Shania Twain Come On Over

Among the 16 song titles that make up Shania Twain’s Come On Over, no fewer than four have exclamation points. They’re there to tell you that Twain’s excited, and isn’t afraid to say it—modesty and gender expectations be damned. But in a way, it’s the other number—the 16 songs—that says even more. Released in 1997, Come On Over proved there was plenty of room for pop-country to explore, and gave Twain the kind of space—a full hour of music—to show off the breadth of her songwriting in ways that were unheard of for most country songwriters, female or otherwise. So while the album’s biggest singles (“You’re Still the One”, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”, “From This Moment On”, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”) captured the dissolving border between Nashville and the rest of the world, they were also part of a wave of late-1990s albums—including Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom—that centred a feminine experience without selling it short. You could rock with it, reflect with it, night-out with it, and happily-ever-after with it—and all on Twain’s uplifting, empathetic terms. And as the work of a married woman teamed with her producer-songwriter-husband (Mutt Lange), you could submit it as proof that embracing progress doesn’t mean sacrificing tradition. Three days after its release, the Spice Girls fired their manager. It was probably just a coincidence—though you can’t help but wonder.