancelled a concert in Barcelona in 1996 because she had health problems. The same happened in 1999 when Rene was ill. Still, she sold over 1 million albums in Spain. In 2007, she scrapped her two concerts in Spain and the one in Portugal and replaced them with two tiny concerts in Monaco. For God's sake! and they still want her to be successful in Spain after such scorn? Remember that TC was certified Gold in Spain (40,000 copies) and debuted at #8.

 

Celine gave a chance to Mexico and Puerto Rico but South America is the only part of the world where the tour didn't stop. I for one feel ignored. Don't tell me she didn't come because they couldn't find a good promoter! The best tours in the last 5 years came to South America. Also, lots of smaller singers/bands came and keep coming. Many chose these concerts to record their DVDs: Madonna, The Police, U2... Rene said they planned this tour so that they could enjoy summer wherever they went... Hello! It's summer here! Autumn begins on March 21st and there is hot weather till mid April. I'm sure it was Celine's team who didn't want to come.

 

They completely wasted this market. In 1999, she could have packed some stadiums. In 2008/2009, she could have sung at arenas. If she wants to come in 2015 or 2020, she won't be able to sing at arenas and will have to sing in theatres because hardly anyone will remember her... it will have been over a decade of lack of promotion/airplay by then. Will she come to give concerts for 3,000 people? No way! Sorry for being pessimistic, but that's the way it is... As she's going back to Las Vegas we can already say that they lost this market.

 

Some of the acts that toured South America in the last few years: U2, Rolling Stones, Madonna, The Police, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams, Aerosmith, Evanescence, Keane, Muse, Coldplay, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Queen & Paul Rodgers, Duran Duran, Kylie Minogue, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Lily Allen, Joss Stone, Maroon 5, Bryan Adams, Seal, Diane Krall, Norah Jones, Michael Buble, KT Tunstall, Bjork, Dionne Warwick, Charles Aznavour, Liza Minelli.

 

Some weeks ago: Elton John, James Blunt, Alanis Morissette

 

In the next few weeks: Peter Gabriel, Liza Minelli, Backstreet Boys, Deep Purple, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Keane.

[Taking Chances]

I would love a Spanish album. I love her current Spanish songs and even though I don't really understand it, it is like my favorite language to listen to. Edited February 19, 2009 at 09:47 AM by Taking Chances

[VintageCeline]

Whhatt?!

That sounds a little late...

 

x

[Costa Santos]

That's a very good article. We speak Portuguese here - maybe, that's why Brazilian people don't know Celine's Spanish songs. She's known by her English career here - even her French songs are more popular (in 2005, Je Ne Vous Oublie Pas was #68 on a very famous Brazilian TOP 100 chart).

[celinedream]

interesting article. people in the university of Montreal studying Celine COOL!! I would love to teach Celine 101 there one day...so as for her entering the Latin world. She just has to call Emilio Estefan and work on a good Spanish album that's all. I was really surprised to see the amazing reaction Mexican audience had when Celine came not only one but THREE major cities in our country!!! and you should have seen the crowd in Mexico city it went WIIILD...not Montreal wild...but it was amazing!! I spoke to Michel in Monterrey he said they're definetely thinking about coming back And Denisse Bombardier husband told us that Rene had been wanting to bring Celine to Mexico and latin america for a long time. and that if they had not come before it was just a matter of not finding the right promoter

[jmm29]

I laughed when I saw this, and grabbed up a copy. I saw it in the airport as I was leaving Montreal

[Matias]

But to be honest, I wouldn't LOVE a spanish album...I don't know, I rather listening to her in einglish either of her spanishs songs are favourites of mine...and I am from an spanish speaking country

[mirage]

He said if Ms. Dion released a Spanish album she could expand her potential fan base by over 400 million people

 

hahha cool so now we get her spanish album remember her saying she would like to learn better spanish and maybe record!?

and now rene sees some numbers, and he thinks... 400 million fans extra? thats how many dollars!?!

[Leo]

interesting article. people in the university of Montreal studying Celine COOL!! I would love to teach Celine 101 there one day...so as for her entering the Latin world. She just has to call Emilio Estefan and work on a good Spanish album that's all. I was really surprised to see the amazing reaction Mexican audience had when Celine came not only one but THREE major cities in our country!!! and you should have seen the crowd in Mexico city it went WIIILD...not Montreal wild...but it was amazing!! I spoke to Michel in Monterrey he said they're definetely thinking about coming back And Denisse Bombardier husband told us that Rene had been wanting to bring Celine to Mexico and latin america for a long time. and that if they had not come before it was just a matter of not finding the right promoter

 

When Celine was in Las Vegas Michel told some Brazilian fans that the tour would include Brazil. I don't believe them. They say that just to be nice or politicaly correct.

