Shania Twain: “Queen of Me”

By McKenna Worsham

Photo of Shania Twain taken from Outsider

Country icon Shania Twain, with best-selling records “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” and “You’re Still the One” (as well as many more), recently released her first album since 2017. “Queen of Me” is a more modern-pop album made up of metaphors and allusions to current pop culture. Here is a little taste of the album, the top four songs off of “Queen of Me.” 

Now it is your decision: is Shania still the queen of country music? 

“Queen Of Me”

As a title track, usually, you would expect more. Though the lyrics and themes of this song are empowering, the instrumentals distract from that power. It has a childish upbeat tone, which is carried throughout the album. That is simply not expected from an iconic artist whose been in the industry as long as Twain. It is missing something that is so niche to her past music– uniqueness. “Queen Of Me,” though the message is well thought out, is simply no match to Twain’s iconic style in the early days of her career.

“Giddy Up!”

This song has slightly more of that country twang missing in “Queen Of Me,” though it seems just as premature for her career. Although this track is good for dancing, there is not much more to say about it. The beginning of the instrumental is very well done and matches the theme of the song, but it has been done a million times before. Twain’s true country fans highly anticipated this song, but it did not hold up to the rumors. 

“Pretty Liar”

“Pretty Liar” is honestly a hit. The lyrics are good, more grown up and funny; the chorus is catchy and makes perfect sense with the instrumentals. This song would have made a perfect title track as it is perfect for the radio. However, it sticks with the pop-leaning genre rather than Twain’s usual country music. This could be either good or bad for her career, though she did a wonderful job of combining the new with the old in “Pretty Liar.” 

“Brand New”

This track is a record of Twain’s self-discovery. Is it cheesy? Yes, but it does touch on an important theme of finding herself on her own terms. This song seems to be a tribute to finding a new style and music genre to dip into later on in her career. In doing so, Twain is placing herself in a vulnerable position for criticism because of her new taste. While the lyrics are quite repetitive, this feels like something straight out of Twain’s diary. “Brand New” is definitley the most personal song on the album. 

This album, though cliché and slightly overdone, at its core is Twain’s attempt to reinvent herself. Especially in the music industry, this is not an easy task. Shania Twain is and will continue to be iconic; however, whether she is still the queen of country is up to you!