Monday, February 1, 1999
Celine’s titanic success a mystery
COLUMN: Despite having little depth, artists enjoy Go-Go-esque
popularity
During winter break, I went on a trip to Asia. On the long
flight across the Pacific, I brought along magazines to kill some
time. Spin, Rolling Stone and US magazines kept me occupied for
most of the 16-hour trip.
Flipping through these periodicals, I came upon an interesting
statistic in Rolling Stone. It seems Celine Dion was the best
selling artist for 1998, with the Titanic soundtrack and her own
"Let’s Talk About Love" taking the No. 1 and 2 spots due to that
annoyingly melodramatic "My Heart Will Go On" single pushing
sales.
This new bit of information sort of scared me. Besides my
roommate, I know no one who actually likes Celine Dion. Most of the
people I run into hate her stuff; you can only sing about love so
many times before it gets wrought with redundancy.
I, myself, can not stand that woman. Granted, she has a
beautiful voice but she uses it for such evil purposes.
So if no one buys her records, why she is so damn popular?
Unless people really like giving her discs as gag gifts, I am
stumped.
I mean, if Mariah Carey were the No. 1 selling artist of the
year I would understand. Mariah looks really hot, even now when she
is dressing up all ho. But Celine is really tripping me up.
The only reason I can come up with is that Celine, like many
other artists, is riding The Go-Gos phenomenon.
Back in the day of crimp hair and stone-washed jeans, critics
and most of America despised The Go-Gos – but they defied the odds
and sold millions and millions of records. Belinda Carlisle even
had a successful solo career finding her heaven on earth.
No one back then knew why The Go-Gos made it big and no one
knows why Celine is big now. I guess Celine is like the Mystery
Spot in Santa Cruz. She is simply an aberration going against the
laws of nature.
But for all the Celine fans out there, she is not the only
artist that benefits from The Go-Gos factor. The Spice Girls,
Hanson, Master P and the No Limit family all succeed with some
Go-Gos power. So rest assured, you guys are not alone.
But The Go-Gos factor affects the overseas market as well –
buyers really think Celine is really gifted.
On my trip to Asia, I met a guy from Japan. Apparently the
Japanese really, really dig Celine and anything relating to Titanic
and Leo DiCaprio. By the sound of it, Celine and Leo are basically
gods over there, with the selling power of The Beatles.
And in Europe, Germany in particular, they go crazy for David
Hasselhoff; yes, they love Knight Rider.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is how North America is represented
to our foreign friends.
So I guess The Go-Gos effect is a global thing. I guess Celine
and her success will remain a mystery to me and millions of people
around the world.
Maybe when I am older or if I have a major lapse of poor
judgement I’ll fall for Celine and her high-pitched stylings, and
just maybe, I’ll discover the secret to why Celine is so
popular.
But until then, I’ll stick with Mariah and her short, short
skirts.
Bui is the A&E editor and writes columns to fill space.
Contact him at tricky@ucla.edu.Trinh Bui
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