Watch Celine Dion honor Paris, bring AMA audience to tears, with Edith Piaf song


Perhaps you, like many people, have complicated feelings about Celine Dion. If you do, put them aside for a few minutes. At Sunday's American Music Awards, Dion and Jared Leto were tapped to honor the victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Leto, taking the stage first, recalled an "unforgettable show" he and his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, had played at the Bataclan concert hall, the site of the deadliest of the Nov. 13 attacks, then he expanded the tribute. "Tonight we honor the victims of the unimaginable violence that has taken place this year in Paris and around the world," Leto said. "France matters. Russia matters. Syria matters. Mali matters. The Middle East matters. The United States matters. The entire world matters, and peace is possible."
Then Dion stepped up and it was all about France. Accompanied by a string orchestra, she sang Edith Piaf's "Hymne à L'amour," with images of Paris in the background and moist or wet eyes in the audience in front of her. If you find yourself tearing up, and it reminds you of crying to her voice in Titanic despite your best intentions, remember that unlike Jack and Rose, the 130 victims in Paris were real people who deserved better. And laissez les larmes coulent. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
How historically accurate is House of Guinness?
In the Spotlight The glossy Netflix show about the family behind the world-famous stout mixes fact with fiction
-
The week’s best photos
In Pictures A perching raven, a fearless climber, and more
-
Back to the future: Kids embrace ‘old school’ devices
Under the radar From MP3s to sewing machines
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91
Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle