She has THREE diamond-selling* albums. By way of comparison, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Whitney Houston each have two. Beyoncé, Pink, Ariana Grande and most of the other girls have zero.
Her album Come On Over is literally the biggest-selling album of all time by a female artist. It sold over 20 million copies, which is truly fucking insane.
Her discography is LOADED. Find me a more iconic set of singles than this:
Besides outselling everyone, Shania is also responsible for hundreds of thousands of awkward middle-school dances to "From This Moment On."
She invented modern country-pop and Snake Swift.
And most importantly, she hated men before hating men was a thing. She did feminism before the other girls started using it to sell records!
You're lying if you don't admit that Shania Twain isn't a fucking legend with a thick-ass legacy.
THAT BEING SAID...Shania hasn't released a new album for 15 years. She's pretty much been in hibernation since then because she's been dealing with A FUCK TON of shit.
Here's that story:
2002 to 2005 was a great time for Shania. Her Up! album sold 11 million copies, she went on a massive world tour, and in general was just really really fucking successful.
After the tour, she took a well-deserved break.
Then shit hit the fan.
In 2008, after 14 years of marriage, Shania started *Kylie Jenner realizing things.* She realized, "I knew that something wasn't right. I'm married to someone I love, and I'm so lonely...I didn't want to live that way."
Then she found out her husband and producer, Mutt Lange, was cheating on her...with her best friend.
When Shania found out about the affair she wanted to die. In her memoirs she said, "I was ready to die - to go to bed forever and never wake up."
Then things got even worse.
Shania discovered she suffered from a vocal cord injury called dysphonia. The stress of it all was destroying her very own livelihood. She really believed she would never sing again.
It was rock bottom. Everything added up: "Stage fright, domestic violence in the home as a child, my parents dying, not knowing what’s next; just all of these different stages of fear in my life."
But then she recognized, "There was nothing to do but to suffer through it."
As Shania says it best:
Shania had to rebuild her confidence.
First, she had to learn how to sing again. The thing with dysphonia is that it doesn't mean you'll never sing again, it just means you have to work and train real hard to get good at it again. And that she did, because she's Shania fucking Twain.
She also moved on from her sleazy ex. In a weird full-circle moment, Shania actually married her best friend's ex-husband. The same best friend who left her for her ex-husband.
In 2012, Shania gained the confidence and vocal chops to start a wildly successful Las Vegas residency. In 2015, she decided she was ready to get back to making music.
Now, after 15 years of bullshit, Shania is back with a new song and album. The seemingly impossible is actually happening.
The new song is called "Life's About To Get Good," and it's about the time period when Shania finally saw a way out of her divorce and vocal problems. The song starts out:
I wasn’t just broken, I was shattered I trusted you so much, you're all that mattered You no longer love me and I sang like a sad bird I couldn't move on and I think you were flattered
It's a damn triumph.
Oh! Life’s about joy, life's about pain It's all about forgiving and the will to walk away I'm ready to be loved, and love the way I should Life's about, life's about to get good
Shania said: “You can’t have the good without the bad. And that’s what the song ended up being about.”
The video is great and supremely Shania, too. My favorite part is when Shania grabs a portrait of her and her ex and sings "I had to believe that things would get better. It was time to forget you...forever."
And there you have it!
Shania's first new album in 15 years comes out in September.
Regardless of how this album sells or how the singles do, it doesn't matter. Shania Twain has always been a beacon of female strength and empowerment. Just the sheer release of this album is an accomplishment and testament to her willpower. Shania once again is showing us just how powerful she is, and how awful men are. Fuck them. The end.
