ShaniaIsALeader
07-10-2003, 01:31 PM
Shania is on the Cover of the August 2003 issue of Britain's "GQ" magazine.
This is the Shania interview from the August issue of the British version of "GQ" magazine:
Platinum Brunette
For a small woman, Shania Twain is enormous. She is the biggest-selling female artist ever, having sold nearly as many albums as there are people in Britain. The last installment in the Canadian singer's extraordinary career was the gleaming country-pop confection Come On Over, released in 1997 and now with 34 million careful owners. "My fanbase," Shania says with characteristic modesty, "is very broad."
Six years on and she's back with Up!, another boundary-straddling collection of high-shine supersongs that owe as much to Abba as they do AC/DC. Once again the album was co-written and helmed by her husband of a decade, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the most successful record producer of his generation. Conservative sales estimates involve generous use of the word "shedloads."
In order to encourage the few remaining mortals who haven't bought a Shania Twain album to do so, she is undertaking a two-year world tour which, this month, brings her to Britain for the first time in four years.
Much as happened in Twain's world since her last visit to Blighty. She has become a mother - son Eja D'Angelo is now two - and a Swiss resident, living in neutral, lakeside bliss with her family in La-Tour-de-Peilz where Twain and Lange - the Twangs - own a relatively bijou, classic French chateau. Michael Jackson has a place nearby and Phil Collins lives up the road, thereby proving that you can't have everything.
We first met earlier this year in Los Angeles. Shania was holed up in her trailer at the 30th American Music Awards, slipping in and out of sundry sultry gowns. Everyone was there in that cramped backstage acre and very few needed to use surnames: Elton, Mariah, Justin, Christina, Nelly and Ozzy mingled in that curiously shy way that insecure pop stars do but Shania kept an almost regal distance.
Finally dispelling the myth that "ne'er the Twain shall meet," she was finally coaxed out to meet Mariah Carey (who was in the neighbouring Winnebago) for a quick, unofficial photo. "Hey," called one amateur photographer as he snapped ecstatically. "We got Mariah and Shania...all we need now is the Messiah!"
Photo-opportunity concluded, Carey bent - she is a lot taller than Shania - to carefully plant a kiss on Shania's cheek. As Shania walked away, she pecked the air affectedly and flapped her hands in the pampered manner of a ditzy diva. In five days, this was the only sighting of Shania's inner bitch.
When asked to describe herself in one word, she chooses neither "kittenish" nor "playful," but "impatient." Others opt for "professional," "driven" and "perfectionist." You'll also hear "friendly" and "fun" but often in the same breath you get "inscrutable" or "unreadable."
Much of this remoteness stems from Shania's sad and strange life. In 1987 her mother and stepfather died in a road accident leaving her, at 21, to single-handedly support her younger siblings.
It was sister Carrie-Ann who called the girl she still refers to as Eilleen to break the news. "She was in Toronto pursuing her music," she recalls. "I just remember pretty much saying what happened and hanging up the phone and the next thing, she was just sort of there."
The entire family relocated to a log cabin deep in the heart of nowhere and Shania took a job singing with a Vegas-style review in Deerhurst, Ontario. Video footage still exists of her sporting fishnet stockings and spot-lit smile, gamely barking out "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."
"We just had to get by the best we could," Shania says of that troubled time. "You just do anything you can to survive."
That she is recounting this from the depths of a sofa in London's Dorchester hotel tells its own story. Shania Twain met Mutt Lange, wrote some unforgettable songs and became the most famous Canadian on this or any other planet.
Dressed way down in fleece and baseball cap, she appears tinier than ever but her personality is anything but petite. She speaks her mind on any topic thrown her way and can do the locker-room thing with the best of them. "I've sung in bars since I was eight years old," she laughs. "Nothing you're going to say will shock me."
In March, Shania appeared with Nicole Kidman on the Tonight show in LA and the similarities between the two seeming opposites were striking. Both were from humble origins. Both were found to be vastly talented at an early age but didn't enjoy success until their thirties. Both married powerful men but, refusing to be defined by the husbands, became rich and revered in their own right.
Both women are magnetically attractive yet not conventionally beautiful. They also have an affinity for old-money European style but despite great wealth, they share simple tastes and enjoy nothing more than a cup of cocoa and a good book. In short, both have class.
