How Shania Twain found love, her voice, and her rightful place in the pop music pantheon.
He added, to raucous cheers, She also told me that men are trash.
She owned her femininity, but she didnt hide behind it either.
She had the songs to back it up.
(Hello, iconicleopard-print catsuit.)
I Feel Like a Woman!
And I love his voice, hes a great vocalist.
Naturally, she obliged.
(Did Harrys mum freak out?
No, she was very cool, Twain says.
Very sweet and very cool.)
She is exacting with her words, editing as she goes.
Maybe controls not the right word.
Thats something she had to learn how to do long before she arrived in Nashville.
(Stepfather, stepbrothers, we never used that vocabulary in our home,Twain once said.)
At 22, Twain was suddenly the head of the household, left to support her three younger siblings.
She was offered a deal if shed move to Nashville.
So she packed up her pickup and drove south, her first time leaving Canada.
I think the maturity did help a lot, she tells me now.
They didnt mold me.
I just showed up and I was already who I wanted to be.
I was a bit older so I was not impressionable at that point.
It was too late.
I was already fully formed.
Recalls Twain, I thought I was walking into a much more all-encompassing space, artistically.
(Adds Maren Morris, recalling this incident, People were such prudes.)
Suffice it to say that didnt impress Shania Twain much.
Im like, Are you kidding?
Im like, If I lose my deal, I lose my deal, Twain says.
Thats how convinced I was that it was time to make something more original.
Her first single to reach No.
Any Man is flirtatious but assertive a grown-ass womans come-hither song.
It was basically theRumoursof the CD era.
Its seemingly endless run of 12 singles on a 16-track album!
helped it sell more than 40 million copies worldwide.
At least it made Twain and Lange buy-a-mansion-in-Switzerland money, which is exactly what they did.
She adds, A lot of people take things personally here, strangely.)
Unfortunately, melodrama found her anyway.
In 2008, she discovered that Lange was having an affair… with her best friend.
They divorced shortly afterward, sending Twain into a tailspin of depression.
It was like a death a permanent end to so many facets of my life.
I dont think Ill ever meet a challenge like that again, Twain tells me.
Richie was persistent enough that she finally gave it a shot.
I had to be very vulnerable.
I didnt want to do it I was like, Would somebody just push me over the edge?
But only I could jump off it.
By the end of theNowtour, though, her voice was beyond fatigued.
I realized I couldnt physically sustain the vocal workout I had to do every day, she says.
A doctor had been telling her for years about a drastic option that might help: open-throat surgery.
Once again, she leapt.
After the operation, she was instructed not to make a sound for three weeks.
The anticipation was crazy, she recalls.
Happily, she was pleased with the results.
I was like, Oh, my God, I can yell!
I can be loud!
It was so glorious.
The story of her divorce has a happy if wild ending, too.
She appreciates the glitz as much as the next person, as well as the access to nature.
All of a sudden youre in the desert, and youre hiking in the canyons.
Again, she seems to choose her words carefully.
We dont work together anymore, she says of her ex-husband.
But were very… in proximity.
Making her forthcoming album, her second without Lange, was a more carefree experience.
She promises that a new album and tour are soon to follow.
But thats what makes it fun.
A sense of possibility is once again opening up for Twain.
Im having more fun with fashion than I did when I was younger, she says.
Maybe with age Im just less apologetic for how I look and I let fashion do its job.
She hints that there might someday be a sequel to that Coachella performance.
As ever, Twain is looking ahead.
Fear, my insecurities.
These are things that are not allowed to get in the way of my dreams and my forward motion.
