Lara Fabian: The Reviews

Various
© Billboard, Chapters, Barnes & Noble May-june 2000

Billboard.com

French-Canadian singer/songwriter Lara Fabian is the consummate adult-appealing newcomer. With four French-language albums already under her belt and worldwide sales surpassing 6 million, she hits U.S. shores with the aplomb -- and musical prowess -- of an established superstar. Her self-titled debut serves up the very essence of heart through 13 mature songs that grow with each successive play, ranging from guttural epic ballads to dance-ready throwdowns. But when the dishes are cleared, it's all about the voice here, a vehicle through which life's essence emits on love, in pain, and with hope. There's not a miss to be found on the album, from the self-empowering "I Am Who I Am" and heart-wrenching "Broken Vow" to current uptempo single "I Will Love Again" and the album's finest moment, "Adagio," performed in both English and Italian. "Lara Fabian" is a cleanser for the soul. Wholly mesmerizing

Barnes & Noble

By Lydia Vanderloo

Born in Belgium, raised in Italy, Lara Fabian is now ready to conquer the world from her current perch in Montreal. Indeed, she's already won over the French-speaking world, selling more than six million units in just two years, and it's easy to see why on LARA FABIAN, the young singer's commanding English language debut. Her passion-fueled vocal pop traces its roots not only to another French-speaking diva, Celine Dion, but back to the root: the soulful, stylized gushings of Barbra Streisand. Fabian isn't afraid to charge each breath and note with all-cards-on-the-table emotion, her booming, cathartic voice soaring above clean, studio-bred arrangements that effortlessly fuse keys, strings, and rock-based elements. As if to show that she's a serious vocalist, Fabian begins the album with an interpretation of the familiar classical theme "Adagio" and closes with an even more sumptuous Italian version that will leave goosebumps on your neck as she surges toward -- and captures -- the high notes. Fabian flirts with the contemporary R&B world on the slinky "Till I Get Over You," produced with help from ex-Color Me Bad member Sam Watters, and the punchy, resolute "I Am Who I Am," which could be her anthem. Piano accompaniment and a sax run lend "Part of Me" a light-jazz sensibility, but the lush choir backing Fabian on the resounding final chorus makes it big enough to fill a stadium. Another show-stealer is the dramatic "To Love Again," which could go head-to-head with Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" if it weren't for the bombastic guitar solo stealing some of Fabian's thunder. This singer doesn't need such studio flourishes to make her point -- her voice does all the work for her. This may be the first you hear from Lara Fabian, but it certainly won't be the last. This limited-edition version, exclusive to Barnes & Noble.com, includes an additional disc with the track "Before We Say Goodbye," not previously available in the U.S.

People magazin

By Ralph Novak

Big noise from Belgium: Fabian launches her pop invasion with Celine-size pipes.
Great as she was -- and no pop singer has ever been more expressive -- Edith Piaf also set unfortunate precedents. Histrionics aside, Piaf's aggressive approach to lyrics (she could sound angry at the words) influenced generations of singers, beginning with her most famous disciple, Barbra Streisand, and continuing, to a lesser degree, with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion (most egregiously) and now, to an extent, newcomer Lara Fabian.
Born in Belgium and currently living in Quebec, Fabian, 29, does indulge in some big Piaf-like singing, as well as some Madonnaesque faux cuteness. Her approach, however, is generally unaffected, with an easy lilt reminiscent of another European-born singer, Basia.
The major weakness of this album -- Fabian's first in English -- is the banality of its songs. Fabian, who cowrote many of them, has only herself to blame for such lyrics as "I don't know where to find you/ I don't know how to reach you/ I hear your voice in the wind/ I feel you under my skin." Most unfortunate is "I Am Who I Am," which evokes images of Fabian ripping the tops off spinach cans. Like Basia and Dion, Fabian's English is flavored with a mild accent. If she mutes the overwrought style and finds better material, it will only charm.
Bottom Line: Welcome new import

Chapters.com

By Deena Waisberg, Music Editor of Chapters Online

Lara Fabian makes an impression. It’s not simply her stunning beauty or her warm personality that captivates you, but a passion that lurks beneath the surface. That passion also defines Fabian’s music. Her first English-language CD oozes with emotion.

