Shania Twain’s ‘Now’ Is A Brilliant Comeback

Shania Twain released her new album, ‘Now’, on Friday 29 September. Her first for 15 years, it comes ahead of her UK and Irish arena tour in September and October 2018, for which tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster.

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Shania Twain has been through a lot in recent years, including vocal issues caused by Lyme diesase, and divorce in 2010 from her husband and collaborator for much of her career, Mutt Lange.

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Lyme disease proved to be the worst part however, as she told Australia’s 60 Minutes programme:

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“I had been working really hard and intense for over a decade, I just had a baby and I was ready for a break and then I was suddenly having voice issues.”

The singer went on to say,

“It will heal to a degree, but I will still have scar tissue, it can never heal 100 percent. It adds to my anxiety,. it’s a lot of pressure.”

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Despite all this, the singer has come up trumps with her new album, ‘Now’, for which she wrote and did the bulk of production on all tracks, and made sure the other four producers were aware of her very strict guidelines.
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“I told anyone getting involved musically to forget about my other records. I didn’t want it to be related to Mutt’s productions at all. I wanted a more organic approach.”
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It shows. Lange’s super-glossy method of production is a world away from this album, which in its rawness is able to convey Twain’s sadness, yet strength and power, giving the listener the feeling of actually seeing the real Shania.[space height=”10″]

Twain’s vocal range might not be what it was, but the reduced timbre gives it something different, causing her at times to remind us of Nancy Sinatra (‘Light Of My Life’), Amy Winehouse (‘You Can’t Buy Love’), and the anthemic ‘Life’s About To Get Good’, which has a feel of Karen Carpenter about it.[space height=”10″]

‘Now’ could easily get lost in a sea of Woman-Power-albums that have been released in recent months, like Kesha’s ‘Rainbow’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’, but it stands up and tells its own story and quite rightly deserves recognition. Tracks like ‘We Got Something They Don’t’, and the up-tempo ‘More Fun’ encourage the listener to get on with life no matter what the situation, get over ourselves and move on, and not to let anyone bring us down.
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In short, the album is very appropriately named, as it’s certainly all about what Twain is like Now – and not a lot what she was like before.

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You can find Shania Twain on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. ‘Now’ is available to stream and download here.

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About the author

Lisa has been writing for over 20 years, starting as the entertainment editor on her university newspaper. Since then she's written for Popwrapped, Maximum Pop, Celebmix, and ListenOnRepeat.

Lisa loves all good music, with particular fondness for Jedward and David Bowie. She's interviewed Edward Grimes (Jedward), Kevin Godley, Trevor Horn, Paul Young, Peter Cox (Go West), Brendan B Brown (Wheatus), Bruce Foxton (The Jam), among many many more. Lisa is also available for freelance writing - please email lisa@essentiallypop.com

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