My Heart Will Go On

About

"My Heart Will Go On," also known as the "Love Theme from Titanic", is the main theme song from the 1997 film Titanic. The music was written by James Horner and Will Jennings, produced by James Horner and Walter Afanesieff, and recorded and released by Celine Dion. This song is considered to be one of the most popular love ballads of the 1990s.

Origin

"My Heart Will Go On" was originally composed by Horner as an instrumental motif which was employed in several scenes in Titanic.^[1] Horner and Jennings then wrote lyrics to the song; it was presented to Dion, who was reluctant to sing the song but eventually agreed, and Cameron, who was reluctant to include the song in the film as he found it "too commercial," but eventually agreed as he thought a pop song to help promote the film would calm studio executives who were worried about recuperating the film's high budget. The song was released as a single on Dion's album Let's Talk About Love on December 8th, 1997.

Spread

Reception

The song was a critical and commercial success. It was Dion's biggest hit, selling over 15 million copies worldwide. It debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 100, where it stayed for two weeks. Critics praised the song's power and notable influence in pop culture. Vulture magazine called its key change "one of the most glorious" in pop history. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 1997 Academy Awards and won several awards at the 1999 Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television.

In later years, critics soured on the song. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers voted the song the 7th worst song of the 90s, writing "Celine Dion's song and the movie have aged very poorly." Vulture argued that the song had fallen out of vogue due to its melodramatic style and cheesy aesthetic. The popularity of Dion and the song mixed with the changed critical climate surrounding her and the song prompted music critic Carl Wilson to write the book Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste in the 33 1/3 book series.^[2]

Online Parodies

The song has been parodied online in remixes and clips that take the song out of context. For example, on April 11th, 2011, YouTuber A Nonymous uploaded a looping clip of Handsome Squidward set to the song, gaining over 451,000 views (shown below, left). On November 27th, 2009, YouTuber Matt Mulholland uploaded a version of the song poorly played on a recorder, gaining over 21 million views (shown below, right)

On October 10th, 2016, YouTuber Toxinn uploaded a video where he added the song into several different movie scenes, gaining over 307,000 views (shown below, left). On April 28th, 2017, YouTuber Malinda Kathleen Reese uploaded a cover of the song which changed the lyrics to be altered by Google Translate, gaining over 1 million views (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References