‘Skies of L.A.’ Celine Dion | 2008

“I’ve always wanted to do a song about L.A., and now I have one.”

Celine Dion, calling during a recent tour stop in South Africa, said her romance with Southern California began almost two decades ago when she came to Malibu to work with producer David Foster on music that would help launch her to American superstardom. “That time means a lot to me. I loved Los Angeles then and still love going there. The shopping on Rodeo Drive and the palm trees. . . . “

That may be, but the L.A. song that Dion recorded for her new album, “Taking Chances,” hardly matches that glitz. “Skies of L.A.” is in fact a despairing song about the global environmental crisis.

I don’t know if tomorrow has a day

I don’t know if the rays will shine my way

All I know is that I’m standing in a place where

My future looks like the skies of L.A.

Skies of L.A., skies of L.A.

I don’t know if my body can take much more

We’re in the land of the richest riches

But my mind seems so poor

The song was written for Dion by a songwriting team led by the red-hot studio duo of Tricky and the Dream (their birth names are Christopher Stewart and Terius Nash) who were behind Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” the biggest radio hit of 2007. The Dream said that, like Dion, his first visits to L.A. left a major mark on him, but instead of Malibu glare, he remembers El Segundo haze.

“I got to LAX, and in the back of the car looking out the window I couldn’t believe the sky. I grew up in Atlanta, and in the South it’s blue when you look up. I loved L.A., beautiful place and beautiful people. But it is different.”

The Dream and his team were in a Las Vegas studio at the same time Dion was there working on her album. The Dream saw an opportunity, and in less than 24 hours, he had “Skies of L.A.” ready. He said he hopes it dovetails with Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology).”

“This song is about a topic that you don’t hear about much in urban music,” he said. “But this is something that’s in our faces -- we can’t ignore it. I’m from the ‘hood and this is something that people need to talk about everywhere, top to bottom.”

Maybe, but the call to action may be lost on some. Dion describes the song as “a little jewel,” but it’s clear that even after recording it, she was captured by its melody, not its message. “I didn’t know that it was about environmental things, to be honest. It made me think of palm trees,” she said. “And that’s OK -- songs mean different things to people.”