Celine Has World Under Her Spell

It’s almost too easy to antagonize the swarm of publicists surrounding easy-listening pop diva Celine Dion. All you have to do is bring up human sacrifice.

“Oh, no, don’t do that,” one of Dion’s worried assistants says when it’s suggested that the songbird be questioned about the blood-letting rituals that just might be the real explanation for her incredible success. “She doesn’t understand sarcasm.”

Who’s being sarcastic? How else but the use of dark rites to explain Dion’s 1996 release, “Falling Into You,” the best-selling album of that year to the tune of a startling 25 million copies worldwide.

Or the many awards, Grammy, Oscar and otherwise, snagged by the French Canadian singer whose new album, “Let’s Talk About Love,” is due Tuesday. Meanwhile, “Tell Him,” a Dion duet with Barbra Streisand, is nearing the top of the adult-contemporary chart.

Dion’s latest disc finds the 29-year-old singer working with a host of high-profile collaborators, including Beatles producer George Martin, Luciano Pavarotti, Carole King, the Bee Gees and Streisand.

“I’m calling it the album of my life,” Dion said by telephone from Quebec. “It represents what I’ve been looking for my entire career.”

The album’s 15 songs were recorded in an unusually quick two-month period. Initially, Dion and her manager/husband, Rene Angelil, planned to take a year off following the global “Falling Into You” tour. But Sony’s 550 Music urged the couple to consider a new album for the holidays.

It’s a surprise that Dion would release another album so soon after “Falling,” which remained in the top 10 for more than a year and spawned the top-five hits “Because You Loved Me” (the theme to “Up Close & Personal”), “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and “All By Myself.”

But Dion insists that if she had not uncovered such outstanding material, the album would have waited until next year.

“We were very lucky to find such good songs,” she said. “That’s what made all the difference. Everyone understood that if the songs weren’t there, we wouldn’t record yet.”

In her native Canada as well as France, Dion has been popular since she was a teen. It wasn’t until 1991 when she released an English-language record that her soaring pop voice broke in the United States. Her theme to “Beauty and the Beast” was an early smash.

The duet with Streisand stems from Babs’ invitation after Dion performed the Bryan Adams/Streisand duet “I Finally Found Someone” at the Oscars last spring.

“It’s a dream come true to work with her,” Dion said.

Dion’s longtime producer, David Foster, plus Linda Thompson and Walter Afanasieff, were asked to compose a song for the pair. “Tell Him” has Streisand reassuring an uncertain Dion that it’s OK to admit her love to a boyfriend.

The singers recorded their vocals separately, “but when I heard her voice, I almost passed out. I almost lost it. I just started crying,” Dion recalled.

Dion plans to launch a world tour next summer. “Touring is my favorite part,” she said. “It’s the gift of show business..”

The new disc also contains “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme to director James Cameron’s heavily anticipated “Titanic” feature.

As for the future, Dion says she’d like to act, have a baby and record in other languages.

“I haven’t begun taking acting classes, but I’ve read scripts,” she said. “We haven’t decided on anything.”

The youngest of 14 children, Dion gave her first performance at the age of 5 and at 12 recorded a demo that found its way to Angelil. Taking her under his wing, Angelil steered the youngster’s career, even remortgaging his house to pay for the recording of Dion’s debut album. She was embraced first in Tokyo, where she won the Gold Medal at the 1982 Yamaha World Song Festival, and in France, where she received a gold disc the following year.

She then won the 33rd annual Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland, performing for Switzerland. She recorded four top-selling French-language albums in Canada before signing with Sony’s 550 label in 1991. Dion married Angelil, 55, three years ago.

After the astounding international success of “Falling Into You,” Dion says she’s not making any projections about the forthcoming “Let’s Talk About Love.”

In fact, she said she never expects anything from an album in terms of sales.

“I never think about that sort of thing,” Dion said. “I don’t want to be disappointed.”

No chance. And we’re not being sarcastic.