Wikipedia Genre: Country, pop, country pop.
Home: Ontario
Poster Position: 1
Weekend One Only.
Weekend One Only.
Saturday.
Thoughts: I heard an excellent podcast about Shania in the 60 Songs That Explain The 90's - badass podcast by the way, I listen to very few pods, but on a long road trip while the rest of my family sleeps or something I throw this one on and learn awesome things and laugh a lot. Anyway, it was an eye-opening reach into some of the factoids that I did not know about Ms. Twain.
Eilleen Regina "Shania" Edwards, born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1965, has sold over 100 million records, meaning she is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time and the best selling female country artist of all time. The "Twain" surname comes from her step-father, who adopted her and her sisters when she was young. She started performing in bars when she was 8, to make money for her family, and apparently hated it (but loved making music). She started her real career by singing in a cover band called Longshot, and then another one called Flirt. A Toronto DJ noticed her and she started getting some better gigs and spots on other people's songs. In 1987, her step-dad and mom were killed in a car accident, and so she had to take care of her siblings by performing at a local resort. When her siblings finally moved out on their own, she got busy making a demo and got signed in Nashville. How hardcore is that? What a terrible hand to be dealt!
And then Come on Over, from 1997, was the explosion that included not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but SIX exclamation points used in the song titles!!!!!! This is the best-selling country music album ever, the best-selling studio album by a female act ever, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the 9th best-selling album in the United States, according to Wikipedia. Over 40 million copies worldwide! And even the non-hits on this one sound familiar - gohhl-darned-don-doooooooonandunnit! - so I guess this was the disc that actually made it into the rotation at camp or something. Four Grammy awards from this one. But like The Woman in Me, this is an uneven album. Some majorly great songs - "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "From This Moment On," "You're Still the One," "That Don't Impress Me Much" - those are legit songs. Two of those have been played at countless weddings for decades. Funny to me that the least popular song on the album for Spotify streams is the one titled "If you Wanna Touch Her, Ask!" Country fans don't much care for that MeToo B.S., y'all. But the top track is the two-exclamation-mark transgender anthem we never knew we needed. "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," with 448 million streams.
After that, a major gap in her catalog, during which she apparently was diagnosed with Lyme disease and dysphonia (hoarse voice). She came back to the stage with a Vegas residency, and then in 2015 launched the Rock this Country tour, which was supposed to be her farewell tour. That, obviously, did not happen. But she has talked about how hard it has been to adjust her voice to deal with a new range and ability. Bummer.
I have never heard any of the songs from her debut album - 1993's Shania Twain. Wikipedia calls it a commercial failure. Definitely more of a traditional country sound - snare clicks, steel guitar slides, an affected twang in her voice. The cover is amazing, and definitely makes you understand that she is Canadian, it is a photo of her posing in the snow, with a huge wolf, by a weird-looking fire. She is wearing a thirty pound coat that entirely covers up the assets that later album covers would use to make sales. The last song on the album actually has an explicit label on it? That is honestly shocking. [loyal reader, I just read the lyrics, which are awful by the way, and there are definitely no curse words in that song.] Just so you can experience the OG stuff, the top track is the opener, "What Made You Say That." with 6 million streams.
Apparently she learned to take off the heavy coat by now to sell some records. Not a great song, really apparent why it took to album #2 for her to take off.
She really broke through with 1995's The Woman in Me. This album was made with future husband and super-producer Mutt Lange (AC/DC, Def Leppard, The Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis & the News, Britney, Maroon 5, Nickelback, Muse - what a list!), and sold over 20 million copies. Grabbed a Grammy too. "Any Man of Mine," "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under," those are undeniable 90's country hits. I don't know that I had ever just listened to the whole album before though - it isn't great. The opening song is a really slow and jenky ballad that then gets blown away by "Any Man of Mine." Poor sequencing for sure. But that song still jams. 188 million streams.
(upbeat country music - love the subtitles). They use the "We Will Rock You" beat during the verses to great effect, and then the chorus is perfect country breakdown. I'm trying to think if there is a more beautiful woman in country music, and I'm not thinking of one. A google reminds me that Faith Hill is very pretty, but also makes me realize that I don't know many female country artists at all! Oh, and "(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!" is a song I know too. That is a good one, even if the title is super clunky. But overall, this album is not great. Has some bangers, but much of it drags.
