Maps of Music

D'eux (1995)

Where the lyrics of D'eux take you, and where it was really made.

The album sold in America under a different name, The French Album, while its French title D'eux became the best-selling album in French chart history.

Key places

Recorded at Mega Studio in Paris (1995)

Recording site Mega Studio — The album was recorded at Mega Studio in Paris in November and December 1994, with Jean-Jacques Goldman producing most of it. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• D'eux: thirteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion
• Her tenth album in the French language
• Released by Columbia Records and Epic Records on 30 March 1995 in Canada and 3 April 1995 in France
• Issued in the United States under the title The French Album
• Marked a major point in Dion's francophone career

Background

• Created and produced mainly by Jean-Jacques Goldman
• Goldman wrote and produced 11 of the album's 12 tracks
• Erick Benzi wrote the remaining track, Cherche encore, and also worked on the production
• Combined personal themes with mainstream pop production
• Includes a duet with Goldman on J'irai où tu iras
• Vole is dedicated to Dion's niece, who died from cystic fibrosis
• Three French titles were later adapted into English for Falling into You
• Europe release ran from April to November 1995; New Zealand in January 1996; Japan in October 1996

Recording

• Recorded at Mega Studio in Paris in November and December 1994

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born 30 March 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of 14 children.
• Discovered by future manager and husband René Angélil after her brother sent him a demo recording of her first song "Ce n'était qu'un rêve".
• Angélil mortgaged his home in 1981 to fund her first record, La voix du bon Dieu, which became a No. 1 hit in Quebec.
• Won the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo in 1982.
• Won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 for Switzerland with "Ne partez pas sans moi".

Career

• Debuted in the Anglophone market with Unison (1990), followed by Celine Dion (1992).
• Breakthrough with "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) with Peabo Bryson, winning her first Grammy.
• The Colour of My Love (1993) and Falling into You (1996) became major international successes.
• "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic (1997) became her signature song and one of the best-selling singles.
• D'eux (1995) became the best-selling French-language album.
• Held the A New Day... residency at Caesars Palace (2003–2007), the highest-grossing concert residency; the Los Angeles Times ranked her the top-earning artist of the 2000s.
• Announced in 2022 a diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome, cancelling tours; returned to performing at the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.

Members

• Solo artist; manager and husband René Angélil (died 2016) guided her career.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave three out of five stars, praising Goldman's songwriting
• Billboard noted the album's unusual global reach for a French-language release
• Le Monde gave a perfect rating, citing musical coherence and the Dion-Goldman collaboration
• La Presse gave five out of five stars
• Le Droit highlighted the strength of the partnership between singer and songwriter
• Public rated the album 19 out of 20

Reappraisal

• Le Journal de Montréal wrote that the album changed the perception of what French pop could achieve commercially and artistically
• In 2003, RTL and M6 ranked it the greatest French-language album of all time
• Télérama included it in its list of 100 discs that changed the world

Records

• France: 44 weeks at number one, certified diamond in August 1995, 4.5 million copies sold
• Wallonia (Belgium): 37 weeks at number one, best-selling album of 1995
• Quebec: 34 weeks at number one
• United Kingdom: peaked at number seven, gold for 250,000 copies
• United States (as The French Album): 300,000 copies sold
• European Top 100 Albums: peaked at number three, later eight-times platinum
• Worldwide sales estimated at over 12 million copies
• Juno Awards 1996: nominated for Album of the Year and two other categories, won Best Selling Francophone Album
• Victoires de la Musique 1996: Francophone Artist of the Year won

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• In June 1995, Dion performed Pour que tu m'aimes encore on Good Morning America and The Tonight Show, the first time she introduced a French-language song on major American television
• Her concerts at the Zénith de Paris were recorded and released in 1996 as the live album Live à Paris
• The 15th anniversary edition, released in November 2009 in Europe, adds demos of three songs
• Pour que tu m'aimes encore topped the French chart for 12 weeks
• The bonus DVD of the 15th anniversary edition contains the 1995 television special Spécial Dimanche, originally broadcast in Quebec

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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