Celine Dion Is Taking Chances

Her new single says it best: Celine Dion is ready to take some chances.

"This time," while she was amassing material for her new album, "surprisingly, the songwriters, they started to offer me something that's edgy, and, you know what? It's happening exactly at the right time of my life. I love this . . . I'm ready for the change.
It's a slight edge. It's a little bit more -- it's more grounded. I am there."

Known for her soaring ballads, Dion's newest music on the "Taking Chances" album - her first studio album in four years - is certainly ground-breaking; there are several tracks where she sounds more like a rock star than an easy-listening star (though her steadfast fans will find several ballads as well).

The new attitude, she told Early Show anchor Harry Smith, is the result of "the maturity, the experience, motherhood - blame it on everything that you want to, but it's all that. And, you know what? It feels amazing. It feels amazing and it feels - I feel it when I shop, I feel it when I walk on the street, when I'm home with my family, when I put up my Christmas tree. I feel it all the time, and I feel it when I sing, too."

Dion, who will turn 40 next year, is about to end a four-year run at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, where she has performed her "A New Day" show to sell-out crowds. She will go on a year-long international tour next year. Dion has been married to her manager, Rene Angélil, since December, 1994; they have a son, Rene-Charles, born in January, 2001.

"Taking Chances," she told Smith, has "a different approach and different sounds. You always love to please as many people as possible. We had a good time" making the album, she said.