How is anybody gonna hate on Shania Twain?
A ’90s country legend, one of the highest selling artists of all time, in any genre… I mean, I had a poster of her on bedroom door when I was like 9 years old for fuck’s sake.
You know how hard it was to land that coveted bedroom door poster real estate? Pretty damn hard. Michael Jordan, Sammy Sosa, Shania Twain… we’re talking elite company here.
Anyways, on her Apple Music radio show, Home Now, Shania got to talking about some of the early criticisms in her career, and some of the more hurtful comments that she remembered reading after her breakout single “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” blew up in 1995.
And shocker… the bulk of her criticism was centered around her looks, as if that was the extent of her talent.
“I was criticized as an artist. I’m surprised I ever had any hits actually when I read them now.
So for example, part of the quote from one of my reviews was: ‘She’s America’s best paid lap dancer in Nashville. She’s hot, but can she sing? Is Shania just a flash in the pan? The most famous midriff in Nashville.’
So yeah, I ended up having hits anyway. Very satisfying.
And what I just quoted were all quotes based on that first single from the ‘Woman In Me’ album. I wrote the song. And I was a little bit hurt, I guess, at the harsh critics, not focusing on the music.
And the fans just wiped all of that hurt away and made the song one of my biggest hits. Thank you, fans.”
If you want to make the argument that Shania was “too pop” for country music, fine… you’re probably not alone in that sentiment. But these comments came after “Whose Boots,” very early in her career, and not after some of her more pop material like “That Don’t Impress Me Much” or “Man! I Feel Like A Woman.”
But in the end, Shania went on to become an absolute powerhouse in the music world… so who’s laughing now?
She also added the one song that she wish more people knew:
“There’s a song off the Now album called ‘Who’s Gonna Be Your Girl.’
I just enjoy listening to that song as a listener, a music listener. It’s very easy going. It reminds me a little bit of the song ‘Forever And For Always.’ I’m a very acoustic guitar writing songwriter, and I like to jangle on the guitars. I’m figuring out melodies.
So the songs that often go to that rolling over acoustic finger jangle are always the songs that resonate most with me.”
Welp, let’s give it a listen: