Shania Twain performs during the halftime show during the 105th Grey Cup between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders Sunday November 26, 2017 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
TORONTO - For years, Shania Twain couldn't wait to leave northern Ontario.
Growing up in Timmins, she dreamt of seeing the world beyond the mining town where she spent her childhood singing in smoke-filled bars and honky-tonks.
鈥淲hen I was in that little town years ago, I just wanted to get out,鈥 Twain tells The 好色tv Press.
鈥淲e all want to 鈥 we want to go out and discover the world. And I did that.鈥
She certainly did, and then some. Twain went on to become the queen of country pop, earning five Grammys and selling more than 100 million albums 鈥 an impress-me-much resume that has made her one of the most successful crossover artists in music history.
After decades of worldwide fame, Shania Twain says she鈥檚 rediscovered her roots and the beauty of the place that shaped her. Her new album, 鈥淟ittle Miss Twain,鈥 allowed her to look back on her past with 鈥渁 glass half full鈥 and reconnect with the joy of her upbringing in Timmins, Ont. (July 22, 2026)
Alex Nino Gheciu
But lately, Twain says she's found herself looking back with a new appreciation for the place that shaped her.
鈥淎t some point, I realized that, well, I actually really love where I'm from,鈥 says the 60-year-old.
鈥淚 mean, I always did, but it was fun looking back on it. It's almost like I forgot all about all of the snow that I've shovelled in my life, you know? Those things, all of those frozen toes. It鈥檚 sort of like, ah, I still love the winter.鈥
FINDING HER WAY BACK HOME
鈥淟ittle Miss Twain,鈥 her new album dropping Friday, is a rootsy reflection of her life before international stardom, drawing on songs she says she's been writing for years about her northern Ontario upbringing.
鈥淧eople don't know enough about where I'm from,鈥 says Twain, who has long lived in Corseaux, Switzerland, but still finds her way back home.
鈥淚 love the northern winter. I love the spruce. I love the lakes 聽鈥 the black lakes, I call them. There are so many elements of nature there that I spent so much time writing in.鈥
Twain says she often took her guitar down to the banks of the Mattagami River with her dog to write.
The tunes about her past, written over the past five to 10 years, began to add up, eventually inspiring 鈥淟ittle Miss Twain." The album takes its title from the nickname she was introduced by onstage as a child, back when her mother drove her to perform in bars across Ontario.
Shania Twain poses in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Universal Music Canada (Mandatory Credit)
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A CHILDHOOD SPENT CHASING A DREAM
That journey came full circle last week when Twain finally stepped onto the stage of Toronto鈥檚 storied Horseshoe Tavern 鈥 a venue she envisioned playing before fame took her elsewhere.
Between songs, she reflected on the lengths her mother, Sharon Twain, went to help her perform as a kid.
鈥淢y dad would get very upset if we took the car, because then he wouldn鈥檛 have gas for work in the morning,鈥 she told the packed house. 鈥淪o what we did was, my mom and I, we rolled out of the driveway so he wouldn鈥檛 hear the engine start.鈥
Twain has been open about her tough childhood. In her 2011 autobiography, she wrote about emotional and physical abuse she said she and her mother experienced at the hands of her stepfather while growing up in poverty. Her parents died in a car crash in 1987, leaving Twain to care for her three younger siblings.
There are hints of her modest beginnings on the snow-covered western 鈥淣orthern Town,鈥 but for the most part, 鈥淟ittle Miss Twain鈥 is a nostalgic homecoming, with the country star revisiting her roots through a lens of affection rather than hardship.
鈥淚 miss the Cherry Blossom,鈥 she says, referring to the discontinued 好色tv chocolate candy.聽
鈥淚 miss my mother. You wish you could have all of that again. And I do in this album: I have it all again, just the good parts. That鈥檚 the beauty of being a writer: you can be creative and just keep all the good bits,鈥 she laughs.
鈥業T鈥橲 A NORTHERN THING鈥
Twain describes the album as looking back on her past 鈥渨ith a glass half full.鈥
鈥淲hat it turned me into is an optimist,鈥 she says, adding that her Timmins upbringing may have shaped that outlook.
鈥淚 don't know whether it鈥檚 a northern thing, but maybe it is a characteristic 鈥 when that snow just keeps on coming, month after month, and it's never stopping and you're just out there shovelling every day just to get to the bus, in order to persevere and stay happy, you really do say, 鈥業'm going to make the best of this, where I am.鈥欌
Twain says it can be as simple as gathering around a fire with friends, sharing laughs and writing songs.
鈥淚n the North, we don't stay in the house all winter. We get out there. So you've got to be made of something different. You've got to find the joy in that. And I think I learned to do that by being from the Great White North.鈥
Shania Twain performs during the halftime show during the 105th Grey Cup between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders Sunday November 26, 2017 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
JCO
鈥淔aded Blue Jeans,鈥 a swampy country-rocker inspired by one of Twain鈥檚 teenage relationships, features haunting backing vocals from Queens of the Stone Age鈥檚 Josh Homme, whom producer Zach Dawes suggested for the track.
鈥淚 was like, 鈥楢re you kidding? Whatever he wants to do, that would be awesome,鈥欌 recalls Twain. 鈥淲hen I heard Josh鈥檚 voice on it, it was the exact edge that I was after.鈥
On the wistful title track, Twain sings about her mom鈥檚 dream of seeing her become 鈥渢he next Tanya Tucker.鈥 The American country star herself duets with Twain on those very lyrics.
鈥淢y mother never lived to see my success at all,鈥 says Twain, but collaborating with Tucker felt like a surreal full-circle moment 鈥 a way of honouring her mom decades later.
鈥淚t was bringing her back into now through that reflection,鈥 Twain says.聽
鈥淎nd she couldn鈥檛 have been more real or more there. I think of her every time I have any success, anything that I would be proud of her seeing.鈥
For Twain, revisiting the past wasn鈥檛 about dwelling on what she lost, but rediscovering what she loved.
鈥淵ou come to terms with a lot of things,鈥 she says.
鈥淚 was able to look back at all of those times with a smile.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published July 22, 2026.
