The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 75

Shania Twain souvenir Edition THE OTTAWA CITIZEN MARCH 1999 Page 3 Breakin Albums Shania has forged her own unique blend of pop, rock and new country goul I i z. Shania Twain (1993) Songs: What Made You Say That, You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me, Dance with the One That Brought You, Still Under the Weather, God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That, Got a Hold on Me, There Goes the Neighborhood, Forget Me, When He Leaves You, Crime of the Century. tv- -fJ i -v ki, I i 1 fipTry fed The Woman in Me (1995) Songs: Home Ain't Where the Heart is (Anymore), Any Man of Mine, Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been (If You're Not in it for Love) I'm Outta Here, The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You), Is There Life After If It Don't Take Two, You Win My Love, Raining on Our Love, Leaving is the Only Way Out, No One Needs to Know, God Bless the Child. byLynnSaxberg The muttering about Shania Twain started the morning after the Grammys. It continued through her Winter Break television special and gets a little louder every time her new video hits the airwaves.

Those thigh-high boots and black choker seem to be squeezing the sense out of her, the mutterers say. She's citing Elton John as her main musical influence and the Backstreet Boys as the music she listens to every day. And what's up with copying Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love video? This time, some are saying, she's gone too far for country music. Even for "new" country. Tracey Brown, the veteran Ottawa Valley country singer who lost a Juno award to Twain this month, is one person who's heard the rumblings.

"Up here in the Valley, some thought what she wore to the Grammys was way too over the line," she says. "Her stance and the whole bit was too suggestive. Maybe she's pushed the envelope a bit too much, but that's what people watch her for: to see what she's going to do next" Ron Moores, host of a traditional country music program on CKCU-FM, shook his head when he started watching Twain's Miami television special. "I thought 'What does this have to do with country he says. "Her claim to fame is Elton John's influence? And who were those fellows, the Backstreet Boys when did I last see them at a country concert?" All signs are that Twain is set to abandon country music.

But before she does, let's see what the Tim-mins-raised superstar has done for the high lonesome sound of honky-tonks and singing cowboys. Shania Twain certainly isn't the first country artist to blur the lines between pop, rock and country. And she's not the first female country singer to make the most of her looks or belt out songs about issues that women can relate to. She's not even the first to go for a massive rock-show presentation, complete with electric guitars, choreography, stadium sound and pyrotechnics. No, when you're talking about Shania Twain and her impact, you have to talk about numbers.

Record-breaking numbers. She is the biggest-selling female artist in the history of country music, bigger even than Patsy Cline. Her breakthrough second album, The Woman in Me, has sold nearly 15 million copies, making Shania one of five female artists to sell more than 10 million copies of an album. The follow-up, Come on Over, has reached the eight million mark and is still climbing. It was the first country album to debut at No.

1 on Canada's retail album charts. Shania, and her husband, the rich, influential rock producer Mutt Lange, merged elements of pop, rock and country and rolled them into one hugely successful package, marketed with the slickest, sexiest videos ever seen in country music. "I think the biggest thing she's done is brought an enormous new audience of young people on stream who are not necessarily country music fans," says Larry Delaney, editor and publisher of Country Music News. In 1993, the Ottawa-based monthly newspaper was the first publication to feature Twain on the cover. The young singer made a lasting impression on Delaney.

"There was no questioning the potential at the very early beginning," he recalls. "She had the image, the wholesome country image that kind of had a Hollywood touch to it, and she had that human appeal the same kind of appeal that Elvis Presley had. It was that dynamic." That first cover story was about Twain's self-titled debut album, a decent, if underwhelming, batch of songs penned by other songwriters. Though the disc was a commercial flop, one video was enough to draw the attention of Lange, the producer behind ACDC, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams, who became Twain's husband. With Lange's know-how and money behind her, Twain's second album, The Woman in Me, was destined to be a hit.

Its catchy songs were written by Twain and Lange, and featured pop-rock instrumentation and production. It was tailor-made for the new-country format, producing eight singles, four of which went to No. 1. Yet it kept just enough traditional country flavour, in the fiddles, the pedal-steel guitar and some of the slower-paced, acoustic guitar-based songs, to appeal to long-time country fans. Defying Nashville convention, Twain did not tour to support the disc The Woman in Me was released in 1995, well into the wave of new country, the genre launched in 1989 by Garth Brooks that swept through radio stations like wildfire, usually at the expense of traditional country music.

Twain and Lange went even further with their 1997 album, Come on Over, a slicker, hard-edged set brimming with up-tempo tunes and Def Leppard-style breaks. The album has so far yielded seven hit singles most rece ntly, Man! I Feel Like a Woman! out of an expected 10. In a stroke of marketing brilliance, the music was remixed and cleaned up for the European market, 'de-twanged' by removing some of the fiddles and pedal steel to make the music palatable to an even wider audience. Listening to the original version of Come on Over, one gets the impression Twain and Lange have pushed new country as far as it will go. The disc may be remembered as the pinnacle of the genre, marking the epitome of the pop-rock influence on country music.