"Any Man of Mine" would get heavy play at the Christian summer camp where I attended and later worked back around this time, and my memory of this was that the highly immature young men involved here would battle to take the CD and throw it into the river when the ladies played it. Or we'd mosh in the middle of the dance floor. Or just sit down in the middle of the dance floor to ruin their dance. Turds. I'm sure we thought we were hilarious.
Apparently, around the time that her career took off, she became divisive in Nashville because people thought she was not a serious artist and just a midriff-baring interloper who used too much rock and roll in her version of country. Weird, now, to think of that being a big deal. Almost every country artist now sounds like rock and roll, and showing off tummies and cleavage seems ho hum.
And then Come on Over, from 1997, was the explosion that included not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but SIX exclamation points used in the song titles!!!!!! This is the best-selling country music album ever, the best-selling studio album by a female act ever, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the 9th best-selling album in the United States, according to Wikipedia. Over 40 million copies worldwide! And even the non-hits on this one sound familiar - gohhl-darned-don-doooooooonandunnit! - so I guess this was the disc that actually made it into the rotation at camp or something. Four Grammy awards from this one. But like The Woman in Me, this is an uneven album. Some majorly great songs - "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "From This Moment On," "You're Still the One," "That Don't Impress Me Much" - those are legit songs. Two of those have been played at countless weddings for decades. Funny to me that the least popular song on the album for Spotify streams is the one titled "If you Wanna Touch Her, Ask!" Country fans don't much care for that MeToo B.S., y'all. But the top track is the two-exclamation-mark transgender anthem we never knew we needed. "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," with 448 million streams.
Nice flip of the Robert Palmer video there. She's very in to little aside vocalizations. Woah! Yeah! Ow!Ow!Ow! Woooo! Come on! Those things pop up repeatedly in her songs.
After those two mega-blockbusters, she had a gap until 2002's Up! (hey, an exclamation point!) These songs are much less streamed than her big hits, with only three of them over 10m. Although, it was still certified Platinum in the U.S. and sold more than 20 million copies. That is freaking insane... The top track is the title song, which is also the first song on the album, with 24.5 million streams.
Oh, that is terrible. Just awful on so many levels - awful video, crappy lyrics - it sounds like she tried to copy the Dixie Chicks but never actually listened to them. And her look is awful too. Just stick to what got you here, Shania! For reasons that are unclear until researched, she released a Red, Green, and Blue version of this album.
After that, a major gap in her catalog, during which she apparently was diagnosed with Lyme disease and dysphonia (hoarse voice). She came back to the stage with a Vegas residency, and then in 2015 launched the Rock this Country tour, which was supposed to be her farewell tour. That, obviously, did not happen. But she has talked about how hard it has been to adjust her voice to deal with a new range and ability. Bummer.
Instead, she went back to the studio for 2017's Now, which kicks off with a tune that starts like a redux of "Any Man of Mine," but then fires up some reggae feels. Really weird. What is happening? The whole album is a miss for me, just soft adult alternative pop type stuff. Again, why wouldn't she just stick to the genre that she had crushed back in the mid-90's? The top track is "Life's About to Get Good" which, for some reason does not have an exclamation point involved in the title. 17.9 million streams.
Ugh. Come on, man. And you can tell that they are adding effects on her voice, which is a bummer. She had a great voice! I went through that whole album, and it never gets any better.
According to Wikipedia, in 2018, "Twain underwent laryngoplasty to have Gore-Tex stabilizers implanted in her throat to reduce the workload on her vocal muscles." Which has very obviously affected her voice. You can really hear it on her new album from 2023 called Queen of Me. This one leans back towards country at times, but then also goes back to this drum-machine soft pop crap that she has been making this century. The voice is not as honey smooth as it was back in the day. She almost has a Miley Cyrus vocal fry sound on some of these songs. And she actually cusses on this one! "Pretty Liar" drops an F-bomb!
Yeah, I'd go watch her play. You know, it would be very fun to sing along to the classic hits! But more than likely, I would imagine that she'll be up against someone else who I want to see more. But this is definitely a fun add to the poster.
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