Maps of Music

Taking Chances (2007)

Where the lyrics of Taking Chances take you, and where it was really made.

The album was recorded mainly over three weeks in Las Vegas, yet it sold over 3.1 million copies worldwide in 2007 alone.

Key places

Where the album was mainly recorded (2007)

Recording site Studio at the Palms — The album was recorded mainly over three weeks in July 2007 at Palm Studios in Las Vegas. The point is shown at city level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording credit at At the Palms (2007)

Recording site Studio at the Palms — Wikipedia's recording credits list At the Palms in Las Vegas as a recording location for this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording credit in Los Angeles (2007)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Wikipedia's recording credits list CMK, Conway, Westlake in Los Angeles as a recording location. The point marks only the city center. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording credit in Stockholm (2007)

Recording site Master Plan — Wikipedia's recording credits list Decibel in Stockholm as a recording location. The point marks only the city center. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording credit in Atlanta (2007)

Recording site DARP Studios (Atlanta) — Wikipedia's recording credits list The Carrington House in Atlanta as a recording location. The point marks only the city center. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording credit in Philadelphia (2007)

Recording site The Studio (Philadelphia) — Wikipedia's recording credits list The Studio in Philadelphia as a recording location. The exact building is not confirmed by the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Taking Chances: twenty-third studio album and tenth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion
• Released by Columbia Records on 7 November 2007
• Marked Dion's return to recording after nearly five years of performing in Las Vegas
• Combines pop and rock influences with original material and covers
• Features songwriters and producers including John Shanks, Linda Perry, David Hodges, Ben Moody, and Dave Stewart

Background

• Release announced on 24 August 2007 on Dion's official website
• Release dates: 12 November 2007 in Europe, 13 November 2007 in North America
• Japan release on 7 November 2007; Australia and New Zealand on 10 November 2007
• Dion described the album as a positive evolution in her career

Recording

• Recorded mainly over a three-week period in July 2007 in Las Vegas
• Worked with a group of songwriters and producers including Linda Perry, Dave Stewart, Ben Moody, Ne-Yo, John Shanks, and Kara DioGuardi
• Covers include Heart's Alone and Tim Christensen's Right Next to the Right One
• One of Dion's favorite songs on the album, That's Just the Woman in Me, was written by Kimberley Rew, a former member of Katrina and the Waves

Cover

• Cover became available to TeamCeline members on 2 September 2007
• Columbia Records made small changes to the cover six days later

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

• Mixed reviews; Metacritic weighted average 53 out of 100 based on eight reviews
• Billboard (Chuck Taylor): called it a fresh direction, citing grittier sound and more emotionally direct vocals
• USA Today (Edna Gundersen): said Dion was stretching artistic muscles and seeking an escape from expectations
• Toronto Star (Ashante Infantry): praised the darker, grittier vibe and edgier rock sound, which could attract new listeners without alienating longtime fans
• About.com (Bill Lamb): welcomed the exploration of new musical directions and praised Dion's vocal ability
• Entertainment Weekly (Chris Willman): noted the more youthful quality of her vocals and her move beyond her established easy-listening style

Reappraisal

• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): said the electronic pop, rock and blues experiments were modest changes, leaving it sounding like the same old Celine Dion in a more contemporary setting
• The Boston Globe (Sarah Rodman): argued Dion took few genuine risks, while praising her precise vocals and strong melodies
• The New York Times (Kelefa Sanneh): praised her confidence and reconnection with contemporary pop, but found some stylistic experiments unsuccessful
• Houston Chronicle (Joey Guerra): praised the contemporary production and variety, while finding the bolder experiments less convincing
• Slant Magazine (Sal Cinquemani): viewed the modernization as calculated, praising a welcome grittiness in parts and criticizing some conspicuous experiments
• NOW: said the album was largely conservative and dated, with polished arrangements that could have appeared in the mid-1990s

Records

• Debuted at number one in Canada with 80,000 copies sold
• Sold 301,000 units in Canada in 2007, third best-selling album of the year there (Nielsen SoundScan)
• Certified four times platinum by CRIA in July 2008 for shipments over 400,000 copies
• Debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with 215,000 copies
• Certified platinum by the RIAA in February 2008; 1.1 million copies sold in the US as of May 2010
• Reached number one in Switzerland, South Africa, and on the European Top 100 Albums
• Sold 3.1 million copies worldwide in 2007 according to the IFPI
• Was the number-one album on the 2008 Canadian year-end Billboard chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Recorded over three weeks in July 2007, the album was made in a short window before its November release.
• Dion's favorite song on the album, That's Just the Woman in Me, had been offered to her 15 years earlier, but she felt it suited her direction only when she began this album.
• The Japanese single A World to Believe In was re-recorded as an English-Japanese duet with Yuna Ito, retitled with the Japanese title included.
• Two months before its worldwide release, Taking Chances was among the most pre-ordered albums on Amazon.
• The album's associated Taking Chances World Tour grossed over US$279 million and was at the time the third highest-grossing tour by a female artist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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