 

I don't believe in Denise Bombardier's husand either. As I said above every kind of artists and the most important tours came to Latin America in the last few years. If they could find a good promoter, why Celine couldn't?

[Lymon]

He said if Ms. Dion released a Spanish album she could expand her potential fan base by over 400 million people

 

hahha cool so now we get her spanish album remember her saying she would like to learn better spanish and maybe record!?

and now rene sees some numbers, and he thinks... 400 million fans extra? thats how many dollars!?!

 

And in 2010 we get a Spanish album and a new Vegas show entitled "Celine Dion: Mi Amor"

[cesardario_colombia]

Well, a complete Spanish album is not the way to expand her music through latin america. If she promotes her english and french music here, then that would be enough! people in latin america loves english music, believe me!. Celine has lots of fans here in Colombia, and she is known not just by MHWGO, but with BYLM, TLYM, TPOL, ABMS, and I hear Taking Chances many times in the Bogota's Radio Station. Besides that, there are many Celine Dion's TV shows in spanish, made here in Colombia, in "CityTV" and "Canal 13". So, if SONY and her managers want to conquer latin public, then promote her music here!!

 

But if she wants to make a complete spanish album, then bring it all baby!

[Javito]

Thank you for the article, its really interesting that some canadian people care about this issue.

 

The spanish market in Céline's career its indeed a pending matter. If she has recorded 6 songs in spanish during her career, it proves that she wanted something special with that language, not just to record them for the sake of it.

 

Let me sum up the main information we had about Céline and spanish:

 

-She started with the duet with Paul Anka, Mejor Decir Adiós, and despite being her first spanish recording, her pronunciation was really great.

-In 1999, before her retirement, she said she wanted to learn spanish to record and speak in that language more fluently.

-In 2002, when she came to Spain to promote ANDHC, she told she took some classes, but she quit them very soon because of her pregnancy (), but she stated she could clearly understand some words and sentences from the journalists (although she mistook from time to time with italian...). Then she said in a TV show that she would be back "soon" to Spain, but we haven't seen her yet since then. She had any date for Spain during her world tour .

-Then with the Latin Billboard Awards, it seemed that her spanish affair went for serious, as she performed Aún Existe Amor in front of a big audience, broadcasted to millions of people on TV, and the critics were raving about her performance. That wasn't a dream, they were really impressed by her language skills with spanish, because she pronounces it very good despite of not knowing the language.

-After the Latin Billboard event, there were plans to re-record A New Day Has Come in spanish for a mexican soap opera, but it finally never happened

-And finally, in 2005 she stated in For Keeps that she wanted to record a spanish album, but no more plans about learning the language.

 

What I think about all this?. I really think that a full spanish album would have been a great success, but maybe not today. Of course I hope she releases someday that spanish album, but she had to have done that already, when the interest was really there, fresh.

 

Today?. She seems to have lost a lot of interest in her career, recording good songs and making good promotion, as if we could think her to think about recording a spanish album!! It should have happened before, when she was popular everywhere and respected. Today I assure you she's not that popular everywhere (not in she spanish/latin market at least).

 

And something to keep in mind, Aún Existe Amor was performed 3 times on a stage. That should mean something for her towards the latin market, but now I'm very confused with her intentions/the plans of her team with the spanish language issue. But for sure it would have been great for Céline to have a spanish career. No other female non-spanish speaking singer has recorded in this language as good as Céline She's close to a native sound, and other attempts like Madonna, Mariah Carey etc are by faaaar not at the level of Céline's songs. Humberto Gatica did a good work in the studio with her, that's sure!

[mebe]

I also think that she doesnt need to record an album in Spanish to get more popular in Latin America. She has already recorded more songs in that language than most international artists who doesnt speak Spanish. Maybe it was a question of promotion. I think she should have toured that part of the world with her Let's Talk About Love tour to really conquer that market.

 

By the way, if i remember well, I think My heart Will Go On was the first song to ever top the Billboard latin chart. Am I right??? I guess it proves she doesnt need to sing in Spanish to be successful with latin people.

[luciusbright]

I would love to have a complete Spanish album, but I believe it has nothing to do with the market, no need for that...

in deed, it's about promotion~~~

[Your_Su_Phu]

isn't this just a matter of celine being past her prime? if I'm not mistaken her peak albums - falling into you, let's talk about love, all the way - were huge even in spanish speaking markets. I don't think this article is taking that into account