By Tatiana Krisztina

 

Shania Twain has had a busy 2022.

 

The Canadian-born singer recently released her documentary “Not Just A Girl” on Netflix this year. In April, she did a surprise duet with Harry Styles during his headline set at the first weekend of Coachella. Twain also has over 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. She joined TikTok, posting throwback videos and reactions to remixes of her songs.

 

Starting out as a country singer, Twain made her first foray into pop culture with her third studio album, “Come On Over.” Released 25 years ago this November, “Come On Over” is Twain’s best-selling work. It currently holds a number of records - like the best-selling studio album by a female artist, the best-selling country album of all time, and the best-selling album of the 1990s. Overall, it’s the seventh best-selling album of all time. How in the world have I only heard one song from this album?

 

And yes, it’s the song you’re thinking of. With a seven-note guitar riff and “let’s go girls,” Twain belts out lyrics over kick drum beats and changed music forever. Even if country music isn’t your thing, it’s hard to hate Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman.” Move over Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” there’s a new feminist banger in town.

 

It’s the first song on the album and the perfect choice for it. Twain brings the party immediately and tries to keep that throughout the album, but nothing compares to the serotonin boost you get when you hear the first track. “Man! I Feel like a Woman” is the song that perfectly captures the feminist and fun themes that she carries throughout the album.

 

Other songs on the album try to be a feminist anthem but they can’t hold a candle to the iconic album opener. My guess is because the songs try to tackle more serious topics than Girls Just Want To Have Fun. “If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask!” is an upbeat song, but at its core, it explains that the way to win a woman over is with consent. “Black Eyes, Blue Tears” doesn’t explicitly say it, but it alludes to escaping some kind of abusive relationship. While both songs are about females regaining power, the dark undertones don’t allow them to be loud, feminist anthems played in clubs around the world.

 

But even with these serious topics, throughout the album, Twain wants to make sure the listener is having fun.“That Don’t Impress Me Much,” also known as the music video featuring Twain wearing that leopard outfit, shows off Twain’s sassy side and she sings as if she was gossiping with her friends. With a fun beat and Twain unimpressed by whether you’re a rocket scientist or Brad Pitt, it’s a definite stand out on the album.

 

Throughout the album, Twain encourages the listener to enjoy themselves, hyping her own song up on various tracks with phrases like “shake it” on “Come On Over;” “cool” on “Don’t Be Stupid;” “here we go” on “Whatever You Do! Don’t!”; “hit it” on “Honey I’m Home” or the iconic “let’s go girls” on “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” like she’s the 90s, country-inspired Lil Jon. 

 

Do you know how you can also tell Twain is having fun with this album? Her song titles do not shy away from an exclamation point. “Man! I Feel like a Woman”, “If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask!”, “Whatever You Do! Don’t!” and “Rock This Country!” are all styled to be yelled at her concert or in your car on the drive home. “Rock This Country!” is the lesser of the songs though, with the “ooh na na na” parts after the chorus seeming a little tacky but, hey, it was the 90s. 

 

The album isn’t all upbeat fun, songs like “You’re Still The One,” “From This Moment On” and “You’ve Got A Way” are slow ballad love songs that I could see a dedicated Twain fan picking as a first dance song at their wedding. “You’re Still The One” is my favorite out of the three, and won the Grammy for Best Country Song. It’s a 90’s time capsule that hops on the outdated trend of spoken word during love songs, like in “Dreaming of You” by Selena or “End Of The Road” by Boys II Men. “From This Moment On” is also the album’s only duet, featuring Bryan White, another 90s pop-country musician who seems to have stayed in that decade. But despite not needing to be a duet, though the voices do blend well, the song is on par with a Celine Dion power ballad. “You’ve Got A Way” is the last song on the album, an acoustic love song that seems a little too cliche but isn’t completely horrible. Even though these might not be upbeat songs, they’re still radiating so much positivity and love that you wouldn’t believe years later her husband would cheat on her with her best friend. 

 

With the success of “Come On Over,” Twain was pushed into the mainstream and never really left. The album leans more pop than Twain’s previous ones, but her country roots are still alive and well. Fiddles and country guitar licks are littered throughout the album behind pop beats. The most country song on the album is “Love Gets Me Every Time” with lyrics like “I gol’ darn gone and done it” which can’t be read in anything but a country accent. “I’m Holdin’ on to Love (To Save My Life)” is the most pop-country crossover song, sounding like it could come off of one of Taylor Swift’s earlier albums, showcasing Twain’s influence on today’s music. 

 

Without “Come On Over,” what would music be today? Would Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and other pop-country musicians have been able to get a foothold in the music industry? This album started the country to pop music pipeline that only a few can truly finesse, and Twain was the one to start it all.