Shania Twain Says She Was 'Petrified' to Sing After Throat Surgery, but 'Had to Take the Leap'

Danielle Levitt | @daniellelevitt Shania Twain

Shania Twain is opening up about how her battle with Lyme disease wreaked havoc on her voice.

Days before the release of her sixth album, Queen of Me, the record-breaking country artist talked about the scary experience in InStyle's February cover story.

For more than seven years, Twain was unable to project vocally and was worried she'd never sing again. Eventually, doctors diagnosed Twain, 57, with Lyme disease from a 2004 tick bite, which they believe damaged the nerves in her vocal cords.

She relearned how to sing, with lengthy warm-ups and physical therapy, and in 2018 she underwent open-throat surgery to strengthen the weakened nerves.

"After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound," the five-time Grammy-winning artist told InStyle.

"I didn't know what was going to come out," she admitted.

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Danielle Levitt | @daniellelevitt

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Twain, the only artist ever to have three successive diamond-certified albums (with sales of more than 10 million each), went for it.

"It did scare me, but I just had to take the leap and make a sound. And I was so excited about what came out," she told InStyle. "It was a connection to the vocal cords and it came out very easily. I was really, really, really excited."

Danielle Levitt | @daniellelevitt

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Now healthy, the beloved singer is back on top of her game as she prepares to release Queen of Me (out Feb. 3) and embark on a global tour.

"It's a reminder, don't take time for granted," Twain said about her voice issues. "Don't take the opportunity for granted. It's possible I might lose it, that it may not last. I guess any prosthetic or support that you get that is synthetic, your body still may give out around it. It could happen."

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The "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" singer also opened up to PEOPLE last month about living in the moment.

"I may not be able to [sing] forever," she said. "But right now I'm just enjoying where I am."

Indeed, Twain's contentment comes through loud and clear on Queen of Me, her upbeat, empowering new LP that she says she wrote to escape the despair of the pandemic.

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Danielle Levitt | @daniellelevitt

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The record — her first in five years — is just the latest chapter of her resurgence. Her surprise Coachella cameo with Harry Styles last April helped her win over a new generation of fans, and her Netflix documentary released last summer, Not Just a Girl, reminded longtime devotees why they loved her in the first place.

"All these years later, I'm still here, almost in a bigger way," she told InStyle, "and I'm embracing it."