Shania Twain (album)

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Shania Twain
Original album cover; 2000 reissue uses an alternate cover
Studio album by
Shania Twain
ReleasedApril 20, 1993
Recorded1992–1993
StudioMusic Mill Recording Studio (Nashville)
GenreCountry
Length30:41
Label
Producer
Shania Twain chronology
Shania Twain
(1993) 		The Woman in Me
(1995)
Singles from Shania Twain
  1. "What Made You Say That"
    Released: March 6, 1993
  2. "Dance with the One That Brought You"
    Released: July 13, 1993
  3. "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me"
    Released: September 7, 1993

Shania Twain is the eponymous debut studio album by Canadian singer Shania Twain, released on April 20, 1993, by Polygram and Mercury Records. After assembling a demo tape to send to labels, Mercury Nashville took an interest and signed her a contract. Unlike her later albums, Twain had very little input on the album.

The album was a commercial flop during its original release, only reaching number 67 on the US Country Albums chart. Three singles were released from the album, none of which cracked the top 40 at country radio. The album was later re-released in 2000 following the massive success of Twain's later albums. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1999.

After her subsequent albums The Woman in Me (1995) and especially Come On Over (1997) catapulted her to superstardom, Twain essentially disowned this album and has not performed any material from it live following the conclusion of her Come on Over Tour in 1999. Even during the aforementioned tour, only the song "What Made You Say That" was included from the album in her setlist despite her only having three albums of material at the time to draw from.[1] In addition, no selections from it were included on her 2004 Greatest Hits album. "What Made You Say That" is included on her Netflix documentary companion compilation album Not Just a Girl (The Highlights) released on July 26, 2022.

Content[edit]

Five songs were originally recorded by other artists. "There Goes the Neighborhood" was recorded by Joe Diffie in 1990, "When He Leaves You" was a single for Donna Meade in 1989, "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" was recorded by Con Hunley in 1980 and Tom Jones in 1983, "Still Under the Weather" was recorded by Andy Williams in 1990, and "What Made You Say That" was recorded by Wayne Massey in 1989. In her 2011 autobiography, From This Moment On, Twain expressed displeasure with her debut studio album, revealing that she had very little creative control and was frustrated with being unable to showcase her songwriting abilities.[2] However, she did co-write one song on the album titled "God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That".

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(choice cut)[4]
Rolling Stone[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

Shania Twain received favorable reviews from critics. Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, noting that although she had a long way to go, "attention must be paid". On the other end, Thom Owens of AllMusic gave the album a mixed but mostly negative review, calling it a bland album that even Twain's vocals are "too showy to make any of these mediocre songs stick."

Singles[edit]

"What Made You Say That" was released on March 6, 1993 as the lead single from the album and Twain's debut single. The song received mostly positive reviews. The song peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and number 78 on the RPM Canadian Country Tracks, one of the few times a single of hers performed better in the US than in Canada. The song received attention due to its at-the-time controversial music video, which prominently showed her midriff. The music video was later banned by CMT.

"Dance with the One That Brought You" was chosen as the second single from the album on July 13, 1993, with it also receiving positive reviews. Just like "What Made You Say That", the song had little success. It reached the same peak position of number 55 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and performed better in Canada, reaching number 70 on the RPM Canadian Country Tracks chart. Like "What Made You Say That", the video also received attention, this time for its high-profile director and guest actor. Actor Sean Penn filmed the music video while Charles Durning made an appearance in the music video.

"You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" was sent to country radio on September 7, 1993 as the third and final single from the Shania Twain album. While it did get a few plays, the song completely failed to enter the country charts in either the US or Canada. Despite the failure, a music video was released for the song, which proved to have little success. The song was later released in 1994 in Europe as the only single from the Shania Twain album.

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."What Made You Say That"
2:58
2."You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me"
  • Hank Beach
  • Forest Borders II
2:48
3."Dance with the One That Brought You"
2:23
4."Still Under the Weather"
3:06
5."God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That"
2:44
6."Got a Hold on Me"
  • Rachel Newman
2:14
7."There Goes the Neighborhood"
  • Tommy Dodson
  • Bill C. Graham
  • Alan Laney
3:17
8."Forget Me"Stephony Smith3:21
9."When He Leaves You"
4:21
10."Crime of the Century"
3:29

Music videos[edit]

  1. "What Made You Say That"
  2. "Dance with the One That Brought You"
  3. "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me"

Personnel[edit]

Technical
  • Produced by Norro Wilson and Harold Shedd
  • Engineered and mixed by Jim Cotton, Todd Culross, Graeme Smith and Joe Scaife
  • Mastered by Marty Williams

Charts[edit]

Weekly charts[edit]

Chart (1993–2000) Peak
position
Canadian Country Albums (RPM)[7] 28
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[8] 40
Scottish Albums (OCC)[9] 64
UK Albums (OCC)[10] 113
UK Country Albums (OCC)[11] 3
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[12] 67
US Top Catalog Albums (Billboard)[13] 35

Year-end charts[edit]

Chart (2001) Position
Canadian Country Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[14] 53
Chart (2002) Position
Canadian Country Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[15] 60

Certifications[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[16] 2× Platinum 200,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Silver 85,692[17]
United States (RIAA)[19] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history[edit]

Region Date Format Label
US, Canada April 20, 1993 CD, cassette Mercury Nashville
UK, Europe May 2000 CD Mercury Nashville
US October 14, 2016 LP vinyl[20] Mercury Nashville

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Shania Twain Album Statistics | setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
  2. ^ Twain, Shania (May 3, 2011). From This Moment On. New York: Atria Publishing Group. ISBN 9781451620740.
  3. ^ Shania Twain at AllMusic
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert. "CG: Shania Twain". robertchristgau.com. Robert Christgau.
  5. ^ McGee, David (November 25, 1993). "Shania Twain: Shania Twain : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 27, 2007. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  6. ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Shania Twain". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 828-29. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ^ "RPM Country Albums for June 15, 1998". RPM. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  8. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Shania Twain – Shania Twain". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  9. ^ 30, 2000/40/ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  10. ^ "Chart Log UK 1994–2010". Dipl.-Bibl.(FH). Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  11. ^ 25, 2000/21/ "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  12. ^ "Shania Twain Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  13. ^ "Shania Twain Chart History (Top Catalog Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  14. ^ "Top 100 country albums of 2001 in Canada". Jam!. Archived from the original on July 1, 2002. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  15. ^ "Top 100 country albums of 2002 in Canada". Jam!. Archived from the original on December 4, 2003. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  16. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Shania Twain – Shania Twain". Music Canada. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  17. ^ James Hanley (July 31, 2017). "World Exclusive: Shania Twain". Music Week. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  18. ^ "British album certifications – Shania Twain – Shania Twain". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved May 13, 2017. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Shania Twain in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  19. ^ "American album certifications – Shania Twain – Shania Twain". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  20. ^ Shania Twain Releasing Album Catalog on Vinyl
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