Nashville Sound: Shania Twain
By Larry Mcshane
AP National Writer
Thursday, August 27, 1998; 12:00 p.m. EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- She looks about as country as the Manhattan skyline.
Skin-tight black leather pants, cut low to expose her belly button. A red ribbon of fabric, strategically placed above her bare midriff. Thick chestnut hair, cascading down her back.
But Shania Twain, who wore the above ensemble for her recent Rolling Stone cover shoot, is adamant that she's more Nashville than New York.
``I consider myself a country artist,'' she says. ``That music was always such a big part of me growing up. I loved Stevie Wonder and the Carpenters, but Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton were just as big an influence.
``You've to got to fit somewhere, and for the sake of fitting, I'm country,'' the 32-year-old Canadian continues. ``I have no complaints about that. The challenge is to go beyond that.''
The Rolling Stone cover, released in August, is just part of her success in handling that challenge. Twain became the first female country artist on the cover since Dolly Parton in 1980, a distinction she's quite proud to claim.
``It's hard to break free of the mold, to try and transcend labels,'' she says. ``It's just difficult to do. When I can, I consider it a triumph somehow for me.''
Her first world tour, which started in North America in May, is another triumph. When tickets went on sale for her Detroit show, they were gone in 29 minutes -- a rate matched previously by The Who and Metallica.
The critics were wowed, too. One reviewer said the current queen of country put on a show ``that was more Patti Smith than Patty Loveless'' -- a first-of-its-kind comparison.
By midsummer, Twain's single ``You're Still The One'' had crossed over everywhere: No. 2 on the Billboard Top 40, No. 1 on adult contemporary, No. 1 on country, in heavy rotation at mellow VH1 and its hipper sibling, MTV.
Her across the board success, her flesh-baring videos, and her collaboration with husband (and ex-Def Leppard producer) Robert ``Mutt'' Lange have ruffled some feathers in Nashville -- which is just the way Twain likes it.
``I was, at one time, trying to convince people that it's valid to be original and unique,'' she says, laughing. ``That means not being traditional, but it also means not being run of the mill.
``I just go about things my own way.''
It has worked.
Twain was Billboard's No. 1 country artist in 1996, and captured a best country album Grammy that same year for ``The Woman in Me.'' Her latest album, ``Come On Over,'' was another chart-topper. And the tour is selling out.
But Twain's success has created some problems -- like becoming a topic for the supermarket tabloids.
``I take most of it with a grain of salt: `Shania and Mutt divorcing, or unhappy, or whatever,''' she says. ``We laugh about it, because it's so far from the truth.''
But one recent story did get under her skin, a piece detailing how ``Snooty Shania'' can't stand her fans.
``I love my fans,'' she said.
The exposure has also convinced Twain to abandon her upstate New York home for a new place in Switzerland. Her New York neighbors are ``wonderful, sweet and normal,'' she said. ``But it's tough being recognized at the grocery store.''
Only five years ago, Twain could do all her shopping unimpeded. Her 1993 debut album disappeared quickly, but it was still the year that changed her life: She met Lange in June, and they married six months later.
Working with her husband, she struck platinum -- 12 times over -- with her follow-up, ``The Woman in Me.'' It sold 10 million copies in the United States, a sales figure hit by only five other women: Carole King, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette.
``Come On Over'' has sold more than 4 million copies in nine months. Twain says the numbers, while impressive, don't mean all that much to her.
``I don't pay much attention to the charts,'' she says. ``It's like the stock market. I can't sit there and watch the stock market. If you put too much emphasis on it, you set yourself up for disappointment.''
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