shania.funurl.com

SHANIA TWAIN: TWO YEARS OF TRIUMPH

.
GACTV.com
December 2004

.
The last time we wrote about Shania Twain she had just begun a new assault on country music hoping to take her already lofty superstar status to even greater heights with the release of a new album and the beginning of a new tour. It was just over two years ago that she released her album Up! What’s followed has been two years of undisputed triumph.

It had been five years since she’d released a new album and 3 years since she had been on tour. To her fans it was like she’d never been away. They immediately embraced her new album and enthusiastically welcomed her back on her worldwide tour. It’s been a love-fest bigger than anything she’s experienced before.

ALL PART OF HER JOB

To Shania and her husband/producer, Robert “Mutt” Lange, writing and recording music and preparing to take it to the people is just part of their job.

“Well, we just keep making music and setting new goals and that sort of thing. I mean this new album the goal was to make it as international as possible and it’s already becoming that very quickly so there’s always new challenges to take on and new goals to set, I just sort of set my own direction and then go for that,” Shania reasons.

The time it takes to make her records is also part of the reason they’re so successful.

I’m always trying to do something unique and be an individual artist so in that sense it’s probably going to end up being different from a lot of what else is out there, but that is a goal, I do that intentionally, but not intentionally to be a trend setter,” she says modestly.

“Yeah, it does take time to put together I think a good quality record,” she admits. “More time for me, I think because I write my own music, so you know, of course it’s just more time consuming. And then you know, all the studio time. MUTT is just very, he’s a perfectionist and very creative guy, so the whole process takes quite a long time. And then we had a baby of course amongst all of that, so it ended up being about 3 1/2 years.”

TWO YEARS OF SUCCESS

Taking that much time to make new music and take it to the people has paid off big for Shania. First she created three versions of the UP!, country, pop and international versions of every tune on the album. Then she sold the album in dual disc sets, one set including the country and pop versions of the songs and the other with the pop and international versions of the songs.

Secondly she promoted the double set albums, by going on a worldwide tour that took her to Europe and Japan, and two runs through North America (Canada and the U.S.). For Shania, touring is her favorite thing.

“The whole performance thing is really just being on the concert stage. It’s really, really fun. I mean song writing is definitely where my passion is, that is something that would do regardless, even if I hadn’t made this my career. I would, I just enjoy song writing,” she explains.

“But, of course, being on stage is the most rewarding because it’s like being with your friends and you’re all just sitting around talking about the same things and sharing the same laugh. You have so much in common because you’re there for the music and you all know the music so well, so it’s just a really special experience."

The big payoff from all that time on the road wasn’t far behind. Up!, began flying off of record store shelves and, sales from the internet. The result was that Shania cemented her status as the best-selling female country artist in history by earning another Diamond album giving to artist that sell over 10 million copies. Last month she was presented at plaque with all three of her Diamond albums on it, THE WOMAN IN ME, COME ON OVER, and UP!.

At the same presentation, COME ON OVER, already the best selling female country album in history, became the first Double-Diamond (20 million sold) album by a female country artist raising her career sales to over 65 million albums worldwide.

Why is she so successful? Shania sum it up in one word, “Songs.” She explains, “Without hit songs you can not have a successful career, no matter what. No matter how much money’s behind you, no matter how great your record company is. No matter who your management is. No matter what you look like. If you do not have hit songs, you will not be successful."

THE $80 MILLION ENDLESS TOUR AND STILL NOT ENOUGH RESPECT

If her album sales weren’t success enough, Shania’s tour, that began in 2003 and finished up this fall, grossed over $80 million dollars. So you would’ve thought that Shania would’ve been a shoe-in for either the CMA Female Vocalist award and/or the Entertainer of the Year, but no. The Country Music Association snubbed her completely this year not even nominating her for these categories.

While that was troubling to her fans, Shania didn’t take it personally, even agreeing to perform on the CMA Awards show last month. Why would she do that? It’s simple. Shania is one of the smartest performers in the business, and planned that appearance to help support her first ever, Greatest Hits album.

And, it worked. The week after her appearance on the CMA’s her album debuted at #1 on the country album chart with over 500,000 copies sold. The CMA telecast was just part of its success. Shania included some hot new songs on the collection including her duet titled, “Party for Two,” a tune she planned on recording with Toby Keith. They had started out their careers together at Mercury Records doing the Triple Play Tour with John Brannen, and Toby initially said, yes.

"The trouble was I hadn't completed the song yet," Shania admits.

"I was on tour and it took time to finish the song. By the time it was finished, things had changed and Toby said, or somebody with Toby said they couldn't do, I think because our albums were coming out at the same time. So, I went looking for somebody else." That somebody else turned into two guys that are somebody. “I decided to record two versions of the song, one with Billy Currington, and the other with Mark McGrath.” Shania also did two versions of the “Party for Two” video, one for MTV with McGrath, and the other for GAC with Billy Currington. Dueting with a pop and country artist made sure Shania’s pop and country fans knew about her Greatest Hits album. Twain included two other new songs on the CD, “Don’t,” and “I Ain’t No Quitter.”

I AIN’T NO QUITTER PERSONIFIES SHANIA’S ATTITUDE TOWARD FUTURE

Finally, the tune, “I Ain’t No Quitter,” reflects Shania’s outlook on the future, meaning she has no intention of quitting…but does plan now to take some time off nd steal a little more time for her self.

"I'd like more free time, now that I have a child. My career is all-occupying, as all of our careers are, but now that I have a child I have so little time to do things just for myself,” Shania laments matter-of-factly.

“I'd like to spend more time riding (horses), I'd like to spend more time cooking, things that just aren't demanding, just time for myself. I think every woman gets to that point when you have a multi-dimensional life where you say, 'Okay, what is there I can do that includes nobody but myself.'"

Shania says that even if she does take some time off, she has already begun writing songs for her next studio album and says that will arrive when she and Mutt have written enough good songs top do it all over again.

MORE WILL SHANIA GO MORE COUNTRY OR POP?

There's no doubt she deserves a rest. After all, in the last two years she's recorded and release another Diamond (10 Million +) album, UP!. Question -. what kind of album is up next?

"I don't know if I want to change direction," said Twain, "I've entertained the idea of doing a really rootsy, country sound; it would be more on the bluegrass side. Would I want to do a straight-ahead pop record? I've entertained the thoughts of doing just duets with all my favorite artists. I've thought of maybe doing an album of covers of my favorite classics. And so what kind of album is the next album going to be? I don't know. I have to think about it a little more."

While Shania Twain thinks about what’s next, she’ll no doubt be reflecting proudly on her last two years of Triumph.

.