Céline Dion Revealed the Impressive Behind the Scenes of Her Hit 'My Heart Will Go On'

Céline Dion‘s emotional and record-breaking song “My Heart Will Go On,” played in 1997’s Titanic, went down in history as one of the best songs in motion picture history. But while the song’s success was (and still is) astronomical, it turns out many of the key players involved weren’t too enthused to record it.

According to Dion’s latest interview with Vogue, Titanic‘s director James Cameron had objections from the start. “James Cameron, the director of the movie, did not want any song,” Dion stated. “He said, ‘My movie is great enough.’ I don’t need any songs.”

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But, despite Cameron’s opinion, the song’s composer James Horner visited Dion, and her late husband René Angélil, to persuade her to sing it. “The writer came – I think secretly – and I was in Las Vegas. René and I were there and he started to play us the song,” Dion remembered. Sadly for Horner, Dion wasn’t the biggest fan of the tune either. “I don’t want to sing the song,” she said.

Upon some persuading, however, Angélil agreed for Dion to do “a little demo” with her voice in Los Angeles. “When he said that obviously I knew I was going to be in trouble,” Dion remembered. “I don’t want to sing the song, the director of the movie doesn’t want to have a song in his movie and I know when I get into a studio, and I hear music, I get into a character, and I even sell it to myself.”

As she predicted, Dion wowed when she sang the song in studio, but she only sang it once. After all, it was just for a demo. “It’s just to put my voice, one take,” she repeated.

After taking the demo to Cameron, however, he was sold. So much so that Dion’s first take was the one that made it to the final cut. “I sang the song and I never re-sang the song to record it to make it as a record,” she said. “My voice is a one-take thing.”

Knowing that all of us have sung and perhaps even cried to Dion’s notes, we’re beyond impressed it only took one take.

“My Heart Will Go On” went on to win that year’s Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for James Horner and songwriter Will Jennings. Talk about a one-take wonder!

Before you go, click here to see the most romantic movie kisses you’ll wish would happen to you IRL.

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