Let's Go, Girls! A Guide to the Shania Twain Songs You May Not Have Heard
Classic Shania Twain tunes such as "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" have served as the backdrop to just about every girls' night since 1997. The first line many of us recall when someone mentions Shania is the iconic invitation that begins the former song: "Let's go girls!" It's from the album Come On Over, the origination of many of Twain's greatest hits and hype. However, she's also released a number of delightful and karaoke-worthy tunes on either side of that blockbuster record. Three of her albums have been certified diamond (an award honoring sales of 10 million album or song copies) and she's not showing any signs of slowing down. Earlier this month, Twain released her sixth studio album, Queen of Me. (When does she sleep?)
If you're into Shania but looking for some new songs to belt in the car, it's time to dust off those cowgirl boots in the back of your closet and check out this list of her 10 most noteworthy tracks that are not from Come On Over.
1. "Dance With the One That Brought You" (1993)
Though not nearly as successful as some of her future hits, “Dance With the One That Brought You” was a sure sign of things to come. Twain released the song in July 1993 as the second single from her debut studio album, Shania Twain, and it's the only song on this list that Shania herself didn’t help write. Well-known country music tunesmiths Sam Hogin and Gretchen Peters composed the track. The song only peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard country chart, but the music video turned heads with famous actor Sean Penn directing. It helped get the attention of Shania’s future producer and husband, Robert “Mutt” Lange.
2. "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?'' (1995)
This catchy, country-fied jam was the first single from Twain's second album, The Woman in Me, the first that she wrote with Lange. Shania released the song on January 2, 1995, and it became her first bona fide hit on country radio. In the 2022 documentary Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl, the singer revealed that she actually wanted “Any Man of Mine” to be the first single off The Woman in Me, “but everybody else agreed that ‘Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?’” was safer “because it was more country-sounding.” As a compromise, the physical copy of the single was released as a double A-side single with “Any Man of Mine” in June 1995.
3. "Any Man of Mine" (1995)
In Not Just a Girl, Shania declared that she knew when the public heard “Any Man of Mine,” it would “kick the door down” toward the crossover success she was looking for. Luckily, she wasn't wrong. The song was “super strong,” as Shania put it. It became her first No. 1 hit on country radio, as well as a crossover hit on the pop charts. It was nominated for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards. The song also won Single of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards in 1995. “The proof was in the pudding,” Shania said.
4. "(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!" (1995)
Her fourth single from The Woman in Me was released in November 1995 and became her second No. 1 hit on country radio. It was her first single to be promoted internationally. Yet another great example of Shania’s penchant for girl power in her lyrics, she tells any suitor who wants a one-night-stand to get “outta here!” In Not Just a Girl, Shania describes her approach toward lyrics for songs like this one: “I was always very bold and straightforward about...my point of view on things as a woman, particularly, my point of view in relationships. Women should be respected.” Can't say we disagree!
5. "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" (2002)
Shania has a knack for picking great singles. In an interview with her label Mercury Nashville, she talked about choosing “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” as the first single from 2002’s Up! Since so much of the album displayed her musical evolution, for the first single, she “wanted something that was familiar enough that they at least knew it was me when they heard it on the radio.” The song has become one of her biggest hits worldwide and charted in countries where she never had hits before. This was partly thanks to releasing both pop and country versions of the song. Billboard called the single, “one catchy little puppy.”
6. "Ka-Ching!" (2002)
Shania’s musical evolution on Up! was probably the most evident on “Ka-Ching!" Shania said in 2002, “I have grown, and I have evolved so a lot of the music is a little bit different.” Critics agreed that “Ka-Ching!” was an interesting one for Shania, because it makes a comment on the greed of American culture rather than being about personal relationships like many of her songs. Also, musically, it is intriguing the way it makes use of the cash register noise and creeps into sinister “Timbaland-style strings,” then pops up with the “off-kilter chorus,” as Jennifer Nine from Yahoo! Music put it. Nine went on to write that “Ka-Ching!” was musically “the best thing on the album.” While the song didn’t chart in the States, it became an international hit.
7. "Forever and for Always" (2002)
The third single from Up!, “Forever and for Always,” is a beautiful ballad that feels like the next logical chapter after “You’re Still the One.” In a 2002 feature via Mercury Nashville, Shania described how the song is “like going to a movie...you want to be moved when you leave the theater.” The song was nominated for Best Country Song at the 2004 Grammy Awards. Intriguingly, Shania revealed during her Vegas residency in 2019 that the song was first recorded by Prince. Though his version wasn’t released, she now dedicates it to him. The song spent 26 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, reaching a peak position of No. 6.
8. "Party for Two" (1997)
“Party for Two” was included as a bonus single on 2004’s Greatest Hits album. Make no mistake, this isn’t a left-over-from-a-previous-album kind of song that one often finds on a hits collection. This playful duet went on to become the 16th Top 10 song Shania earned on the Billboard country chart, reaching No. 7 on the tally. She also continued with the genius marketing strategy of recording a different version of the song for different genres, as she did on Up! There is a pop mix with Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath as her singing partner, and a country mix with Billy Currington.
9. "Life's About to Get Good" (2017)
Shania’s fifth studio album, Now, was especially significant. First, it was her first full-length album in 15 years, and it was also the first, since her debut, that was made without longtime producer and co-writer Lange, following the couple’s divorce. An anthem of Shania’s triumph over tragedy, “Life’s About to Get Good” was released on June 15, 2017, as the lead single from Now. Shania wrote the song and Matthew Koma and Ron Aniello, who had worked with artists like Bruce Springteen, produced it. Critics loved the song, with Billboard calling it “a rollicking anthem of folk-pop perseverance with a gently throbbing pulse” and Rolling Stone describing it as “a bouncy, optimistic number about moving from troubled times into better days.”
10. "Not Just a Girl" (2022)
Released in 2022 to coincide with Shania’s Netflix documentary of the same name, “Not Just a Girl” calls to mind the poppier direction heard on 2002’s Up! but with a fresh twist. This comes partly from Shania’s new creative partners — UK songwriter Wayne Hector (who has worked with Nicki Minaj and One Direction, among others), and UK producer Mark Ralph (who has worked with Usher). The song is upbeat but still sends a strong message. As Billboard put it, Shania “returns to her pantheon of girl power anthems.” The track also features a staccato vocal that makes great use of Shania’s current lower register.
Few have managed to successfully toggle between genres the way that Shania Twain has over the years. From girl-power anthems to timeless ballads, she "still the one" we love.