"You wouldn't say that if you saw me screaming at the hockey at home," Shania smiles broadly, showcasing some serious teeth, "when I've got so excited I've spilled soup down my sweatshirt. You'd be like, 'Where's that sophisticated lady I've heard so much about?' "
GQ: There were some very funny photos of you in the American magazine Blender recently.
ST: The ones with roller skates on? That was fun and if it made you laugh then...good!
You looked very busty in them. I didn't realize you were quite so bosomy.
I can be, I suppose [laughs]. It depends what you're wearing.
[b]And that was a very bosom-enhancing outfit.[/b]
[Laughs] What a great expression!
[b]Did you read the retraction the [i]New York Times[/i] printed stating that your chateau doesn't have 26 rooms, as reported, but 46. That's 20 rooms out![/b]
But there aren't 46 rooms. That's wrong too! It sounds ridiculous but I don't know how many rooms there are, I'd have to sit here and count. There's not even 20. Maybe there's, like 15, including bedrooms. Downstairs is just your typical dining room, living room, kitchen and library. It is a very small chateau. And it's not on a lake but it overlooks a lake but that's the way things are set up in Switzerland, virtually everyone can see a lake.
[b]You're about to go on tour for two years. Isn't that daunting?[/b]
Not at all. The only daunting aspect is the travel. Every single day you're in a different city so that can be tiring. But it will just become my life. You take your life with you.
[b]Would you go and see you live?[/b]
Great question. I'd have to say yes because the type of performer I am is the type that I like. It's self-pleasing, so really I am going to see me. I go to my own concert every night.
[b]Is there one band you'd drop everything to go and see right now?[/b]
If Led Zeppelin reformed I'd be there. That would be a must-see. If I were somewhere and Robbie Williams were playing I would try and make sure I saw him. He's a great performer and he's like a comedian too.
[b]As a woman do you have feelings for him?[/b]
Not as a woman.
[b]As a man then?[/b]
If you're asking, "Do I have some sexual attraction to him?" then, no. He's cool though.
[b]Lovely eyes.[/b]
He does have beautiful eyes. He's funny too which is charming.
[b]Do you get his humour, or humor, as you Canadians say?[/b]
Totally. Canadians would totally get him. Canadian comedians are much cornier than that. And we have bands called Barenaked Ladies and Swollen Members. You know what I'm saying? That's very typical humour and the average person in Canada wouldn't be offended by that.
[b]During your Hyde Park show on 12 July can we arrange that you give GQ readers a special sign?[/b]
Sure. A secret sign like [twitches nose twice in a Bewitched fashion] that?
[b]How about during the first chorus of the song "Up!", you do the secret sign?[/b]
[Twitches nose again] Yep. Let's do it. I'll be like, "That's for you, GQ!"
[b]Do you consider yourself a beauty?[/b]
No. Definitely not. I just don't think I'm pretty.
[b]Oh, but you are.[/b]
Thank you but I think I'm pretty average. I'm not ugly but I'm not beautiful like Halle Berry or Sophia Loren. There are many more gorgeous people. I have fun with it and photos and make-up can make you more attractive than you are. Sometimes I look at pictures that I look OK in and I always say, "Good lighting!" That's become a joke among us. But I never went into this as a model. I'm not Cindy Crawford so it's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm a singer.
[b]Same with Van Morrison - he's a great singer but he looks nothing like Cindy Crawford.[/b]
It's so true! There you go!
[b]What do you want people to think when they look at you?[/b]
I like an approachable image. I want them to get me. It's not like I assume a different character on stage or television. I'm not Marilyn Manson.
[b]You're the sort of girl you'd want to take out for a beer, aren't you?[/b]
Sure. Men laugh at my songs as much as women relate to them. They get a chuckle out of them. They can see the person. My personality coming through is more important to me than being sexy or raunchy.
[b]Great word, raunchy.[/b]
Rrrrraunchy. But my songs will be remembered longer than my image. That means a lot to me.
[b]Which song of yours will people take to the grave with them?[/b]
"You're Still the One" is a song that people like a lot. They don't even care who the artist is, which is great because people have an attachment to the song in its own right.
[b]That must be very humbling.[/b]
It is because the song is much stronger than I am. Think about a song like "Crazy," everyone knows that Patsy Cline sang that but the song has its own life.
[b]Willie Nelson write with such touching simplicity, doesn't he?[/b]
Completely. I just did a thing with him for his 70th birthday celebration. He asked me to sing. I did "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" because I remembered it so strongly from my childhood.