Its 13 tracks explore various aspects of love: rejoicing in it, longing for it, losing it and trying to get over it. Fabian isn’t afraid to explore real as well as ideal situations. In “Broken Vow,” she looks at betrayal. “It’s a song about a woman’s acceptance of a man’s betrayal because she knows that deep inside she’s capable of the exact same thing.”

Most of the instrumentation combines piano, guitar and loops. Her powerful voice floats on top. Fabian was especially attracted to the pure sound of the piano, and explains that the programming thickened up the sound and grounded it.

That said, the tracks are not all flavoured with the same influences. “Adagio” blends an 18th-century melody with modern lyrics. “I love the fact that you can use the past and present and make it the future,” says Fabian. That contrasts the songs “Till I Get Over You” and “I Am Who I Am,” which have more of an American pop sensibility. “I want to be able to get on stage and give people a variety of colours,” Fabian explains.

She loves an eclectic menu. She speaks and sings in French, English, Italian and Spanish and reveals that she’s always loved to sample the variety life offers. “When I was a child and my mother would present me with a basket of bread, I could never take one kind. I would take a piece of each. It wasn’t about having it all, it was about having something different,” she says.

Fabian reminds you of another famous singer: Celine Dion. The similarities are impossible to ignore. Both have incredibly powerful voices, both hail from Quebec (Fabian moved to Montreal from Belgium) and both followed a similar path, becoming a huge sensation in French-speaking territories before crossing over to the English market.

Fabian is gracious about the comparison. “For people who don’t have a clue who I am, a comparison to Celine is very normal. And the fact that people put me in the same category as someone of that level -- how flattering!”. With relaxed confidence, she adds, “What does it take away from me? I’ll stand on a stage and sing for two hours and when you leave the venue, you’ll know who I am.”

The evidence supports her. Fabian has sold seven million copies of her records in Europe and Quebec since launching her career at the age of 20.

She wanted to be a singer from a very young age. In fact, when she was five, she announced to her father, “I am a singer.” She studied classical voice and theory at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels for 10 years before moving to Montreal with friend and producer/songwriter Rick Allison. She wanted to escape the conservatism of Europe.

The discipline and structure of her classical training provided an excellent foundation to build on, while pop music allowed her freedom of expression. In 1991 she released her first album on her own label, which sold 100,000 copies. Over the next nine years, three more albums emerged and sales climbed into the millions. After her double live CD debuted at number one on the French album chart in 1998, she was signed to Sony.

Will Fabian realize as much success with an English-speaking audience? She declines to speculate. But she does offer, “A heart doesn’t beat in English or Italian or French. A heart beats.

Listen to Lara's live performance video (The intimate webcast was recorded during an exclusive showcase for members of the Canadian music industry and select contest winners at Toronto's Casa Loma on Thursday, February 24, 2000.)

Quick reviews

MONTREAL NEWS : Lara Fabian is following a career path that might seem familiar to many music fans. She’s a talented, internationally recognized, Quebec-based Francophone artist preparing to introduce herself to North American audiences with her English debut, Lara Fabian. Echoes of Celine? Maybe, but Fabian uses her incredible flair and personality to quickly step out from Dion’s shadow. "Till I Get over You," "Broken Vow" and "Love by Grace" are some of the best examples of the beautiful vocal presence of this soon-to-be star.

VANITY FAIR : A sure bet for pop stardom is emotional, 28-year-old French Canadian Lara
Fabian, who holds nothing back on her self-titled English-language debut.

GLAMOUR : The passionate pop songs on this album make the Belgium-born singer sound
like the love child of Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand.

TRADUIRE

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