Celine Dion’s heart-churning ballads are what skyrocketed her to international acclaim. But in 2017, the Canadian songstress broke her own mold during a Berlin concert as she covered one of the most legendary, upbeat pop anthems in music history, and it’s completely transformed the way fans see her.
Taking on Michael Jackson’s megalithic 1991 single, “Black or White,” this rendition was the ultimate tribute from one pop icon to another. And, as the footage goes viral on YouTube, viewers are catching a brand new side of the star that’s barely been glimpsed before. Amassing more than 65,000 views to date, Music Man readers can watch Celine’s live cover unfold in the video below…
We all know Celine for her soft pop tear-jerkers, “My Heart Will Go On” and “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” and her often orchestrally-led music aesthetic built on grace, comfort, elegance, and raw emotion.
But when the star takes on the Jackson hit, she can’t resist embodying the King of Pop himself.
Laying punchy lead vocals over an electric guitar and a full pop-rock band, Celine unleashes a rarely seen side of her stage persona, dabbling with newfound grit and reveling in the high energy of MJ’s hit.
But Celine didn’t simply change her vocal style for this surprise cover. The trademark reserved and classy singer even takes on some of MJ’s iconic dance moves – hip-thrusts, shoulder shuffles, poses, stances and all – sending her Berlin audience completely feral as she masters Jackson’s vibe like a queen.
Throwing her own genre and her comfort zone out of the window, this clip proves what a legend Celine Dion is in her own right, putting her raw passion for pop hits on full display for the awe-struck world to see.
Fans have flocked to the YouTube comments to spread their love for Celine’s brave MJ take, with one top commenter calling her “a true MJ fan,” and another pointing out, “She’s a diva. She can do whatever she wants!”
While others have been busy praising Celine’s free-spirited nature during this clip, one fan saw to the heart of what makes this performance so great when they wrote, “People need to pay more attention to the lyrics. The world needs this message.”