"Thirty years since The Woman in Me came out — that's a lot of years to reflect back on," Shania Twain tells Exclaim! from Las Vegas, as she's confronted with the immensity of her career at this point in history: a Netflix documentary in the books, a year-devouring tour starting in April and, of course, a brand-spanking-new album — Queen of Me, out February 3 via Universal.
"And then if you add on the fact that I started on stage at eight years old, that's a long time to reflect on," she continues. "And I think that I can safely say I didn't really start reflecting on things till probably even seven years ago — like, really reflecting on all the different lifetimes I've lived through already. It's been a lot of life."
In all that she's accomplished in the decades since her debut, it's surprising to think that Queen of Me is only her sixth album in total. That's presumably, in part, due to a small but significant selection of personal struggles the Timmins, ON-born artist has had to overcome: most notably, her divorce from ex-husband and former musical collaborator Mutt Lange, in addition to the serious toll contracting Lyme disease has taken on her singing voice.
Yet, in conversation, she remains infectiously optimistic — and not in the run-of-the-mill, suburban toxic positivity way either. Twain is a realist at her core, from acknowledging the trials of pandemic-era touring (she packs her own bedding and "many" humidifiers) to the reality of midlife heartbreak. Dealing with hardship and spinning it into prosperity: it's a quality she's cultivated over the years, and she passes it on to fans through her music. As much as she wants to find her own happiness, it's equally important that her fans find theirs.
Much like the RENAISSANCEs and Honestly Neverminds of the so-called post-pandemic era, Queen of Me is as much a Shania Twain album as it is an excuse for fans to dance themselves clean. "I'd like to see it lift spirits," she explains of her intentions in writing the record. "I'm hoping that it inspires people in the same way that I was inspired writing it. I wrote it very purposely to cheer myself up. I wrote it during COVID."
Opening track "Giddy Up!" is the record's most apparent vehicle for this sentiment — with its lyrics about getting "a little love" when we "get stuck" accompanied by bouncy instrumentation — but it bleeds into unexpected corners. She rightly points out that the treatment of a song can act as a vessel for catharsis too, pitting breakup songs "Brand New" and "The Hardest Stone" against each other, the latter of which is paradoxically underscored by the glitchy, TikTok remix-primed production of Twenty One Pilots' Tyler Joseph.
Twain shares of her latest effort, "I made a decision that I was going to stick to writing lyrics that made me laugh and smile — upbeat rhythms that just made me want to dance. The intention of the album was to cheer myself up. And that's what I hope it does for everybody else."
As of press time, the artist's legacy is due to be celebrated at Toronto's legendary El Mocambo during the "Shania Twink" edition of the Big Gay Night event series organized by Exclaim! Class of 2022 grad CJ Wiley. Much like the sentiment she conveys with Queen of Me, Twain has a simple message for those partygoers, and anyone else who's listening: "Dance your butt off. Don't waste your time, man. Don't sit on the side. Get up and dance while you can."
"And then if you add on the fact that I started on stage at eight years old, that's a long time to reflect on," she continues. "And I think that I can safely say I didn't really start reflecting on things till probably even seven years ago — like, really reflecting on all the different lifetimes I've lived through already. It's been a lot of life."
In all that she's accomplished in the decades since her debut, it's surprising to think that Queen of Me is only her sixth album in total. That's presumably, in part, due to a small but significant selection of personal struggles the Timmins, ON-born artist has had to overcome: most notably, her divorce from ex-husband and former musical collaborator Mutt Lange, in addition to the serious toll contracting Lyme disease has taken on her singing voice.
Yet, in conversation, she remains infectiously optimistic — and not in the run-of-the-mill, suburban toxic positivity way either. Twain is a realist at her core, from acknowledging the trials of pandemic-era touring (she packs her own bedding and "many" humidifiers) to the reality of midlife heartbreak. Dealing with hardship and spinning it into prosperity: it's a quality she's cultivated over the years, and she passes it on to fans through her music. As much as she wants to find her own happiness, it's equally important that her fans find theirs.
Much like the RENAISSANCEs and Honestly Neverminds of the so-called post-pandemic era, Queen of Me is as much a Shania Twain album as it is an excuse for fans to dance themselves clean. "I'd like to see it lift spirits," she explains of her intentions in writing the record. "I'm hoping that it inspires people in the same way that I was inspired writing it. I wrote it very purposely to cheer myself up. I wrote it during COVID."
Opening track "Giddy Up!" is the record's most apparent vehicle for this sentiment — with its lyrics about getting "a little love" when we "get stuck" accompanied by bouncy instrumentation — but it bleeds into unexpected corners. She rightly points out that the treatment of a song can act as a vessel for catharsis too, pitting breakup songs "Brand New" and "The Hardest Stone" against each other, the latter of which is paradoxically underscored by the glitchy, TikTok remix-primed production of Twenty One Pilots' Tyler Joseph.
Twain shares of her latest effort, "I made a decision that I was going to stick to writing lyrics that made me laugh and smile — upbeat rhythms that just made me want to dance. The intention of the album was to cheer myself up. And that's what I hope it does for everybody else."
As of press time, the artist's legacy is due to be celebrated at Toronto's legendary El Mocambo during the "Shania Twink" edition of the Big Gay Night event series organized by Exclaim! Class of 2022 grad CJ Wiley. Much like the sentiment she conveys with Queen of Me, Twain has a simple message for those partygoers, and anyone else who's listening: "Dance your butt off. Don't waste your time, man. Don't sit on the side. Get up and dance while you can."