Claudia
11-24-2002, 2:55pm
Honey, she's home
Shania Twain returns with more of the lightweight country-pop that made her a megastar
November 24, 2002
BY GREG CRAWFORD
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
So finally it comes down to this.
No pretending. No fence-straddling. No Nashville spin doctors shamelessly trying to pass off commercial schlock pop as "today's young country."
Shania Twain is back with an album packed with blatantly commercial pop songs, and, to her credit, she doesn't bother to pretend they're anything other than that. Buy her new release, "Up!," and you get two discs: One, which she calls the "Green CD," pictures the singer in a black cowboy hat and includes 19 tracks gussied up with fiddles, banjo and steel guitar. The other, the "Red CD," offers Twain with her famous midriff bared and the same 19 tracks, this time de-twanged and pumped up with a little extra percussion to make aging booties wiggle at suburban dance clubs. (A note from Twain inside the CD explains that "blue mixes" of the tunes that are "more rhythmic with an Eastern influence" are available on her Web site. Some of these were recorded in India.)
Is this groundbreaking marketing? Yep. A risky strategy? Possibly. But it's one Twain almost had to adopt. She's been all but invisible for nearly three years (a hiatus that afforded her time to become a mother) and hasn't made an album since 1997's "Come on Over," which sold a heart-stopping 34 million copies globally and made her the top-selling artist of the last decade in any genre of music. She has a lot to lose this time out and more than a few detractors who'd enjoy nothing more than seeing her go down in flames.
They shouldn't hold their breath. "Up!" stays far away from risks when it comes to Twain's well-established sound. All the album's tunes were written by the singer and her husband-producer, Robert (Mutt) Lange, and all would have been perfectly at home on "Come on Over" alongside "You're Still the One" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"
All also have been crafted to blend seamlessly into country and adult contemporary radio between peppy advertising jingles and tracks by lightweights like Enrique Iglesias, Keith Urban and Jo Dee Messina. This is pleasant, non-provocative, non-challenging fare created first and foremost to keep listeners' heads bobbing in rhythm and their itchy fingers off the radio dial.
A few tracks, such as the faintly Latin "Juanita," are so thoroughly pop they defy the country treatment. A couple of others, including story song "I Ain't Goin' Down," arguably the album's best tune, are country to the core. Most, however, are like infectious first single "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" and the undeniably appealing "Forever and for Always": easy, pliant little numbers that are as comfortable spending the night in the arms of a fiddler as an electric guitarist.
Twain has aimed "Up!" mostly at a female audience. (Guys won't find a lot to like here beyond the pinup-like pose Twain strikes on the CD cover.) But the silly country grrrl power that marked '90s singles like "Any Man of Mine" and "Honey, I'm Home" has been abandoned for a woman-friendly message that's more mature, if not more sophisticated.
The singer, 37, lets listeners know that she can feel threatened by a younger woman ("Waiter! Bring Me Water!"), is tired of dieting and exfoliating ("What a Way to Wanna Be!") and, darn it, is getting pretty fed up with ruthless consumerism (Ka-Ching!"). On "She's Not Just a Pretty Face," she notices that women nowadays can do just about anything and ponders this discovery with I-am-woman-hear-me-purr lines like: "She's an astronaut/ A valet at the parking lot/ A farmer working the land."
Predictable stuff? Absolutely, but it's sure to hit home with a lot of young women, particularly the kind who watch "The Bachelor" and find Dr. Phil profound. Look for tracks from "Up!" to dominate the airwaves for the next two years and look for sales to rival those of "Come on Over." Like it or not, Twain has figured out how to rule the world with colorless but catchy tunes that can adapt to most any environment. Whether you're in Nashville, L.A. or Calcutta, she's gonna getcha good.
By Greg Crawford,
Free Press staff writer
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/sjlede24_20021124.htm
Shania Twain returns with more of the lightweight country-pop that made her a megastar
November 24, 2002
BY GREG CRAWFORD
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
So finally it comes down to this.
No pretending. No fence-straddling. No Nashville spin doctors shamelessly trying to pass off commercial schlock pop as "today's young country."
Shania Twain is back with an album packed with blatantly commercial pop songs, and, to her credit, she doesn't bother to pretend they're anything other than that. Buy her new release, "Up!," and you get two discs: One, which she calls the "Green CD," pictures the singer in a black cowboy hat and includes 19 tracks gussied up with fiddles, banjo and steel guitar. The other, the "Red CD," offers Twain with her famous midriff bared and the same 19 tracks, this time de-twanged and pumped up with a little extra percussion to make aging booties wiggle at suburban dance clubs. (A note from Twain inside the CD explains that "blue mixes" of the tunes that are "more rhythmic with an Eastern influence" are available on her Web site. Some of these were recorded in India.)
Is this groundbreaking marketing? Yep. A risky strategy? Possibly. But it's one Twain almost had to adopt. She's been all but invisible for nearly three years (a hiatus that afforded her time to become a mother) and hasn't made an album since 1997's "Come on Over," which sold a heart-stopping 34 million copies globally and made her the top-selling artist of the last decade in any genre of music. She has a lot to lose this time out and more than a few detractors who'd enjoy nothing more than seeing her go down in flames.
They shouldn't hold their breath. "Up!" stays far away from risks when it comes to Twain's well-established sound. All the album's tunes were written by the singer and her husband-producer, Robert (Mutt) Lange, and all would have been perfectly at home on "Come on Over" alongside "You're Still the One" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"
All also have been crafted to blend seamlessly into country and adult contemporary radio between peppy advertising jingles and tracks by lightweights like Enrique Iglesias, Keith Urban and Jo Dee Messina. This is pleasant, non-provocative, non-challenging fare created first and foremost to keep listeners' heads bobbing in rhythm and their itchy fingers off the radio dial.
A few tracks, such as the faintly Latin "Juanita," are so thoroughly pop they defy the country treatment. A couple of others, including story song "I Ain't Goin' Down," arguably the album's best tune, are country to the core. Most, however, are like infectious first single "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" and the undeniably appealing "Forever and for Always": easy, pliant little numbers that are as comfortable spending the night in the arms of a fiddler as an electric guitarist.
Twain has aimed "Up!" mostly at a female audience. (Guys won't find a lot to like here beyond the pinup-like pose Twain strikes on the CD cover.) But the silly country grrrl power that marked '90s singles like "Any Man of Mine" and "Honey, I'm Home" has been abandoned for a woman-friendly message that's more mature, if not more sophisticated.
The singer, 37, lets listeners know that she can feel threatened by a younger woman ("Waiter! Bring Me Water!"), is tired of dieting and exfoliating ("What a Way to Wanna Be!") and, darn it, is getting pretty fed up with ruthless consumerism (Ka-Ching!"). On "She's Not Just a Pretty Face," she notices that women nowadays can do just about anything and ponders this discovery with I-am-woman-hear-me-purr lines like: "She's an astronaut/ A valet at the parking lot/ A farmer working the land."
Predictable stuff? Absolutely, but it's sure to hit home with a lot of young women, particularly the kind who watch "The Bachelor" and find Dr. Phil profound. Look for tracks from "Up!" to dominate the airwaves for the next two years and look for sales to rival those of "Come on Over." Like it or not, Twain has figured out how to rule the world with colorless but catchy tunes that can adapt to most any environment. Whether you're in Nashville, L.A. or Calcutta, she's gonna getcha good.
By Greg Crawford,
Free Press staff writer
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/sjlede24_20021124.htm