Is Shania Twain a TRUE COUNTRY GIRL?
If you ever happened to go to General Banter forum at http://boards.countryweekly.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi , don’t you dare to mention any negative things about Shania Twain or else you would get blasted away. I learned it the hard way. Anyway, I would like to say something about the proclaimed biggest selling albums by a female (which I believe is Madonna), and country music’s greatest selling album of all time. First of all, can we consider Shania a true living legend of country music? Does she belong up there with the legendary country superstars like Loretta Lynn, who had 50 top 10 country hits? Have she proven enough to be a country superstar? My answer to the entire above question is “NO YET”. Some even call her “Queen of country music”, which is totally silly. She’s not even a country phenomenon to me. Frankly, what in hell does the mainstream audience know about country music and its history? The rightful queen of country music is Kitty Wells.
Even now, Shania has an uphill battle to prove herself as a country artist. Selling albums by the quantity doesn’t make her a country legend, probably a commercial one. In the long run quantity doesn’t win the hearts of country music audience, but quality does. I am not criticising Shania for the wrong reasons, but these are facts which should be mentioned and considered. I love her for the person she is and her unique music style. I also respect her ability to crossover, moreover bringing pop to country music, but I would like to see her establishing herself more towards being a county music legend. I think she owes this to the country fans. Of all the traditional country numbers she might have performed, I could only remember when she performed duets with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. Is there anymore? Can someone mention them if I had left out any. Facts states, Shania was born a country girl and had almost similar life like Loretta. They grew up with such humble roots and country music had a huge effect on their life, which heavily influenced both their music as an adult. But will Shania end up like Loretta?
Looking back at her limited albums, Shania’s self-titled debut album “Shania Twain” which was released in 1993 was unsatisfactory, and didn’t capture the hearts of country music audience. Why? Was it due to the fact that she didn’t give her full passion and commitment to country music? Some people believe so, and subsequently she was alienated from the Nashville music scene. Some critics felt Shania is a much better pop singer than country singer. Her debut album was pretty average for country. The songs are routine and the production was flat. Shania warbles and gabbles as though her mind is elsewhere, yes mainstream. After the flop country album, Shania was hanging around with rock album producers, and subsequently married one. At this point in time, she felt the need to crossover to pop after her failure with country audience. With the guidance and help of the mainstream producer she released her second album “The Woman In Me” in 1995. This album was produced in a way that it suits both music genres. The producer knew beforehand what to expect from the country audience and that’s why it was produced with some assurance. You can even see differences in her music videos, if you compare her earlier singles and the older ones. This was the album which promoted Shania as a crossover artist. This album was released to the country chart and many country audiences at first seen this album as her second failure. Indeed country music audience didn’t fancy her music. The album became popular only when she decided to fully commit the album into mainstream by changing her act. The producer of her album subsequently remixed most of her songs to sound more pop which was intended for international mainstream markets. The producer killed off the country style instrumentation, and put in more upbeat pop tempo. Her third and fourth albums “Come on Over” and “Up” was also packaged more towards the mainstream audience, even they called it country but it was never one, not traditional, but I could classified it as country rock/pop. Hopefully one day, Shania will get out of Europe and move to Nashville and make a genuine country album. When will the day be? Frankly, I am hoping for it to be soon. Come on Shania, get cracking!
100% POP
Country
Country
Country or Pop? You decide
100% Pop
Duets with some legends but is she one?
