Shania Twain on bringing "Come On Over" back to Las Vegas
Shania Twain, the country music icon, is set to return to Las Vegas next month for the next leg of her third residency, titled "Come On Over," at Planet Hollywood. This new residency pays homage to her landmark 1997 album of the same name, which remains the best-selling album of all time by a female solo artist.
Twain has always been deeply involved in her styling and stage design. Early in her career, she had to be resourceful.
"I just didn't have the budget for the styling, so I just did it myself. The wardrobe for 'Any Man of Mine' and 'Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under'—I just went to Target. And then the denim on denim, which has become quite a fun thing for fans to wear, that was just out of my closet," Twain said.
Twain's music career started early. She began performing in country bars in Ontario, Canada, at the age of 8.
"I was very uncomfortable with it," she admitted. "And it might have been that I was performing in adult venues."
Many of the bars she performed in had cages, and despite feeling uncomfortable, she performed because she felt she had to. The adults around her believed she should become a star, like the next Tanya Tucker. But Twain wanted to be a veterinarian or an engineering architect.
"Music was a passion. It wasn't a profession in my mind. It was something I loved to do best when I was alone," Twain said.
Twain, who sang covers as a kid, wanted to perform her own songs. Even after "The Woman in Me" caught fire in 1995, she refused to go on the road, insisting on writing her next record first.
She considered this decision her greatest act of rebellion, as it allowed her to focus on creating an album entirely on her own terms.
"A lot of people lost a lot of money for me not going on tour. But I didn't care. Dedicating myself to the writer in me, I wrote a better album," she said.
It paid off. Her next album, "Come On Over," became the biggest-selling album ever for a female artist. With hit songs like "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" "That Don't Impress Me Much," and "You're Still the One," the album's legacy is long lasting.
Twain overcame personal traumas, including throat surgery, a public divorce, and the sudden death of her parents when she was 22. Twain said these struggles gave her perspective when it came to her stage fright.
"I just decided there were so many other things that were genuinely worth being afraid of—being on stage isn't one of them," she said.
During her Vegas residencies, Twain enjoys spending time on a ranch, where she has five horses.
"This is a little park oasis that I can just walk out my door and do this," she said. " It's so calming and peaceful."
Now one of Vegas's most successful performers, Twain still prefers hearing other artists sing her songs. She was particularly "blown away" by a recent cover of "You're Still The One" by Teddy Swims. She said she considers it the best version she has ever heard.
As a songwriter, she said she feels proud hearing someone else perform her song.
"If other people had recorded my songs and made them the hits they became that would've brought me more joy than me doing them myself," she said.
Shania Twain's "Come On Over" residency at Planet Hollywood picks back up on Aug. 23 and runs through December.