Shania Twain revisits hard roads on Little Miss Twain
CBS News says the country superstar looks back on poverty, illness and stardom in her biographical new album, Little Miss Twain.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
2 min read
Shania Twain is turning the story of a hard-scrabble childhood, lost voice and late-blooming record deal into a new biographical album, Little Miss Twain, according to CBS News.
The country star discussed the project with CBS News correspondent Seth Doane, looking back on a life that, by the network’s account, began far from the glitter of arenas and record-breaking sales.
CBS News described Twain’s upbringing as “dirt poor” in rural Ontario. As a child, the network reported, she performed country songs in bars, starting her music life in rooms far removed from the global stages she would later command.
The new album, CBS News said, finds Twain reflecting on that life “with a smile.” The project is described as biographical, with the singer using it to look back at the hardships and turning points that shaped her career.
From rural Ontario to country history
Twain did not get a record contract until she was in her late 20s, according to CBS News. That delay did not stop her rise: the network identified her as the top-selling female country artist of all time.
Her career has been defined by enormous commercial success, but the CBS News segment focused on the tougher chapters behind the polished pop-country image.
Among the struggles cited by CBS News were family difficulties, divorce and a major health setback. The network reported that Twain lost her voice because of Lyme disease, a blow that threatened the instrument at the center of her career.
Those details form the backdrop for Little Miss Twain, which CBS News presented as a look back rather than a standard new release rollout. The album’s title points toward the younger version of the singer, the child performer in Ontario bars who would later become one of country music’s biggest names.
A life story set to music
In the interview with Doane, Twain discussed the album through the lens of her own history, according to CBS News. The network did not frame the project as a gloomy exercise, instead saying she revisits her past with warmth.
The contrast is stark: childhood poverty, early barroom singing, adult upheaval and a medical crisis on one side; record-setting country stardom on the other.
CBS News said Little Miss Twain draws from that full sweep. For Twain, the new record appears to be less about introducing a new persona than tracing the route that made the old one possible.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.