Shania Twain has shard some behind the scenes insight regarding her monumental hit “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!,” in a new video for Vevo Footnotes.
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Shania explained how the song has evolved and continued to be a part of popular music, saying, “If there’s any song that has ever affected culture, that I have written, it’s ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ I can’t take credit for knowing that at the moment of writing it!
Regarding how the song came to be, she explained, “I worked with record producer Mutt Lange on the song. He had this guitar riff he had been playing all morning. Finally, he stopped the ruff and I said…‘Man, I feel like a woman!’ When that statement came out of my mouth, it was so obvious that the song was going to be about liberation, independence, and the human spirit.
The iconic vocalist also spoke about the meaning behind the song, and what it meant to her: “I was standing up for myself through the song. I wasn’t being apologetic for all the things I had been criticized for in my life – ‘you can’t do that, you can’t wear that, that’s too tight, that’s too short.’ This was my song that really said, ‘you know what I love about being a woman! I’m feeling comfortable in my own skin! That’s awesome!’”
Though Twain can’t take credit for knowing the song would be an instant hit, she did say the song felt more important than most. She explained, “It felt anthemic right off the bat. We were picturing a stadium setting, with crowds roaring, so we built the production around that feeling. We layered lots of backing vocals to give that crowd roaring feeling. Mutt and I did all the backing vocals.”
Shania also reflected on genre, saying, “I wanted to go beyond country music and this song was pushing my genre boundaries, musically it was not limited to one genre. It’s rock, it’s pop, it’s country.
Regarding the making of the video, Twain also reflected on the way it came to be. She said, “The styling in Robert Palmer’s video was so iconic and strong. We wanted to take that idea and turn it on its head. We wanted to make something unexpected and the role reversal was the vision.”
Listen to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” now.