[b]Do you enjoy the music of Eminem?[/b]
I do. He is a great writer. I liked him a lot in [i]8 Mile[/i] too. He can act, no doubt about that.
[b]Why do people think of the music of the Sixties and Seventies as timeless and the music of the Eighties, even Nineties, as disposable?[/b]
It was the drugs, I guess. I was saying to Mutt the other day, "Come on, you guys had an advantage, everyone was high!" The artists now are more square. They act all tough and everything but they're much more focused and business-like.
[b]But that's what people always say about you. You are, effectively, the chairwoman of a multinational corporation.[/b]
I've never really thought about it that way. I'm responsible but, believe me, I'm not a business person. I hate facts and numbers and all that.
[b]Do you invest? Play the stock markets? Are you developing a property portfolio?[/b]
No. Personal property only. I wouldn't invest, it's too stressful. Business doesn't interest me and I don't consider what I do to be business. I know people think I have this very savvy business and marketing mind but I truly don't. Mostly it's just good ideas and fortunate timing.
[b]When you issued your latest album in three formats for different markets - country, pop and Latin-Asian - couldn't people be forgiven for thinking that it was a cynical marketing ploy?[/b]
Of course. But it really was just a creative idea we wanted to try out. Maybe it is clever marketing but that isn't where it's coming from.
[b]You're cautious with money, aren't you? Is that the correct euphemism?[/b]
I am cautious. I never take it for granted. I now have enough that I don't need to be cautious but it doesn't matter, it's just in me. I still think it's indulgent to buy things that you don't need. I still think it's careless to max out your credit cards. That'll never leave me now, I'm sure. I've been poor and I've become rich so I know that if either was going to make me insane then that would have happened by now. I'm just not the sort of person who is going to go nuts.
[b]How would you feel about going down to Bond Street this afternoon and blowing a mil?[/b]
No. I would stress too much. I'm just not that kind of shopper. I have to rationalize everything I spend. Call it a hang up, I don't know.
[b]When did you last spend some serious money on yourself?[/b]
I can't even remember. I bought myself a car...
[b]Excellent![/b]
...four years ago. But it was a BMW roadster so that was a real splurge. But you don't have to be rich to have one. And I haven't bought one since.
[b]Surely they would have given you one?[/b]
I wouldn't ask. I try not to use my name like that. It's very tacky.
[b]But you've used your music for commercials.[/b]
Well, the Revlon thing worked with "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" because the campaign was based around the song. I enjoyed that.
[b]Do you get paid far too much for what you do?[/b]
This is a very good subject to take about because I actually do. I've often thought about that. Entertainers, sports people, movie stars; we work hard at what we do, there's no doubt about that. If you're going to succeed at the top of your field then you have to work unbelievably hard. No one in my life works as hard as me or makes the sacrifices I have to make. But the payoff is huge and I don't know how to gauge that. Then you think about the coal miners and they work much harder than I do but they don't make what I make. And then they die of lung cancer. That's where it's not right. But when I was a kid I thought everybody who lived in a brick house and could afford roast beef was rich.
[b]And now you can afford steak every night, you're a vegetarian.[/b]
The irony of it all. And I worked in McDonald's.
[b]How much did you get an hour?[/b]
Three something, then I worked my way up to five. I did the cash. I never cooked hamburgers.
[b]What's your culinary specialty these days?[/b]
Really good soups, pureed vegetable depending what's in season. And I love lentils and beans.
[b]Do you find lentils have violent repercussions down below?[/b]
Not when you eat them regularly [laughs]. Undercooked lentils can have that effect.
[b]If you could ban one fruit which one would go?[/b]
The starfruit. Overrated, tasteless and it's such an arrogant name too.
[b]And the king of fruits?[/b]
Mango.
[b]Have you have any further thoughts on Steve Earle calling you "America's highest paid lap dancer"?[/b]
I was very insulted by that initially. Now, I don't really care, I guess. I doubt if he would say that again although you never know, some people are arrogant enough to insult to you twice over. Maybe he genuinely did think that. He's certainly entitled to his opinion. But I haven't thought about it since. I think he would take it back now.
[b]Do you think, in a fair fight, you'd kick his ass?[/b]
I think my songs do that for me.
[b]Who was your biggest rock star crush as a girl?[/b]
Eddie Van Halen was my total crush. I loved him. Rock was my thing.
[b]Do you still listen to hard rock? Would you ever headbang to, say, AC/DC around the house?[/b]
Never at home but I'd do it with a friend. I saw them in concert in Paris when I was eight months pregnant. I couldn't get too close to the stage because the whole place was vibrating. But, man, AC/DC groove. They groove like Elvis.
