Shania Twain Feels ‘Bigger’ Than She Ever Has Ahead Of Her New Album: ‘It’s Like A Renaissance Period’
Shania Twain is “embracing” the next chapter in her career.
As the country icon prepares to release her sixth studio album, Queen of Me, on February 3 — her first in five years — she shares how it feels to be releasing the upbeat and empowering new music she wrote to escape the despair of the pandemic.
“It’s like a renaissance period for me,” Twain, 57, tells People for the magazine’s new cover story. “To be experiencing it as a relevant artist still, that’s rewarding. I feel a renewed confidence. I don’t have anything to prove anymore, and I feel freedom in that.”
Although the “That Don’t Impress Me Much” singer has become the bestselling female country artist of all time since releasing her first album nearly 30 years ago, Twain certainly has faced a number of setbacks, including a battle with Lyme disease that nearly destroyed her voice.
The Timmins, Ontario native feared that she’d never be able to sing again after she couldn’t project vocally for over seven years. Eventually, Twain’s doctors diagnosed her with Lyme disease from a 2004 tick bite that they believe damaged the nerves in her vocal cords. With extensive warm-ups and physical therapy, the country star relearned how to sing and even underwent open-throat surgery in 2018 to strengthen the weakened nerves.
“I may not be able to [sing] forever, but right now I’m just enjoying where I am,” she says.
“All these years later, I’m still here,” she adds, “almost in a bigger way and I’m embracing it.”
Twain’s new issue of People hits newsstands on Thursday.
