Shania’s Early Years
Country singer/songwriter Eilleen Regina “Shania” Twain was born in 1965 in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from high school in 1983, she toured with a cover band called Flirt. Toronto DJ Stan Campbell noticed her talent and used her as a backing vocalist on an album by Canadian musician Tim Denis. Twain halted her burgeoning music career in 1987 when her mother and stepfather died in a car accident. She moved home to take care of her younger siblings.
After her siblings moved out on their own, Twain re-entered the music world by assembling a demo which caught the attention of a few labels. She signed to Mercury Nashville Records and released her self-titled debut album in 1993. The album failed to chart in her native Canada or the United States, although the single “What Made You Say That” backed by “Dance with the One That Brought You” reached #55 on the Billboard country chart.
Producer Mutt Lange became a fan of Twain’s after her first album. They met, fell in love, got married, and proceeded to produce one of the great blockbuster albums of all time in 1995’s The Woman in Me. The album sold 20 million copies, setting up a seemingly impossible benchmark for the follow-up.
Instead of falling short, 1997’s Come on Over was even bigger. Perhaps its greatest accomplishment was how she “served up a musical style that blended the sassiness of country with the beat and melodic feel of pop.” AM Previously, “country music and pop were poor bedfellows” AM with a few notable exceptions such as Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette.
However, Come on Over spent 50 weeks atop the country charts and sold 40 million copies propelled by a whopping twelve chart hits. Eight of those reached the top ten on the country chart with three going all the way to #1. The album also proved to have pop crossover appeal with three of the songs reaching the top-ten on the Billboard Hot 100.
Another Blockbuster
Shania Twain’s next album, Up!, would be another blockbuster, selling more than 17 million copies worldwide and doing what her previous releases couldn’t – top the Billboard album chart. There was some drop-off, as expected. The album did produce another impressive eight chart singles, but this time none of them reached #1 on the country chart (although three made the top ten) nor the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The biggest hit was Forever and for Always, a #4 country hit and #20 pop hit.
Keys to Success
Twain revealed that she wrote far more songs than would fit on the album, which helps explain why her albums “are such brilliant pieces of mainstream pop. Anything that doesn’t fit the mold is discarded, so the album can hum along on its big, polished, multipurpose hooks and big, sweeping emotions.” AM “This is Super-Size pop, as outsized and grandiose as good pop should be.” AM
Interestingly, Twain also said she hides her more personal songs from Lange (which seems like a red flag), but this also plays into the appeal of the album. “Unlike the work of most pop divas, where the subject matter is firmly about the singer, none of the songs on Up! are remotely about Shania Twain, the person – let’s face it, she's never faced a situation like Waiter! Bring Me Water!, where she’s afraid her guy is going to be stolen away by their hot waitress.” AM
“No, these songs have been crafted as universal anthems, so listeners can hear themselves within these tales. Just as cleverly, the songs are open-ended and mutable – always melodic, but never stuck in any particular style, so they can be subjected to any kind of mix and sound just as good.” AM
The Album Length
While the album was certainly constructed with success in mind, it also reaches too far. “The sheer length of the album could be seen as off-putting at first, since these 19 tracks don’t necessarily flow as a whole.” AM “Upon the first listen, singles seem indistinct, and it seems like too much to consume at once.” AM
Of course, Up! is “designed as a collection of tracks, so the album is durable enough to withstand years on the charts, producing singles with different textures and moods every few months. Time revealed Come on Over as a stellar pop album, and the same principle works for Up!.” AM Repeat listens reveal an album in which “the hooks become indelible and the gargantuan glossiness of the production is irresistible.” AM
“In other words, it’s a more than worthy follow-up to the great mainstream pop album of the late ‘90s, and proof that when it comes to shiny, multipurpose pop, nobody does it better than Shania Twain.” AM
Two Versions
“In an attempt to satisfy both her pop fans and her country critics,” AB Up! was released as a double disc. The red album featured the songs in a pop style while the blue one covered the same songs, but in more of a country vein. It seemed a completely unnecessary move, but however you hear the songs, there are hits.
“The album has its fair share of pop standards, such as I’m Gonna Getcha Good! but Twain also dabbles with political themes on Ka-Ching! – about the evils of consumerism – and on What a Way to Wanna Be!, on which Twain decries the diet and fashion industries for making women feel inadequate about the way they look and their weight.” AB
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