In the new film Love Again, Celine Dion stars alongside Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan as a fictionalized version of herself. The singer also recorded five songs for the rom-com’s soundtrack, including “Love Again” and the newly released “I’ll Be,” which is fittingly an alternate universe version of “My Heart Will Go On.”
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 is in theaters now, but the other three songs Dion provided for the soundtrack won’t arrive until May 12.
“I had a lot of fun doing this movie. And to have the privilege of appearing with the beautiful and talented actors Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan in my very first feature film is a gift that I will cherish forever,” Dion said in a statement (via People). “I think it’s a wonderful feel-good story, and I hope that people will like it, and like the new songs too.”
The new songs mark Dion’s first English-language releases since her 2019 album Courage as well as her official return to music since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome. The rare neurological condition caused the singer to cancel dozens of shows over the past two years, so her big-screen debut is also a way to access her fans more widely without returning to the road.
“I’ve been dealing with my health for a long time, and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and talk to about the things that I’ve been going through,” Dion said in December 2022. “Recently, I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one-in-a-million people. While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this has what’s been causing all the spasms that I’ve been having.”