Come on Over (1997) Songs: Love Gets Me Every Time, Man! I Feel like a I'm Holdin' Onto Love (To Save My Life), Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), From This Moment On, Come on Over, When, Whatever You Do, Don't, If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask, You're Still the One, Honey, I'm Home, That Don't Impress Me Much, I Won't Leave You Lonely, Rock This Country, You've Got Making the most of her looks has helped Shania Twain become the biggest-selling female artist in the history of country music. While many male fans have been drawn by her drop-dead good looks and navel-baring attire, female record-buyers havealso given Twain a solid fan base. a Way. Singles female record-buyers have given Twain a solid fan base. It seems her songs, portraying a strong, independent woman who's not putting up with crap from men, have struck a chord with women in the '90s.

Instead of Stand by Your Man, today's woman in country music is declaring "If you're not in it for love, I'm outta here!" and "Honey, I'm home and I've had a hard day." Twain's fans are people like Debbie Leger, a 42-year-old Ottawa waitress, who says she likes all kinds of music. "Her music is vibrant, down-to-earth," says Leger. "I find that (her songs) are true to life you know, having a bad hair day or 'can I buy you a That stuff happens. And the song she did in regards to losing her parents, that's a really beautiful song. There's no question that Twain has the talent to do whatever she wants in the music business.

Elton John, the Backstreet Boys and Robert Palmer are likely just the beginning of a new chapter for her. "She's a talented kid with a pretty voice and I think she comes across as a genuine artist," says Moores. "She projects an image that's happy and healthy and attractive. And I think people identify with her because of her background. She's earned her spurs." But if Twain is grooming herself to make the final leap into the pop-rock arena, where will that leave her fans and country radio stations? It's almost guaranteed that fans will follow her, no matter what she does.

Radio is another story. "She's done a country album and pop mixes will she do a pop album and country mixes?" wonders Yi05's program director Ken Geiger. "If she doesn't, our mandate is to serve our core listener and obviously if our core listener is a country fan, then that product has to be a country song. And anything that's pop rock is outside the scope. "But she's the biggest selling country female in history.

It would be pretty hard to say goodbye to that impact for a country radio statioa" In fact, there are indications throughout the industry that the whole new-country trend has reached its peak If it weren't for Shania and Garth, country-music sales would be dismal Nashville labels are folding and established artists are losing their contracts. "Maybe she's pushed the envelope a bit too much, but that's what people watch her for: to see what she's going to do next." -Tracey Brown Ottawa Valley country singer Roch Parisien, a Nepean-based music industry consultant and journalist, compares country in the late '90s to rock in the late '70s. As the '70s drew to a close, he says, rock music "became excessive and bloated and show-biz and over the top," and had to be taken back to its roots by punk and other populist musical movements. "We will see that country in recent years has been in that same situation, led by the likes of the Shanias and the Garths," Parisien says. "And yes, what's going to eventually regenerate or save country music will be a shift back t6 simpler and more traditional values." If there's any country left in Shania Twain, says Brown, it's in her attitude toward her fans and her genuine personality.

"I think through it all she is really committed to her fans, and that's like a country-music person," she says. While many male fans have been drawn to Twain by her drop-dead good looks and navel-baring attire, Singles that made Top 100 on Billboard country andor pop charts: What Made You Say That (1993) Dance with the One that Brought You (1993) You Lay a Whole Lotta Love on Me (1993) Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? (1995) Any Man of Mine (1995) The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You) (1995) I'm Outta Here (1995) You Win My Love (1996) No One Needs to Know (1996) Home Ain't Where the Heart is Anymore (1996) God Bless the Child (1996) Love Gets Me Every Time (1997) Don't Be Stupid (1997) You're Still the One (1998) From This Moment On (1998) Honey, I'm Home (1998) That Don't Impress Me Much (1998) Manl I Feel like a Womanl (1998) artistry as something that is created by someone who is not interested in commercial success. ON HER CURRENT TOUR My concerts are like a big party. I'm the hostess and fun is the main thing. High energy, great lights, great sound.

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE'S CHETFLIPPO ON SHANIA Shania Twain has carved out her own place in country music. Until she came along, there was no job description for what sheis-apopfemme fatale, for want of a better term. She's playing by her own rules. And she's changing the audience. ON HER TOUR MUSICIANS I can't have anyone in the band who doesn't have my energy.

I don't want people who have been on the road for years and are just doing it in order to do it. And I like a clean band. I don't like drugs. I don't like alcohol. I like to have clean-living people around me.

ON LIVE SHOWS I like being in front of a live audience where I can control things. What I'm least comfortable with is the studio or anything contrived. I'm never at my best on television. There's a row of cameras between you and the audience, and it's very weird, very confusing. ON CRITICISM SHE'S TOO COMMERCIAL Sharing music with as many people as possible is the whole idea behind what I do.

But that doesn't mean my work is any less legitimate artistically. These songs the music, the lyrics -they take the same amount of work and.