My Heart Will Go On: the story of the song Celine Dion almost refused to sing

My Heart Will Go On is probably Celine Dion's most famous song. It's also the one that almost never existed. Neither the film's director, nor the singer, nor even the composer truly wanted to make it.

A song composed in secret

In 1996, James Horner was working on the Titanic soundtrack. James Cameron had been categorical: no pop song at the end of his film. Horner disagreed. He secretly composed a vocal theme and brought in lyricist Will Jennings, with whom he had previously collaborated on An American Tail.

Horner knew that presenting the song too early would lead Cameron to reject it. He decided to produce it first, then present the director with a fait accompli.

A single take

Celine Dion hesitated. She found the project risky and didn't want to be associated with a potential commercial failure. It was Rene Angelil, her manager and husband, who convinced her to record at least a demo. Just one take. Celine walked into the studio, sang the song once. That single take became the final version of the single.

When Cameron finally heard the song, he still resisted. It took his then-wife Linda Hamilton and Paramount Studios insisting before he agreed to include it in the end credits.

Unprecedented success

My Heart Will Go On was released in December 1997. The single reached number 1 in 25 countries simultaneously. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year. It was the best-selling single of 1998 with over 18 million copies sold.

On Spotify, the track has accumulated over 709 million streams, making it by far Celine Dion's most listened-to song.

An ambivalent relationship

Celine Dion has had a complicated relationship with this song. She admitted in interviews that she cannot sing it without thinking of Rene Angelil, who passed away in January 2016. The track has become more than a movie song: it's an emotional marker of her own life.

During her Las Vegas residencies, My Heart Will Go On was consistently the final encore. It's expected to hold the same place at the Paris 2027 concerts.