by Brian Mansfield
Some time in June, Shania Twain sold her 7 millionth copy of The Woman in Me, making it the biggest-selling country album ever by a female artist. Patsy Cline'sGreatest Hits, the previous record-holder, has since sold its 7 millionth copy as well, but Twain's album is increasing its lead from week to week. Nobody in country music, in fact, seems to be able to sell more albums for more than a few weeks at a time. And plenty have tried, among them Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and Brooks & Dunn. Well into the summer, The Woman in Me sits atop Billboard magazine's country album chart, where it's spent the better part of the past two years.
Meanwhile, Twain is preparing to release the seventh single, "Home Ain't Where His Heart Is (Anymore)," from the album--which people at her label believe is the most singles ever from one country album. (An eighth, a version of "God Bless the Child" with full instrumentation will come out in time for Christmas.) She and husband R.J. "Mutt" Lange also have nearly completed writing material for her follow-up album, which is scheduled to be released in late March/early April of next year and will be followed by a tour.
When journalists first started writing stories about Shania, many
of them made a big deal about her chosen Ojibway Indian name meaning
"I'm on my way." But Shania Twain has long since arrived.
So what are you going to do now that you're bigger than Patsy Cline?
Statistics will deceive you; I'm a long way from being bigger than Patsy Cline. I haven't done much with what's happened now. I haven't had time to do much about it except keep going.
So the first album comes out, doesn't really do anything, and the second comes out and it's going to sell, what? A hundred times more than that first one did? What was the difference? Surely it wasn't just getting a different producer?
That was a big part of it in many ways. Everything has changed for the right reasons. Mutt, as a producer, obviously gave country a sound that it never had before. That was a big bonus, it was a big risk too, but it turned out to be a bonus.Then you've got Mutt the co-writer who has done wonders for me as a songwriter, because so many of the titles or concepts for the songs on this album were things I had already written the year before for my first album and didn't get taken seriously the first time around. But I got together with Mutt and worked on those songs with him, and he was like, Wow, I can't believe this got overlooked. This is great! He gave me a new confidence I had never had before, and that just opened up all kinds of doors. He contributed in a big way to my confidence, and that just made all the difference.
What did Mercury's reaction when you first started working with Mutt?
The personnel was different at the time, and when we came up with this, it was not the norm and it was a little awkward because we'd broken every rule you could imagine. Now we're starting to break the records because of it. The A&R department that's here now obviously loves it.
The risk was very high. I could've lost my deal.
Comment on this: The Woman in Me challenges conventional country wisdom--ones about beauty, loud drums and carpetbagger skepticism-at the same time it adheres to many of its traditions--like husband-and-wife harmonies and using Nashville-based session players.
Country is where I come from. I never even performed without my guitar till I was in my late teens. I was just a stand-still, big-guitar, smoky-bar country singer, for my whole childhood.
Mutt is such a big fan of Tammy Wynette and George Jones; he's got such a collection country music. The steel guitar just makes him want to crank it. I'm not that fixated. Not the way he is. He's a real true fan.
He got more satisfaction out of having those elements there and didn't take it for granted. It was a thrill for him to work with Nashville musicians. It was like toy land for him. He loved to play and he loved to have the opportunity to work with the steel guitar players. I think the sincerity showed through on the albums. We weren't paying attention to the margins; we just wanted to do what pleased us and at the same time what we hoped would entertain everyone.
There's a real sense of playfulness to the album, which I think is one big thing that separates it from all the others.
That has a lot to do with the fact that we're in love and we're a couple. We can really goof around. Basically, all the inhibitions are out the window. You don't have to worry what the other person's going to think of you if you come up with a corny idea.
There is a lot of playfulness, and there is a lot of fun. He encourages my boldness, and I encourage his energy, because he brings a lot of energy to the music. It rocks, it moves, it just makes you want to ... get lost in it.
You grew up listening to country and pop, and the pop acts you've said you liked were ones likes the Mamas and the Papas, the Carpenters-very smooth, very melodic, almost bubblegum. I could make a case that your music--and the reason it connects so well with a young female audience-is because it combines that kind of pop with traditional country, with Mutt's key production sound thrown in . The same way that Garth Brooks' music combines qualities of country and the '70s arena rock he grew up with.
I've taken everything that I've experienced with music and songwriting through, like, the last 20 years and basically evolved it into what I am now. Everything has definitely influenced me. But it's really been country, because even though I was influenced by everything else around me, country was just kind of what I did when I was a kid. The only repertoire I ever could learn from was country because I grew up in a country household. So country it was. It just became a part of me. The influences are definitely something you're hearing that may be what so many people are relating to. It's more across-the-board; it's not prejudiced. Hopefully, it's just entertaining.