Shania Twain has released her first new album in 15 years, and the first single, “Life’s About To Get Good,” is a kiss-and-tell song in the Taylor Swift style; the follow-up single “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed” is also touchy-feely and personal, and both make a clear statement about how Shania Twain feels these days about her traumatic divorce, and her renewed, joyful life.
From
I wasn’t just broken, I was shattered /I trusted you so much, you’re all that mattered
To
“Life’s About to Get Good.”
And yet…I sense the zest she is currently projecting is semi-forced. After all, one cannot expect a 52-year old woman, emerging from the emotional shock of her husband’s affair with her best friend, and an ended marriage, to have the same confidence and brio as she had in her 30s, when the hits just kept on coming.
Both of these new songs are really, really good, but they’re not great. Twain bares her heart. She’s exuberant but not hyper, and the sad lyrics are tempered with happy ones. The production is pro.
And yet…she’s repeating what worked before. Today, a wink and a grunt don’t have the same effect as they did in the 90s, when she was at the top of her game.
The name of her new album is “Now.”