[b]How about gentler music? What do you make of Coldplay? Fancy the singer?[/b]
Yeah. He's very attractive. But what about Ashton Kutcher? Can he make a record please! He's my new heart-throb. And pretty well all Italian footballers. They're beautiful.
[b]How can you say that when we have great-looking players like Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney - or "Shrek" as we call him?[/b]
[Laughs] David Beckham is very handsome. He reminds me of one of my nephews. That curved kick is actually amazing. It's like someone has a string on the ball. Or a remote. And why to people criticize his intelligence when he can do something as miraculous as that? He can't be that simple if he can think the way he does. He has to be some kind of genius actually just to play to that level. And it seems that he's a very good man, and good-looking. But there's something about the Italian player's long, black, flowing, curly hair.
[b]And that's just their legs.[/b]
[Hooting] They're sexy! So sexy. You can't deny that they're sexy.
[b]But they still live with their mums because no woman will ever match up to Mama.[/b]
Well, listen, I have a son and if he thinks that way for the rest of his life then I'll be quite happy.
[b]Do you think working bars from such an early age informed your view of alcohol?[/b]
It helped me, I think. And I don't drink now but I drank as a teenager. I went through my little phase. The bars didn't totally turn me off alcohol, they actually gave me quite a healthy perspective on it. I learnt that working and drinking wasn't a good thing. I'd see a lot of performers get up half-drunk and they'd fall into a habit with it. That frightened me. A lot of people were doing drugs around me too but I just didn't need them.
[b]You never felt the urge to have a blast on a bong?[/b]
I can't bear the idea of being that out of control. And that's not about being uptight - what I do for a living gives me more of a buzz than drugs could. Mutt is the same, he was around some pretty druggy people but he was the producer so he was the one that stayed straight.
[b]When did you last take a drink?[/b]
A long time ago. Even at our wedding we had non-alcoholic champagne. And we don't keep alcohol in the house but sometimes guests will bring wine and we're happy for them to have that. I'll sometimes have a little sip but I'd never have a glass. But, sure, people can have a drink.
[b]How would you feel about people snorting cocaine off your coffee table?[/b]
Absolutely not. It's illegal. I don't care if people really want to do that at home - that's their personal choice - but not in my house.
[b]If we had some acid now would you take it?[/b]
Yeah, right! I've never taken drugs. And I was always too chicken to take acid.
[b]You're presumably aware that stories have circulated about you and Mutt joining an Eastern religion that forbids non-procreative sex. So, just for the record, do you and your husband have sex?[/b]
Of course [laughs]. Isn't that so weird? There are a lot of religions that don't permit sex outside of procreation or, at least, suggest that. But, no, of course we have sex.
[b]Well, you have a child so I'm guessing you've done it at least once.[/b]
Right. We have certainly had sex more than once. We've been married for ten years, you can kind of work it out.
[b]Here's a quote about you: "Shania Twain is a complex creation. An impoverished Canadian country singer who lives like a Swiss banker, an AC/DC fan whose songs sound like Abba, a touch Nineties icon who needed a father figure, a sex symbol who shows little interest in sex, and artist whose lyrics touch millions but tell us so little about herself." Discuss.[/b]
That's loaded. OK, let's go through it. Some of it is a bit extreme and parts aren't true. I don't seek a father figure. I know Mutt's much older than I am [he's 54] but we're very dependent on each other, he isn't a father to me. I had a father my whole life until I was 21 so it's a little offensive to assume that there is a hole there. I was hardly fatherless. I'm way too independent to need a father figure. In my opinion men are only there for love. That's what we need men for. They serve no other purpose.
[b]That's not fair. We're good at opening jars too.[/b]
That's so true. You're good with jars. But love is necessary and I prefer to do that with a man than a woman. What else was in that statement? I live like a Swiss banker? Well, I have money and live in Switzerland but I don't really know how a banker lives. The AC/DC and Abba comment is fine by me and the sexual thing...I'm not a sexual artist - sexy perhaps - I don't make out in my videos or any of that stuff. And part of the final statement is true. I don't want to be recording songs about my innermost pain and angst and I'm not sure people want to hear that right now. Maybe I'll explore that area when I'm older.
[b]We'll look forward to that. See you at Hyde Park. And don't forget the secret sign.[/b]
I won't forget. First chorus of "Up!", I'll be twitchin' away...just for the men out there. Now go open some jars.
