Falling into You – 1996
Falling into You is the fourth English-language studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 8 March 1996, by Columbia/Epic Records. The follow-up to her commercially successful album The Colour of My Love (1993) and French-language D’eux (1995), Falling into You showed a further progression of Dion’s music. Throughout the project, she collaborated with Jim Steinman, who wrote and produced “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”, among others. Several songs were produced by David Foster, including Diane Warren’s “Because You Loved Me”. Generally, Dion worked with fourteen producers on Falling into You and a variety of songwriters and musicians.
Falling into You won many awards around the world, including Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album at the 39th annual ceremony, during which Dion performed live. In April 1997, she also won three World Music Awards for World’s Best Selling Artist of the Year, World’s Best Selling Pop Artist of the Year and World’s Best Selling Canadian Artist of the Year. The album is on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Definitive 200 list.
Falling into You became one of the best-selling albums in history, with sales of over 32 million copies worldwide. It topped the charts around the world, including number one in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Australia and many more. It became one of the best-selling albums of 1996 and 1997 in various countries and also one of the top-selling albums of the decade. It was certified Diamond, Multi-Platinum, Platinum and Gold around the world. The album has sold eleven million copies in the US, over two million in the UK, and over one million in Germany, France, Canada and Australia. In Europe, it has sold over nine million units.
Five singles were released from the album in Europe, four in Australia, and three in North America. The major success came with the release of “Because You Loved Me”, theme from Up Close & Personal (number one in the United States, Canada and Australia), “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (number one in Canada, Belgium and number two in the US), and Eric Carmen’s “All by Myself” (top ten in various countries, including number four in the US).
Falling into You presented Dion at the height of her popularity, and showed a further progression of her music. The album combined many elements: ornate orchestral frills and African chanting, and instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho, saxophone and supreme string arrangements, which created a new sound. The singles also encompassed a variety of musical styles. “Falling into You” (originally by Marie-Claire D’Ubaldo) and “River Deep, Mountain High” (Ike & Tina Turner’s cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (originally by Pandora’s Box) and “All by Myself” (Eric Carmen’s cover) kept their soft-rock atmosphere, but were combined with the classical sound of the piano.
The ballad, “Because You Loved Me” written by Diane Warren, served as the theme to the 1996 film Up Close & Personal. The album also included English adaptations of songs from D’eux: “If That’s What It Takes” (“Pour que tu m’aimes encore”), “I Don’t Know” (“Je sais pas”) and “Fly” (“Vole”). Outside North America, Falling into You featured also a cover of Carole King’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”. In Asia, Japanese hit “To Love You More” was added as well. Additionally, the non-US editions of the album included “Your Light” written and produced by Aldo Nova and the Spanish/Latin America editions featured “Sola Otra Vez”, a Spanish-language version of “All by Myself”. Dion worked on Falling into You with many producers, mainly with Jim Steinman, David Foster, Ric Wake, Jean-Jacques Goldman and Humberto Gatica.
Additionally, “Because You Loved Me” was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It also won an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for Most Performed Song from Motion Picture and ASCAP Pop Awards for Most Performed Song in 1997, 1998 and 1999. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” won a BMI Pop Award for Song of the Year. Both “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and “All by Myself” won BMI Pop Awards for Most Performed Songs. “The Power of the Dream”, included on 2CD limited editions of Falling into You, won a BMI Film & TV Award in the category Special Recognition: The Olympic Tribute Award and was nominated for Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.
Track listing
US edition
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” Jim Steinman
Steinman Steven Rinkoff Roy Bittan
7:37
2. “Because You Loved Me” Diane Warren David Foster 4:33
3. “Falling into You”
Billy Steinberg Rick Nowels Marie-Claire D’Ubaldo
Nowels Steinberg
4:18
4. “Make You Happy” Andy Marvel Ric Wake 4:31
5. “Seduces Me”
Dan Hill John Sheard
Rick Hahn Hill John Jones
3:46
6. “All by Myself”
Eric Carmen Sergei Rachmaninoff
Foster 5:12
7. “Declaration of Love”
Michael Jay Claude Gaudette
Wake 4:20
8. “Dreamin’ of You”
Aldo Nova Peter Barbeau
Nova 5:07
9. “I Love You” Nova Foster 5:30
10. “If That’s What It Takes”
Jean-Jacques Goldman Phil Galdston
Goldman Humberto Gatica
4:12
11. “I Don’t Know”
Goldman J. Kapler Galdston
Goldman Gatica
4:38
12. “River Deep, Mountain High”
Ellie Greenwich Jeff Barry Phil Spector
Steinman Rinkoff
4:10
13. “Call the Man”
Andy Hill Peter Sinfield
Steinman Rinkoff Jeff Bova
6:08
14. “Fly”
Goldman Galdston
Goldman Gatica
2:58