Shania Twain’s honest playlist: ‘If Dancing Queen comes on, you rush out’
The country-pop superstar loves Abba and secretly listens to Lloyd Webber, but which British heartthrob’s single gets her out of bed in the morning?
By Hannah Newton | The Guardian - UK | July 26, 2026
The song that changed my life There’s many critical songs on The Mission soundtrack, but Gabriel’s Oboe [by Ennio Morricone] hit me hard. I had to pull off the road, I cried like a baby. I didn’t realise how powerful music could be until that moment. I was 22.
The first single I bought At Seventeen by Janis Ian. I reference it in my album Little Miss Twain and it says so much about the emotions of a teenage misfit. I felt like her, I related – but I was also thinking: “Wow, I have to some day write this well.” It gave me a goal; I was so in awe. I made very little money, babysitting, taking care of my neighbour’s horse, singing in bars. I would get like 20 bucks, that I would mostly give to my family, but I got that record for myself.
The best song to play at a party If Dancing Queen by Abba comes on and you’re in the bathroom, you rush to get out, you can’t miss a second of it.
The song I secretly like, but tell everybody I hate Nobody ever wants to listen to The Phantom of the Opera, but I nerd out and listen to the whole album. I have to do it by myself – it’s sort of a secret.
The song that gets me up in the morning When it comes to getting out of bed, pop always brings me somewhere new, like Harry Styles’s Sign of the Times. I love it.
The song that makes me cry Michael Jackson’s Ben used to make me cry as a kid.
The song I do at karaoke I was always the kid singing in bars, the last thing I wanted to do was get up and pretend. I was really purist about it. But I realised I’m missing out on all the fun. My favourite is Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack.
The song I want played at my funeral I’ve been through a lot of grief in my life and there are intimate moments where you need to bawl your eyes out. As the dead person, I want to say: this is a moment you cannot control, life goes to sh*t sometimes. So I would choose Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin; some things you can’t change.