This is the Shania interview from the August issue of the British version of "GQ" magazine:
Platinum Brunette
For a small woman, Shania Twain is enormous. She is the biggest-selling female artist ever, having sold nearly as many albums as there are people in Britain. The last installment in the Canadian singer's extraordinary career was the gleaming country-pop confection Come On Over, released in 1997 and now with 34 million careful owners. "My fanbase," Shania says with characteristic modesty, "is very broad."
Six years on and she's back with Up!, another boundary-straddling collection of high-shine supersongs that owe as much to Abba as they do AC/DC. Once again the album was co-written and helmed by her husband of a decade, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the most successful record producer of his generation. Conservative sales estimates involve generous use of the word "shedloads."
In order to encourage the few remaining mortals who haven't bought a Shania Twain album to do so, she is undertaking a two-year world tour which, this month, brings her to Britain for the first time in four years.
Much as happened in Twain's world since her last visit to Blighty. She has become a mother - son Eja D'Angelo is now two - and a Swiss resident, living in neutral, lakeside bliss with her family in La-Tour-de-Peilz where Twain and Lange - the Twangs - own a relatively bijou, classic French chateau. Michael Jackson has a place nearby and Phil Collins lives up the road, thereby proving that you can't have everything.
We first met earlier this year in Los Angeles. Shania was holed up in her trailer at the 30th American Music Awards, slipping in and out of sundry sultry gowns. Everyone was there in that cramped backstage acre and very few needed to use surnames: Elton, Mariah, Justin, Christina, Nelly and Ozzy mingled in that curiously shy way that insecure pop stars do but Shania kept an almost regal distance.
Finally dispelling the myth that "ne'er the Twain shall meet," she was finally coaxed out to meet Mariah Carey (who was in the neighbouring Winnebago) for a quick, unofficial photo. "Hey," called one amateur photographer as he snapped ecstatically. "We got Mariah and Shania...all we need now is the Messiah!"
Photo-opportunity concluded, Carey bent - she is a lot taller than Shania - to carefully plant a kiss on Shania's cheek. As Shania walked away, she pecked the air affectedly and flapped her hands in the pampered manner of a ditzy diva. In five days, this was the only sighting of Shania's inner bitch.
When asked to describe herself in one word, she chooses neither "kittenish" nor "playful," but "impatient." Others opt for "professional," "driven" and "perfectionist." You'll also hear "friendly" and "fun" but often in the same breath you get "inscrutable" or "unreadable."
Much of this remoteness stems from Shania's sad and strange life. In 1987 her mother and stepfather died in a road accident leaving her, at 21, to single-handedly support her younger siblings.
It was sister Carrie-Ann who called the girl she still refers to as Eilleen to break the news. "She was in Toronto pursuing her music," she recalls. "I just remember pretty much saying what happened and hanging up the phone and the next thing, she was just sort of there."
The entire family relocated to a log cabin deep in the heart of nowhere and Shania took a job singing with a Vegas-style review in Deerhurst, Ontario. Video footage still exists of her sporting fishnet stockings and spot-lit smile, gamely barking out "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."
"We just had to get by the best we could," Shania says of that troubled time. "You just do anything you can to survive."
That she is recounting this from the depths of a sofa in London's Dorchester hotel tells its own story. Shania Twain met Mutt Lange, wrote some unforgettable songs and became the most famous Canadian on this or any other planet.
Dressed way down in fleece and baseball cap, she appears tinier than ever but her personality is anything but petite. She speaks her mind on any topic thrown her way and can do the locker-room thing with the best of them. "I've sung in bars since I was eight years old," she laughs. "Nothing you're going to say will shock me."
In March, Shania appeared with Nicole Kidman on the Tonight show in LA and the similarities between the two seeming opposites were striking. Both were from humble origins. Both were found to be vastly talented at an early age but didn't enjoy success until their thirties. Both married powerful men but, refusing to be defined by the husbands, became rich and revered in their own right.
Both women are magnetically attractive yet not conventionally beautiful. They also have an affinity for old-money European style but despite great wealth, they share simple tastes and enjoy nothing more than a cup of cocoa and a good book. In short, both have class.
"You wouldn't say that if you saw me screaming at the hockey at home," Shania smiles broadly, showcasing some serious teeth, "when I've got so excited I've spilled soup down my sweatshirt. You'd be like, 'Where's that sophisticated lady I've heard so much about?' "
GQ: There were some very funny photos of you in the American magazine Blender recently.
