Shania Twain is the eponymous debut studio album by Canadian singer Shania Twain, released on April 20, 1993, by Polygram and Mercury Records. After assembling a demo tape to send to labels, Mercury Nashville took an interest and signed her a contract. Unlike her later albums, Twain had very little input on the album.
The album was a commercial flop during its original release, only reaching number 67 on the US Country Albums chart. Three singles were released from the album, none of which cracked the top 40 at country radio. The album was later re-released in 2000 following the massive success of Twain's later albums. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1999.
After her subsequent albums The Woman in Me (1995) and especially Come On Over (1997) catapulted her to superstardom, Twain essentially disowned this album and has not performed any material from it live following the conclusion of her Come on Over Tour in 1999. Even during the aforementioned tour, only the song "What Made You Say That" was included from the album in her setlist despite her only having three albums of material at the time to draw from.[1] In addition, no selections from it were included on her 2004 Greatest Hits album. "What Made You Say That" is included on her Netflix documentary companion compilation album Not Just a Girl (The Highlights) released on July 26, 2022.
Content
Five songs were originally recorded by other artists. "There Goes the Neighborhood" was recorded by Joe Diffie in 1990, "When He Leaves You" was a single for Donna Meade in 1989, "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" was recorded by Con Hunley in 1980 and Tom Jones in 1983, "Still Under the Weather" was recorded by Andy Williams in 1990, and "What Made You Say That" was recorded by Wayne Massey in 1989. In her 2011 autobiography, From This Moment On, Twain expressed displeasure with her debut studio album, revealing that she had very little creative control and was frustrated with being unable to showcase her songwriting abilities.[2] However, she did co-write one song on the album titled "God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That".
Shania Twain received favorable reviews from critics. Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, noting that although she had a long way to go, "attention must be paid". On the other end, Thom Owens of AllMusic gave the album a mixed but mostly negative review, calling it a bland album that even Twain's vocals are "too showy to make any of these mediocre songs stick."
Singles
"What Made You Say That" was released on March 6, 1993 as the lead single from the album and Twain's debut single. The song received mostly positive reviews. The song peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and number 78 on the RPM Canadian Country Tracks, one of the few times a single of hers performed better in the US than in Canada. The song received attention due to its at-the-time controversial music video, which prominently showed her midriff. The music video was later banned by CMT.
"Dance with the One That Brought You" was chosen as the second single from the album on July 13, 1993, with it also receiving positive reviews. Just like "What Made You Say That", the song had little success. It reached the same peak position of number 55 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and performed better in Canada, reaching number 70 on the RPM Canadian Country Tracks chart. Like "What Made You Say That", the video also received attention, this time for its high-profile director and guest actor. Actor Sean Penn filmed the music video while Charles Durning made an appearance in the music video.
"You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" was sent to country radio on September 7, 1993 as the third and final single from the Shania Twain album. While it did get a few plays, the song completely failed to enter the country charts in either the US or Canada. Despite the failure, a music video was released for the song, which proved to have little success. The song was later released in 1994 in Europe as the only single from the Shania Twain album.
