SOUND OUT She’s still the one

Country star Shania Twain talks to

about why her new record isn’t a ‘divorce album’ and how she thought her battle with Lyme Disease might end her music career Shania, pictured above in 1999, says the challenges of the last 15 years have changed her, and that is reflected in her new album, top right and recovering my voice... so it’s definitely not a divorce album. There’s just way too much that’s happened over the last 16 years.

“It’s more about a much longer phase in my life than just the divorce period, and it’s also helped put things in perspective.

“There are so many more things in my life of importance and that’s why there’s a lot of positivity in the album as well. There’s a lot of optimism, I touch on the dark side and I also touch on coming out the other end.”

And she’s right. The album is dangerously catchy and a few of the songs – anthems such as Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed – you can sense will be played on repeat.

Shania is a five-time Grammy award winner and has sold more than 75 million albums. Last year she ranked ninth on the Forbes Highest Paid Women in Music list, with a rumoured fortune of around £20.7 million ($27.5m), one position above other music big hitters such as Celine Dion.

Before her recent return to the studio, she performed regularly as part of a residency in Las Vegas. Fans won’t be disappointed with her new album.

“I really do hope that it inspires people... this album still has all the optimism that my other music has, but there is more of a contrast between reality and how difficult life can really be and also how great it feels to survive those times,” she says.

Around the time that I’m talking to Shania, the film industry is reeling from sexual harassment claims against a string of high-profile figures.

“I’m inspired by the fact this light is being finally turned on and in a really big way. I think culturally for the kids growing up right now in this time, maybe they will be liberated from this, from what was considered more of the norm,” she says.

“The winds of change are here and I’m excited about it. It’s a dark, unfortunate thing to be going through for the women that are having to go back through their pasts and deal with all of this in the press and it’s taken courage, but it is such a fantastic exposure that is so beyond necessary, so I’m inspired by what is going on right now.

“I hope we never stop highlighting that, so that our kids grow up with a different norm.”