The 1990s were full of memorable moments – the first time you tried a Starbucks, ordering clothes from the Delia's catalog, and binge watching
Clueless. During all of that, we were listing to some great music, from the height of Celine Dion's career and all of the addicting movie soundtracks that came out at the time.
Well, everything old is new again, and that's true for that earworm-quality '90s music. This season, some members of Team USA have called upon some great tunes from that era to power their programs.
Reigning U.S. champions Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue debuted a
Romeo and Juliet free dance at September's
U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. But instead of using music from the ballet or the 1968 motion picture, the team chose two pieces from the 1996 film version. The program begins with a spoken line from everyone's favorite '90s heartthrob, Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Romeo, laid over an instrumental piece from the movie. Then the program merges into Des'ree's
Kissing You, which was a hit song in the United Kingdom and Australia in 1997. It may not have had a notable chart listing in the U.S., but it was still noted by most critics and fans as one of the film's high points.
And if you were a skating fan in the 1990s, you lived for the legendary Michelle Kwan's 1998-99 exhibition program to the song (possibly begging your own skating coaches and dance teachers to let you perform to it as well). With their unique take on the classic story, Hubbell and Donohue have already captured two Grand Prix titles at
Skate America and
Skate Canada and punched their ticket to the Grand Prix Final.
A few weeks after Hubbell and Donohue shared their '90s throwback program to the masses, Mariah Bell followed suit. Fifth place at last year's U.S. Championships, Bell steps out this season as one of the lead ladies of Team USA. She does so with a short program that uses a song from one of the undisputed songstresses of the era, Celine Dion. She debuted her
To Love You More program at Nebelhorn Trophy, earning a personal best of 70.02 points. The Adam Rippon-choreographed program builds off the song's dramatic crescendo with the start of a joyous closing step sequence.
Though one of Dion's most recognizable classics, the song was actually a bigger hit in Japan than it ever was in the U.S. or her native Canada, making it a perfect choice for the NHK Trophy-bound Bell. Just like her Team USA teammates Hubbell and Donohue, Bell's '90s throwback also has a bit of skating history tied to it. 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen used the song as an exhibition in the 2000-01 season, right after her breakout senior level debut.
Team USA isn't alone in picking some '90s trademark tunes for their post-Olympic year programs – Belgium's Loena Hendrickx is using Dion's
It's All Coming Back to Me Now for her short program, and Canada's leading man Keegan Messing is using a version of
You've Got a Friend in Me, which was originally used in the 1995
Toy Story soundtrack. Given all of these music choices, nostalgia for the '90s is definitely in right now.