ST: The ones with roller skates on? That was fun and if it made you laugh then...good!
You looked very busty in them. I didn't realize you were quite so bosomy.
I can be, I suppose [laughs]. It depends what you're wearing.
[b]And that was a very bosom-enhancing outfit.[/b]
[Laughs] What a great expression!
[b]Did you read the retraction the [i]New York Times[/i] printed stating that your chateau doesn't have 26 rooms, as reported, but 46. That's 20 rooms out![/b]
But there aren't 46 rooms. That's wrong too! It sounds ridiculous but I don't know how many rooms there are, I'd have to sit here and count. There's not even 20. Maybe there's, like 15, including bedrooms. Downstairs is just your typical dining room, living room, kitchen and library. It is a very small chateau. And it's not on a lake but it overlooks a lake but that's the way things are set up in Switzerland, virtually everyone can see a lake.
[b]You're about to go on tour for two years. Isn't that daunting?[/b]
Not at all. The only daunting aspect is the travel. Every single day you're in a different city so that can be tiring. But it will just become my life. You take your life with you.
[b]Would you go and see you live?[/b]
Great question. I'd have to say yes because the type of performer I am is the type that I like. It's self-pleasing, so really I am going to see me. I go to my own concert every night.
[b]Is there one band you'd drop everything to go and see right now?[/b]
If Led Zeppelin reformed I'd be there. That would be a must-see. If I were somewhere and Robbie Williams were playing I would try and make sure I saw him. He's a great performer and he's like a comedian too.
[b]As a woman do you have feelings for him?[/b]
Not as a woman.
[b]As a man then?[/b]
If you're asking, "Do I have some sexual attraction to him?" then, no. He's cool though.
[b]Lovely eyes.[/b]
He does have beautiful eyes. He's funny too which is charming.
[b]Do you get his humour, or humor, as you Canadians say?[/b]
Totally. Canadians would totally get him. Canadian comedians are much cornier than that. And we have bands called Barenaked Ladies and Swollen Members. You know what I'm saying? That's very typical humour and the average person in Canada wouldn't be offended by that.
[b]During your Hyde Park show on 12 July can we arrange that you give GQ readers a special sign?[/b]
Sure. A secret sign like [twitches nose twice in a Bewitched fashion] that?
[b]How about during the first chorus of the song "Up!", you do the secret sign?[/b]
[Twitches nose again] Yep. Let's do it. I'll be like, "That's for you, GQ!"
[b]Do you consider yourself a beauty?[/b]
No. Definitely not. I just don't think I'm pretty.
[b]Oh, but you are.[/b]
Thank you but I think I'm pretty average. I'm not ugly but I'm not beautiful like Halle Berry or Sophia Loren. There are many more gorgeous people. I have fun with it and photos and make-up can make you more attractive than you are. Sometimes I look at pictures that I look OK in and I always say, "Good lighting!" That's become a joke among us. But I never went into this as a model. I'm not Cindy Crawford so it's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm a singer.
[b]Same with Van Morrison - he's a great singer but he looks nothing like Cindy Crawford.[/b]
It's so true! There you go!
[b]What do you want people to think when they look at you?[/b]
I like an approachable image. I want them to get me. It's not like I assume a different character on stage or television. I'm not Marilyn Manson.
[b]You're the sort of girl you'd want to take out for a beer, aren't you?[/b]
Sure. Men laugh at my songs as much as women relate to them. They get a chuckle out of them. They can see the person. My personality coming through is more important to me than being sexy or raunchy.
[b]Great word, raunchy.[/b]
Rrrrraunchy. But my songs will be remembered longer than my image. That means a lot to me.
[b]Which song of yours will people take to the grave with them?[/b]
"You're Still the One" is a song that people like a lot. They don't even care who the artist is, which is great because people have an attachment to the song in its own right.
[b]That must be very humbling.[/b]
It is because the song is much stronger than I am. Think about a song like "Crazy," everyone knows that Patsy Cline sang that but the song has its own life.
[b]Willie Nelson write with such touching simplicity, doesn't he?[/b]
Completely. I just did a thing with him for his 70th birthday celebration. He asked me to sing. I did "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" because I remembered it so strongly from my childhood.
[b]Do you enjoy the music of Eminem?[/b]
I do. He is a great writer. I liked him a lot in [i]8 Mile[/i] too. He can act, no doubt about that.
