Shania Twain – Page 10 – Country Universe

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)"

August 3, 2012 Ben Foster 9

2003 | #11 (U.K.), #17 (Austria), #20 (Germany)

The song with the ridiculously long title was released as the fourth international single from Up! It performed respectably in some markets, but did not match the success of the previous singles from the project.

It also reaffirmed Twain’s affinity for parentheses, which apparently ranked as her second-favorite punctuation mark behind only the exclamation point.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "Forever and For Always"

July 25, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 3

2003 | Peak : #4

Shania Twain reached her creative peak on Up! , and it’s reflected in the singles released from that project.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "Ka-Ching!"

July 5, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 3

2003 | Peak: #2 (Europe, Austria, Sweden); #3 (Germany); #8 (U.K.)

Shania Twain at her most deliciously subversive.

“Ka-Ching!” stands in such sharp contrast to her entire catalog that it’s something of a shock that she wrote and recorded it.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, &quot;Up!&quot;

June 12, 2012 Ben Foster 9

2oo3 | #12

The title track and second single of Shania Twain’s Up! album is arguably the finest and fullest realization of Twain’s signature positivity. It also perfectly exemplifies the sheer brilliance of the strategy behind the Up! album.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!"

June 8, 2012 Ben Foster 3

2002 | #7

A pop-country gold nugget that defies explanation.

Honestly, who’s even trying to pretend that this song is supposed to mean anything? Who’s trying to pretend that it needs to mean anything?

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: Shania Twain

May 29, 2012 Ben Foster 7

Ben counts down his favorite songs by Shania Twain.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "I'm Holdin' on to Love (To Save My Life)"

May 29, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 3

2000 | Peak: #17

The twelfth and final single from Come On Over wasn’t planned, but persistent unsolicited airplay earned it release.

Album Review: Carrie Underwood, Blown Away

May 1, 2012 Ben Foster 88

Carrie Underwood
Blown Away

At this point, it’s easy to forget that Carrie Underwood first kicked off her country music career as an American Idol graduate. Besides being one of country music’s most technically gifted female vocalists, she’s gone on to become one of its strongest commercial forces, with a seven-year-long string of Top-2 hit singles, not to mention albums that consistently sell like hotcakes. But a noteworthy gap has often been seen between the impressiveness of Underwood’s talent and success and the quality of her material. In terms of lyrics and production, at least, Underwood’s new album Blown Away finds her taking steps forward that are small, but steps forward nonetheless.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "Rock This Country!"

April 28, 2012 Ben Foster 1

2000 | #30

The eleventh single from Shania Twain’s Come On Over was one of the least successful in the U.S., barely scraping the bottom of the Top 30. This was due in part to a lack of promotion for the single, though it did go Top 5 in Twain’s native Canada. In some ways, “Rock This Country!” comes across as a standard Twain up-tempo – peppy, with a fun Mutt Lange-style pop-country production, but the lyrics are surprisingly flavorless.

Retro Single Review: Shania Twain, "Come On Over"

April 13, 2012 Ben Foster 4

1999 | #6

“Get a life, get a grip, get away somewhere, take a trip
Take a break, take control, take advice from someone you know

“Come on over, come on in
Pull up a seat, and take a load off your feet
Come on over, come on in
You can unwind, and take a load off your mind.”

Hmm. So the lyrics don’t seem to have a whole lot to say. The song is primarily simple series of feel-good platitudes.