"Loved Me Back to Life" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion. It was released on 3 September 2013 by Columbia Records as the first single from her eleventh English-language studio album of the same name (2013). The song was co-written by Sia, Hasham "Sham" Hussain and Denarius "Motesart" Motes, and produced by Sham and Motesart. The official live music video was uploaded on Vevo on 18 September 2013. "Loved Me Back to Life" received critical acclaim and became a top forty hit in various countries, including number fourteen in the United Kingdom, number seventeen in South Korea, number twenty-five in Switzerland and Belgium, number twenty-six in Canada, number twenty-nine in Ireland, number thirty-two in France and number thirty-eight in Germany and Austria.
Composition and release
"Loved Me Back to Life" is a power ballad sung in a minor key, backed by a chorus that features a dubstep beat drop. It was co-written by Sia who, among many achievements, provided vocals for David Guetta's "Titanium" and wrote the lyrics and melody for Rihanna's "Diamonds". The production duties were handled by Hasham "Sham" Hussain and Denarius "Motesart" Motes, who are also responsible for "Is Anybody Out There?" by K'naan and Nelly Furtado. "Loved Me Back to Life" premiered on the radio on 3 September 2013 and was released as a digital download on the same day. The official audio for the single was then released onto Dion's Vevo channel. The song was sent to adult contemporary radio stations in the United States on 9 September 2013 and "Loved Me Back to Life" (BBC Radio 2 Mix) premiered on BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2013. The making of "Loved Me Back to Life" was released on Vevo on 24 September 2013. The dance remixes were done by David Morales, Dave Audé and Jump Smokers, and were officially released in October 2013.
Critical reception
"Loved Me Back to Life" received critical acclaim from music critics. Gary Graff of Billboard write that Dion has acknowledged modern pop trends with the lead single and title track from her first English-language album in six years. The "stuttering" vocal hook and dubstep beats are certainly of the moment, keeping pace with the Rihannas of the world, while Dion's own performance—full and soaring, if a bit darker in tone than usual—is characteristically "Âcommanding". Popjournalism praised the song and concluded: "'Life' nicely sets up Dion's 5 Nov album release as a unit-selling single that hits the perfect mainstream sweet spot without alienating even her most milquetoast fan". MTV's Brad Stern also praised and named it as one of five must-hear pop songs of the week: "For her first English studio album in six years, Celine's leading with "Loved Me Back to Life," a major power ballad penned by pop's most in-demand songwriter, Sia. It's a serious chills-inducing belter, packed full of emotion and crisp production. Welcome back, Celine, we missed you!" The Huffington Post was also positive, but little less by: "a supremely modern track which sees the 45-year-old legend dipping into dubstep and even employing a bit of a hip-hop style beat. The song is nice, but it almost sounds like her soaring chorus is going to be followed up by some fiery Eminem verses over the skittering bass and drums". Idolator editor Sam Lansky wrote a rave review: "That stuttering vocal loop! The bombastic production! The funky instrumentation! The huge, surging chorus! The dubby beat drop on the refrain! The fact that it was written by Sia! The fact that it's new Celine Dion in the first place! It's all just marvellous. Unsurprisingly, the song has shades of Rihanna's "Diamonds," but it feels markedly fresh and modern in its own right; as many divas have shown, staying relevant gets thornier when you’re entering, y’know, your fourth decade as an international superstar, but this is a solid effort from the Canadian chanteuse that should introduce her to some new fans as well as satisfying longtime supporters".