[b]Why do people think of the music of the Sixties and Seventies as timeless and the music of the Eighties, even Nineties, as disposable?[/b]
It was the drugs, I guess. I was saying to Mutt the other day, "Come on, you guys had an advantage, everyone was high!" The artists now are more square. They act all tough and everything but they're much more focused and business-like.
[b]But that's what people always say about you. You are, effectively, the chairwoman of a multinational corporation.[/b]
I've never really thought about it that way. I'm responsible but, believe me, I'm not a business person. I hate facts and numbers and all that.
[b]Do you invest? Play the stock markets? Are you developing a property portfolio?[/b]
No. Personal property only. I wouldn't invest, it's too stressful. Business doesn't interest me and I don't consider what I do to be business. I know people think I have this very savvy business and marketing mind but I truly don't. Mostly it's just good ideas and fortunate timing.
[b]When you issued your latest album in three formats for different markets - country, pop and Latin-Asian - couldn't people be forgiven for thinking that it was a cynical marketing ploy?[/b]
Of course. But it really was just a creative idea we wanted to try out. Maybe it is clever marketing but that isn't where it's coming from.
[b]You're cautious with money, aren't you? Is that the correct euphemism?[/b]
I am cautious. I never take it for granted. I now have enough that I don't need to be cautious but it doesn't matter, it's just in me. I still think it's indulgent to buy things that you don't need. I still think it's careless to max out your credit cards. That'll never leave me now, I'm sure. I've been poor and I've become rich so I know that if either was going to make me insane then that would have happened by now. I'm just not the sort of person who is going to go nuts.
[b]How would you feel about going down to Bond Street this afternoon and blowing a mil?[/b]
No. I would stress too much. I'm just not that kind of shopper. I have to rationalize everything I spend. Call it a hang up, I don't know.
[b]When did you last spend some serious money on yourself?[/b]
I can't even remember. I bought myself a car...
[b]Excellent![/b]
...four years ago. But it was a BMW roadster so that was a real splurge. But you don't have to be rich to have one. And I haven't bought one since.
[b]Surely they would have given you one?[/b]
I wouldn't ask. I try not to use my name like that. It's very tacky.
[b]But you've used your music for commercials.[/b]
Well, the Revlon thing worked with "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" because the campaign was based around the song. I enjoyed that.
[b]Do you get paid far too much for what you do?[/b]
This is a very good subject to take about because I actually do. I've often thought about that. Entertainers, sports people, movie stars; we work hard at what we do, there's no doubt about that. If you're going to succeed at the top of your field then you have to work unbelievably hard. No one in my life works as hard as me or makes the sacrifices I have to make. But the payoff is huge and I don't know how to gauge that. Then you think about the coal miners and they work much harder than I do but they don't make what I make. And then they die of lung cancer. That's where it's not right. But when I was a kid I thought everybody who lived in a brick house and could afford roast beef was rich.
[b]And now you can afford steak every night, you're a vegetarian.[/b]
The irony of it all. And I worked in McDonald's.
[b]How much did you get an hour?[/b]
Three something, then I worked my way up to five. I did the cash. I never cooked hamburgers.
[b]What's your culinary specialty these days?[/b]
Really good soups, pureed vegetable depending what's in season. And I love lentils and beans.
[b]Do you find lentils have violent repercussions down below?[/b]
Not when you eat them regularly [laughs]. Undercooked lentils can have that effect.
[b]If you could ban one fruit which one would go?[/b]
The starfruit. Overrated, tasteless and it's such an arrogant name too.
[b]And the king of fruits?[/b]
Mango.
[b]Have you have any further thoughts on Steve Earle calling you "America's highest paid lap dancer"?[/b]
I was very insulted by that initially. Now, I don't really care, I guess. I doubt if he would say that again although you never know, some people are arrogant enough to insult to you twice over. Maybe he genuinely did think that. He's certainly entitled to his opinion. But I haven't thought about it since. I think he would take it back now.
[b]Do you think, in a fair fight, you'd kick his ass?[/b]
I think my songs do that for me.
[b]Who was your biggest rock star crush as a girl?[/b]
Eddie Van Halen was my total crush. I loved him. Rock was my thing.
[b]Do you still listen to hard rock? Would you ever headbang to, say, AC/DC around the house?[/b]
Never at home but I'd do it with a friend. I saw them in concert in Paris when I was eight months pregnant. I couldn't get too close to the stage because the whole place was vibrating. But, man, AC/DC groove. They groove like Elvis.
