Love Again (soundtrack)

Love Again is the soundtrack album to the 2023 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by James C. Strouse, Love Again. It was released by Columbia Records on 12 May 2023. The album features five new songs by Celine Dion and six of her past hits. The first song, "Love Again" was released on 13 April 2023. The second track, "I'll Be" premiered on 5 May 2023. Other new songs include "Waiting on You", "Love of My Life" and "The Gift". Love Again received favorable reviews from music critics and debuted at numbers one in Quebec, two on the UK Soundtrack Albums chart, six in the Romandy region of Switzerland and ten in Belgium's Wallonia.

Development
In October 2020, Priyanka Chopra, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion joined the cast of the film, tentatively titled Text for You. Principal photography began in October 2020 and ended in early 2021. In April 2022, it was announced that the film had been retitled It's All Coming Back to Me, after the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", which Dion covered on her 1996 album Falling into You. In November 2022, it was announced that the film was retitled to Love Again. It was released theatrically on 5 May 2023.

Songs
Love Again features 11 songs by Celine Dion that are woven into the narrative of the film and its characters. The album features five new Dion songs and six of her past hits, including a new edit of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "All by Myself", "That's the Way It Is", "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", "Courage" and the album version of "A New Day Has Come". The soundtrack also features three of the film's score selections written and produced by American film composer, Keegan DeWitt.

Release and promotion
On 13 April 2023, Dion released a ballad "Love Again", the first song from the soundtrack, and her first new music since her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis in December 2022. Because of her ongoing battle with the disease, Dion did not promote the movie or its soundtrack. Gil Kaufman from Billboard described "Love Again" as a moving ballad and a gentle piano and acoustic guitar track in which Dion softly sings emotional lyrics: "Cuz you don't have to move a mountain, just keep moving/ Every move is a new emotion/ And you don't have to find the answers, just keep trying/ The sun will rise again/ The storms subside again/ This is not the end/ And you will love again". The lyric video with scenes from the movie, was also released on YouTube on the same day.

The second upbeat track, "I'll Be" premiered on 5 May 2023. Its lyric video included clips from the film alongside photos and messages from fans around the world. Larisha Paul from Rolling Stone gave the song a positive review and called it a "fittingly an alternate universe version of "My Heart Will Go On". She added that the chorus of "I'll Be", which promises "No, you won't be alone through the highs and the lows/You know you got me/Wherever you go", feels like a repackaging of "Near, far, wherever you are/I believe that the heart does go on", if only Titanic actually followed the story of a woman grieving her fiancé and a journalist assigned to profile Celine Dion and not two star-crossed lovers on a literal sinking ship.

"Love Again" and "I'll Be" were successful in Quebec, reaching number two on the charts. Both songs also charted on the Canadian Digital Song Sales chart, reaching numbers 10 and 25, respectively. "Love Again" also peaked at number 86 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. After the soundtrack's release, another new uptempo song "The Gift" debuted and peaked at number two on the Quebec Top Sales Songs chart. As "The Gift" became popular on the radio in Quebec, it also entered the Top Radio Songs chart at number eight in early June 2023 and peaked at number two in the first week of July 2023. The lyric video for another new song, "Waiting on You" was released on 26 June 2023.

Critical reception
Entertainment Focus named "Love of My Life" as the finest out of the new songs and gave the album four out of five stars saying: "Dion's music has stood, and will continue to stand, the test of time. She's without a doubt one of the greatest vocalists there has ever been and that's evident across this soundtrack". The Rolling Stone also gave the album a positive review and called it a "killer soundtrack" saying: "it is of course Dion's overwhelming voice and music that flood your heart".

Commercial performance
Love Again debuted at number one in Quebec and number 77 on the Canadian Albums Chart. It spent first three weeks at the top of the chart in Quebec. In the United States, it reached number 20 on Billboard's Top Soundtracks chart, and also peaked at number 42 on Top Current Album Sales and number 71 on the Top Album Sales chart.

In the United Kingdom, Love Again entered the UK Soundtrack Albums chart at number two. It also debuted on three other UK albums charts: number 16 on UK Downloads, number 22 on UK Sales and number 24 on UK Physical Sales. Love Again also peaked at number 32 on the Scottish Albums Chart. Other European chart entries include numbers 10 in Belgium's Wallonia, 19 in Switzerland (number six in Romandy), 24 in Belgium's Flanders and Portugal, and 32 on the Polish Physical Albums chart. In France, Love Again peaked at number 11 on the Top Physical Albums chart and number 43 on the Top Albums chart, based on sales and streaming.

Track listing
All songs performed by Celine Dion, except three scores by Keegan DeWitt.

Notes
 * undefined signifies an additional producer
 * undefined produced by Afterhrs under direction by J Kash
 * undefined signifies a co-producer
 * undefined signifies an orchestral session co-producer

Film score personnel

 * Keegan DeWitt – composer, producer
 * Dabney Morris – arrangements, orchestration
 * Oleg Kondtratenko – conductor
 * Matt Ward – mix
 * Catherine Joy – score supervisor