"Have You Ever Been in Love" is a song by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
recording artist
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 ...
, recorded first for her seventh English studio album ''
A New Day Has Come'' (2002) and was later included on her eight English studio album ''
One Heart
''One Heart'' is the eighth English-language and nineteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia/Epic Records on 24 March 2003. It was promoted by the lead single "I Drove All Night". ''One Heart'' was produced mainl ...
'' (2003). The song is a power ballad, written by
Anders Bagge
Sven Anders Bagge (; born 16 January 1968) is a Swedish composer, lyricist, musician and record producer and partner with Peer Åström. The two songwriters / producers are known as Bagge & Peer. Bagge is also one of jury members for the TV4 sin ...
,
Peer Åström, Tom Nichols,
Daryl Hall and
Laila Bagge, while production was handled by
Bagge & Peer
Bagge & Peer is a songwriter-producer partnership made up of two Swedish music producers Anders Bagge and Peer Åström. They are also major contributors for the Stockholm-based Murlyn Music Group as Bagge is co-founder and co-owner of the music en ...
.
"Have You Ever Been in Love" builds from a gentle, piano-laced opening into a theatrical, string-framed climax. The song received acclaim from music critics, while being reviewed in both albums. Many critics called it a classic-sounding ballad and one of the strongest cuts from the album. Critics also noted similarities between Dion and
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
.
"Have You Ever Been in Love" was released on 14 April 2003, as One Heart's second (promotional only)
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in the United States and Canada, while on 3 November 2003, it was released as the third commercial single in selected European countries. The song spent fourteen weeks at number 2 on the US
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, setting a record for most weeks at the second position. The music video was shot between 29–30 April 2003 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and released on 2 June 2003.
Background and release
"Have You Ever Been in Love" was composed by
Anders Bagge
Sven Anders Bagge (; born 16 January 1968) is a Swedish composer, lyricist, musician and record producer and partner with Peer Åström. The two songwriters / producers are known as Bagge & Peer. Bagge is also one of jury members for the TV4 sin ...
,
Peer Åström, Tom Nichols,
Daryl Hall and
Laila Bagge, while production was handled by
Bagge & Peer
Bagge & Peer is a songwriter-producer partnership made up of two Swedish music producers Anders Bagge and Peer Åström. They are also major contributors for the Stockholm-based Murlyn Music Group as Bagge is co-founder and co-owner of the music en ...
.
The
power ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...
builds from a gentle, piano-laced opening into a theatrical, string-framed climax.
The song appeared first on Dion's 2002 album ''
A New Day Has Come''. Although not changed, it was included on her 2003 album ''
One Heart
''One Heart'' is the eighth English-language and nineteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia/Epic Records on 24 March 2003. It was promoted by the lead single "I Drove All Night". ''One Heart'' was produced mainl ...
''.
[ The song was released on 14 April 2003, as One Heart's second (promotional only) ]single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in the United States and Canada, while on 3 November 2003, it was released as the third commercial single in selected European countries.
Some years after the album's release, a sheet of paper with Spanish lyrics for this song leaked into the Internet. Dion's signature appeared on the sheet as well as phonetical notes under the adapted lyrics. The title came to be "¿Sabes Cómo Es El Amor?" and next to it appeared the original title in brackets ("Have you Ever Been In Love?"), so a Spanish version for this song is rumoured to have been also recorded, though it remains unreleased to this day. The date in the sheet was 6 May 2003, so it is not certain whether it was recorded for her 2003 ''One Heart'' album (probably to offer a different version of the song) or for her 2002 ''A New Day Has Come'' album.
