In the spring of 1996, shortly before I turned 11 years old, I began my seventh year of playing Little League baseball. There were good years and bad years, but generally speaking I wasn’t very good at sports. It’s not a unique story—overweight, unathletic kid who got picked last, etc. My grandmother promised me she’d buy me a new CD for getting through another year of baseball. (She had a long history of rewarding me with prizes even when I didn’t necessarily deserve anything.) This promise thrilled me! I had just been getting into music after I got a CD player for Christmas when I was 9 years old, and I loved going to Musicland/Sam Goody in the local mall. I was pretty sure I wanted the Dangerous Minds soundtrack because of the song “Gangsta’s Paradise.” But, after one more trip to the music store I found something else. At the time, the only new music I listened to was country music because that’s what my parents listened to. I only knew pop and rap songs that were wildly popular if I heard them at school or through a friend. So, most of my music collection was country. I browsed the country music section and saw a CD by Shania Twain. I knew a few of her songs so I picked up the album titled Shania Twain and glanced at the track list. I didn’t know any of those songs. I did the same with The Woman In Me and there were quite a few songs on it I liked. Her massive hit “Any Man of Mine” was a favorite and it turned out she also sang “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” (I thought the latter was performed by someone like Pam Tillis…”Any Man of Mine” was the first Shania song I was familiar with.) I decided The Woman In Me was the CD I wanted and relayed that decision to my grandmother. A few days later when my mom picked me up from baseball practice, the shrink-wrapped newly purchased CD was sitting in the passenger seat waiting on me. I remember that moment, but I don’t remember listening to the album the first time. I do remember completely falling in love. It was the first CD I owned that I could listen to from beginning to end without skipping any songs. Every song on that album was amazing to me. I listened to it day in and day out, flipping through the CD booklet and obsessing over the lyrics. I had never heard music this wonderful! Shania’s voice and songwriting completely captivated me. I became an instant and lifelong fan. It’s no coincidence that just a few months later, I wrote my very first song. These days I don’t write song lyrics that often, but I can trace my love of writing back to The Woman In Me. I was overwhelmed and inspired. I ended up getting her first CD later and of course loved it, too. I’ve been a devoted Shania fan for over 20 years now and her music isn’t the only inspiring thing about her. Her resilience amazes me. She’s been through such extreme lows and traumas in her life, yet she always bounces back and stays optimistic. That optimism is what helps get me going somedays. I love the cheerfulness in Shania’s music. Even in many of her darker more raw songs, she provides a silver lining to see that light at the end of the tunnel. The first single from her upcoming album Now does just that. “I wasn’t just broken, I was shattered,” she sings on “Life’s About To Get Good.” But, clearly with that title, things don’t stay that way for long. “Life’s About To Get Good’ is the mantra I need in such bleak times. Even though that particular song was more than 20 years away from being written and released, receiving The Woman In Me was a symbol that life was about to get good for me. I read a study recently that showed people with anxiety are more prone towards obsessions. It made total sense to me. Obsessing over Shania’s music and career have often been a great distraction when other things in my life weren’t so great. Even as I write this, it’s hard to put into writing just how much her music and story has meant to me. I can point to examples like getting her CD above, or reading her interview in The Advocate when I was a closeted teenager (and how few straight music stars would grant their time to LGBT publications), but mostly it’s just that her music has been a consistent source of enjoyment and happiness for me since I discovered it. For those of you who aren’t as familiar with Shania, first of all, go download her Greatest Hits album right now. You won’t be disappointed. Secondly, her upcoming album is her first studio album in 15 years. That’s why Shania fans are totally freaking out! We’ve been waiting very patiently for this. I remember the five year wait between Come On Over and UP! and how that felt like agony, but that’s nothing compared to this! Shania has teased new music for several years now. We finally got a definitive release date scheduled earlier this year and she debuted her new single at the Stagecoach music festival in California, and then on Today in June. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was a little apprehensive. Any doubts I may have had were gone completely once I heard “Life’s About To Get Good.” For the six weeks after the performance at Stagecoach leading up to the release of the single on iTunes, I played the live version repeatedly. I couldn’t get enough! She’s released three other promo tracks which are equally as great, and previewed snippets of a few other songs from Now as well. I can’t wait to download the full album later this week and finally hold a brand new Shania Twain CD in my hands. I know, because Shania promised me, that life’s about to get good.
2 Comments
Heather Wyatt
9/27/2017 10:37:51 am
Thanks for sharing! I am so, SO happy for you! I love how passionate you are about her music and I think it is a reflection of how passionate you are about your friends and family too. I love you! #fromspace
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Jordan Pittman
9/27/2017 12:14:57 pm
Awe, thank you so much, boo! That's such a precious thing to say! I love you so hard! <3
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