"Courage" is a song by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

from her twelfth English-language studio album, ''

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...

'' (2019). It was written by Stephan Moccio, Erik Alcock and

Liz Rodrigues Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and Eliza. People * Liz Balmaseda (born 1959), Pul ...

, and produced by Moccio. "Courage" was released as a digital download on 18 September 2019. On the same day, Dion embarked on her

Courage World Tour The Courage World Tour is the fourteenth concert tour by Canadian singer Celine Dion, in support of her English-language studio album ''Courage'' (2019). It was her first world tour in over a decade, since her Taking Chances World Tour. The tou ...

, where she performed the song. "Courage" entered the sales charts in Canada and France, and received positive reviews from music critics. The black and white music video premiered on 13 November 2019. In March 2020, the song was sent to radio in Quebec.

Background and release

"Courage" was written by Stephan Moccio, Erik Alcock and

. It was produced by Moccio, who previously co-wrote Dion's 2002 single, "

A New Day Has Come ''A New Day Has Come'' is the seventh English-language and eighteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Sony Music Entertainment on 22 March 2002. It was her first new studio album since 1998's Christmas album ''These Are ...

". "Courage" is an emotional piano ballad, dealing with the loss of a loved one. Together with " Imperfections" and " Lying Down", the song was released as a digital download on 18 September 2019, the day Dion started her

, promoting the ''

'' album.

Critical reception

The song received positive critical reviews. According to A Bit of Pop Music, "Courage" has a very personal content. It is a piano and strings based emotional power ballad, dealing with the loss of a person close to you. With the death of her husband

René Angélil René Angélil (; January 16, 1942 – January 14, 2016) was a Canadian musical producer, talent manager and singer. He was the manager and husband of singer Celine Dion. Early life Angélil was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a father of ...

in 2016, "Courage" must be close to Dion's heart and she sings it with emotive vocals and a lot of passion. Mike Wass from

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

described "Courage" as a simple piano ballad that lets Dion pull the vocal trigger as she shares important life lessons. It is raw and very emotional.

Commercial performance

After being released as a digital download on 18 September 2019, "Courage" debuted on several sales charts and reached number two in Quebec and number 20 in Canada. In March 2021, it was serviced to the

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

in Quebec, where it peaked at number three.

Music video

The audio of "Courage" was uploaded on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on 18 September 2019. The music video, directed by Se Oh and filmed entirely in black and white, premiered on 13 November 2019. Kai Krause worked on it as a cinematographer and Marco Venditto as a lighting director. The video was produced by Mad Ruk Entertainment and Telescope Films.

Credits and personnel

* Stephan Moccio – producer, composer, lyricist, piano, keyboards, background vocal * Erik Alcock – composer, lyricist *

– composer, lyricist *

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– string session co-producer * Jay Paul Bicknell – background vocal, engineer * Kylen Deporter – background vocal, engineer * Wired Strings – strings * Rosie Danvers – string arranger * Nick Taylor – engineer * François Lalonde – recording engineer * Serban Ghenea – mixing engineer * John Hanes – assistant engineer * Rob Katz – assistant engineer *

Vlado Meller Vlado Meller is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, pop, jazz, metal, dance, opera, Broadway, and classica ...

– mastering engineer * John McL. Doelp – executive producer Source:

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2019 songs 2019 singles 2010s ballads Celine Dion songs Columbia Records singles Pop ballads Songs written by Stephan Moccio Black-and-white music videos Songs written by Erik Alcock