Critical reception
Larry Flick
Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...
from ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' wrote that "at a time when music is frightfully aggressive and the world at large is fraught with turmoil, a classic Dion power ballad is a warm source of comfort." All along, Dion offers an "appealing palette of vocal colors that range from delicate and breathy to full-bodied and appropriately dramatic."[ Ken Tucker of '']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' wrote that the song "builds in intensity to sound like a James Bond movie
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niv ...
theme as delivered by Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
-- which is to say, it's over-the-top fun." Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
echoed the same thought, calling it an "unapologetically Barbra Streisand-esque." He also picked it as one of the best tracks on both albums ("A New Day Has Come" and "One Heart"). Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...
praised the track, calling it a "soaring" ballad. Rebecca Wallwork was less impressed, commenting that "it stick to the tried-and-true formula of allowing Dion's impressive voice to take center stage."
Elisabeth Vincentelli also from ''Entertainment Weekly'', commented: "Dion keeps the belting in check throughout most of ''One Heart,'' so when she does go for the dunk, as on ''Have You Ever Been in Love,'' the sense of gleeful release is particularly satisfying. (The track -- a sweeping, string-laden '70s-style ballad cowritten by Daryl Hall -- is a repeat from last year's ''A New Day Has Come.'') The song is the best example of the rock-solid foundation ''One Heart'' is built on: Dion's uncanny ability to infuse sincerity into aural Hallmark cards and sound like the only person on earth who believes in true love." Chuck Arnold of ''People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' called it "one of the strongest cuts from the album", while Sal Cinquemani from ''Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
'' named it a "classic-sounding ballad".
Picks and Pans reviewers Chuck Arnold and Ralph Novak wrote, while reviewing the ''One Heart
''One Heart'' is the eighth English-language and nineteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia/Epic Records on 24 March 2003. It was promoted by the lead single "I Drove All Night". ''One Heart'' was produced mainl ...
'' album: "Two of the strongest cuts are actually recycled from last year's A New Day Has Come: "Have You Ever Been in Love" and a ballad version of "Sorry for Love." Christopher Smith from TalkAboutPopMusic described the song as a "guitar-laced piece of theatre that Celine wrestles with, with passion from the halfway mark, welcoming back ‘that voice’ for a new century, before ending with her usual tenderness and seduction."
Commercial performance
The song spent fourteen weeks at number two on the US Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
chart, setting a record for most weeks at the second position. In Sweden, the song debuted at number 57 on 14 November 2003, dropping from the chart the following week.[Swedish Singles Chart]
/ref> However, it re-entered at number 59, on 28 November 2003, spending two weeks on the Swedish charts.[
]
Awards
In 2004, "Have You Ever Been in Love" won ASCAP London Award and BMI London Award for one of the Most Performed Songs in the United States.
Music video
A recording of Dion performing the song in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesars P ...
, Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
was supposed to be the music video. However, Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
asked Antti Jokinen to make a new one. The "Have You Ever Been in Love" music video was shot between 29–30 April 2003 in Los Angeles and released on 2 June 2003. It was included later on the enhanced CD single.[
The music video features Dion standing on a long pier extending over a dry landscape. There are various intermittent shots of couples and children, including some by a large branch and on a wrecked boat. As the song builds, the landscape becomes flooded with water, lifting the boat and filling the dry space under the pier. The video ends with Dion singing on the pier in front of a sunset.
]
Live performances and inclusions
Dion performed this song (between March and November 2003) five nights a week during her show '' A New Day...'' at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Additionally, Dion performed the song on '' VH1 Divas'' and the '' Today Show'' that same year.
In October 2008, "Have You Ever Been in Love" was included on the European version of '' My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection'' greatest hits.
Track listing and formats
*European CD single
#"Have You Ever Been in Love" – 4:08
#" All by Myself" – 5:12
*European CD maxi-single
#"Have You Ever Been in Love" – 4:08
#"Have You Ever Been in Love" (Edit) – 2:58
#"All by Myself" – 5:12
#"Have You Ever Been in Love" (Video) – 4:07
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
Celine Dion songs
2003 singles
2002 songs
Songs written by Daryl Hall
Songs written by Peer Åström
Songs written by Anders Bagge
Pop ballads
Songs written by Tom Nichols (songwriter)
2000s ballads