S20, Ep18 Shania Twain - ‘There is no man that intimidates me’
Today’s guest has the biggest selling studio album ever in the UK by an international female artist. She has won five Grammys, sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and, at 58, remains the top-selling female country pop artist of all time. This year, she makes her Glastonbury debut in the coveted Legends slot, undertakes a new tour of the UK and Ireland and returns to Las Vegas for her third residency.
And yet Shania Twain has battled adversity from a young age; her childhood was challenging and impoverished. From the age of eight, she was helping to support her family by singing in bars. Today, she is a cultural icon who has influenced a new wave of artists including Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
Shania and I talk about her inability to remember song lyrics, her failure to stick to the rules and the grief she felt after her parents died in a car accident. Plus, why recording Man, I Feel Like A Woman, was a transformative experience for how she felt about her own body and her own femininity. It was such an honour being in the same room as this total icon, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.
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Shania Twain says she’s bringing her wellies for Glastonbury 2024
Queen of country-pop will play the Pyramid Stage in June
By Roisin O'Connor | The Independent | May 22, 2024
Shania Twain says she’s packed her wellies for Glastonbury Festival this summer, as she prepares to take to the Pyramid Stage for the coveted Legends Slot.
The Canadian country-pop legend, 58, will perform some of her biggest hits when she makes her debut at Worthy Farm in June, alongside headliners Coldplay, Dua Lipa and SZA.
“I am getting into the spirit of the whole experience. I will be bringing rubber boots – wellies, as you call them here,” she told host Elizabeth Day on her How to Fail podcast.
“I want to go to other stages and I’ve heard that you should be prepared for the mud. I will probably wear a cowboy hat if it’s raining if going around the stages, so I can keep myself from looking like a wet rat.”
She added: “I haven’t worked out what I’m wearing yet but I will figure it out.”
In the same interview, the “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” star spoke about how she tries not to berate herself if she mixes up her lyrics: “I don’t beat myself up too much when it comes to that failure. It’s challenging to remember that many lyrics.
“But when people are singing along with me and they get the words wrong, it throws me right off. Even when they stop singing, sometimes I lose where I am.”
She also offered an emotional response when asked about her “biggest failure”, which she felt was wishing that her late mother could be at every one of her shows.
“They say not to wish for things you can’t change. But you have triggers like an award show,” she said.
“My mum was there for all of the beginning and none of the success. It’s regrettable in the deepest way that she never got to witness anything.”
Twain, who rose to global fame in the late Nineties and Noughties with albums such as Come On Over and Up!, was announced as one of the artists on this year’s Glastonbury lineup in March.
“The legends slot at GLASTONBURY 2024... Another jewel in my crown!!” she wrote on Instagram after the news broke. “I feel so honoured and so excited about this one! Thinking about what to wear already... and tell me, what should we sing together?!
“Let’s make history this summer with this ultimate dream performance!”
Twain’s Glastonbury booking comes after the release last year of her sixth studio album, Queen of Me. Among the previous artists to have played the Legends Slot on Sunday at Glastonbury are Diana Ross, Barry Gibb, Kylie Minogue and Lionel Richie.
She is also headlining British Summer Time festival in London on Sunday 7 July, along with fellow stars such as Stevie Nicks, Robbie Williams, SZA, rock band Kings of Leon, K-Pop band Stray Kids, and Australian pop icon Minogue, who will perform on dates across June and July.
This year’s Glastonbury Festival takes place between 26 to 30 June.
Other artists on the lineup include soul-pop artist Michael Kiwanuka, pop-punk singer Avril Lavigne, bands Keane, LCD Soundsystem, Two Door Cinema Club, Fat White Family and Bombay Bicycle Club, rapper Little Simz, and singers Camila Cabello, Janelle Monae, Jessie Ware and Olivia Dean.