[b]How about gentler music? What do you make of Coldplay? Fancy the singer?[/b]
Yeah. He's very attractive. But what about Ashton Kutcher? Can he make a record please! He's my new heart-throb. And pretty well all Italian footballers. They're beautiful.
[b]How can you say that when we have great-looking players like Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney - or "Shrek" as we call him?[/b]
[Laughs] David Beckham is very handsome. He reminds me of one of my nephews. That curved kick is actually amazing. It's like someone has a string on the ball. Or a remote. And why to people criticize his intelligence when he can do something as miraculous as that? He can't be that simple if he can think the way he does. He has to be some kind of genius actually just to play to that level. And it seems that he's a very good man, and good-looking. But there's something about the Italian player's long, black, flowing, curly hair.
[b]And that's just their legs.[/b]
[Hooting] They're sexy! So sexy. You can't deny that they're sexy.
[b]But they still live with their mums because no woman will ever match up to Mama.[/b]
Well, listen, I have a son and if he thinks that way for the rest of his life then I'll be quite happy.
[b]Do you think working bars from such an early age informed your view of alcohol?[/b]
It helped me, I think. And I don't drink now but I drank as a teenager. I went through my little phase. The bars didn't totally turn me off alcohol, they actually gave me quite a healthy perspective on it. I learnt that working and drinking wasn't a good thing. I'd see a lot of performers get up half-drunk and they'd fall into a habit with it. That frightened me. A lot of people were doing drugs around me too but I just didn't need them.
[b]You never felt the urge to have a blast on a bong?[/b]
I can't bear the idea of being that out of control. And that's not about being uptight - what I do for a living gives me more of a buzz than drugs could. Mutt is the same, he was around some pretty druggy people but he was the producer so he was the one that stayed straight.
[b]When did you last take a drink?[/b]
A long time ago. Even at our wedding we had non-alcoholic champagne. And we don't keep alcohol in the house but sometimes guests will bring wine and we're happy for them to have that. I'll sometimes have a little sip but I'd never have a glass. But, sure, people can have a drink.
[b]How would you feel about people snorting cocaine off your coffee table?[/b]
Absolutely not. It's illegal. I don't care if people really want to do that at home - that's their personal choice - but not in my house.
[b]If we had some acid now would you take it?[/b]
Yeah, right! I've never taken drugs. And I was always too chicken to take acid.
[b]You're presumably aware that stories have circulated about you and Mutt joining an Eastern religion that forbids non-procreative sex. So, just for the record, do you and your husband have sex?[/b]
Of course [laughs]. Isn't that so weird? There are a lot of religions that don't permit sex outside of procreation or, at least, suggest that. But, no, of course we have sex.
[b]Well, you have a child so I'm guessing you've done it at least once.[/b]
Right. We have certainly had sex more than once. We've been married for ten years, you can kind of work it out.
[b]Here's a quote about you: "Shania Twain is a complex creation. An impoverished Canadian country singer who lives like a Swiss banker, an AC/DC fan whose songs sound like Abba, a touch Nineties icon who needed a father figure, a sex symbol who shows little interest in sex, and artist whose lyrics touch millions but tell us so little about herself." Discuss.[/b]
That's loaded. OK, let's go through it. Some of it is a bit extreme and parts aren't true. I don't seek a father figure. I know Mutt's much older than I am [he's 54] but we're very dependent on each other, he isn't a father to me. I had a father my whole life until I was 21 so it's a little offensive to assume that there is a hole there. I was hardly fatherless. I'm way too independent to need a father figure. In my opinion men are only there for love. That's what we need men for. They serve no other purpose.
[b]That's not fair. We're good at opening jars too.[/b]
That's so true. You're good with jars. But love is necessary and I prefer to do that with a man than a woman. What else was in that statement? I live like a Swiss banker? Well, I have money and live in Switzerland but I don't really know how a banker lives. The AC/DC and Abba comment is fine by me and the sexual thing...I'm not a sexual artist - sexy perhaps - I don't make out in my videos or any of that stuff. And part of the final statement is true. I don't want to be recording songs about my innermost pain and angst and I'm not sure people want to hear that right now. Maybe I'll explore that area when I'm older.
[b]We'll look forward to that. See you at Hyde Park. And don't forget the secret sign.[/b]
I won't forget. First chorus of "Up!", I'll be twitchin' away...just for the men out there. Now go open some jars.