Shania Twain, 57, talks doing ‘a photo session NAKED with just mud’

Shania Twain, 57, has revealed why she did a nude photo shoot slathered in mud for her latest album Queen Of Me.

‘I didn’t do it when I was younger so I’m going to do it now,’ she told TalkShopLive. ‘I’m going to feel and show that I feel comfortable in my own skin.’

She shared how ‘insecure’ she was when she was younger, to the point of being ‘one of those teenagers that would never wear a bikini at the beach, for example.’

‘Queen of Me is all about being the boss of myself. And taking responsibility for what I put out there, what I project. And my truth, as I get older, which I wish I had this truth when I was younger, is just to feel more – less apologetic for how I am, how I look, less affected by other people’s criticism,’ she said. 

I was one of those teenagers that would never wear a bikini at the beach, for example. And now I’m thinking what was I thinking when I had the young body and really what you would’ve consider what our bathing suit ads are now – it’s usually a very fit, slender, younger woman.’

Shania declared: ‘So I’m saying well, the heck with that. I didn’t do it when I was younger so I’m going to do it now. I’m going to feel and show that I feel comfortable in my own skin. So what I did was, I did a photo session naked with just mud.’

She assured her interviewer that ‘this took courage because I am so not an exhibitionist. But it wasn’t – it was all about my own message to myself, and just saying, you know, it’s just time to feel comfortable in my own skin and share that with other people and just share those insecurities, shed that skin of insecurity.’

Reflective: ‘I didn’t do it when I was younger so I’m going to do it now,’ she told TalkShopLive, adding: ‘I’m going to feel and show that I feel comfortable in my own skin’

The Man! I Feel Like A Woman hitmaker reflected that ‘we don’t want to look in the mirror as we start aging, we get a little more turning the lights down, even when it’s just us alone. I’m saying, okay, who turns the lights down low when they’re alone getting into the shower? An insecure person.’

Nowadays however her credo is: ‘Let it shine, let it shine,’ she said. ‘I just think it’s so good for us. Repeating the message to myself was the beginning, just saying okay I’m fine with the way I look, I’m fine aging, I’m fine and comfortable with myself.

The nude snap ‘was the final step of saying okay I can’t just tell people that. I can’t just say it. I’ve got to live it. I have to live it – without running down the street naked.’

On the normal cover of the album, she puts on a leggy display while sitting on horseback in a blazer that falls open to expose her ample cleavage. 

‘It’s the bra-less factor!’: On the normal cover of the album, she puts on a leggy display while sitting on horseback in a blazer that falls open to expose her ample cleavage

‘It’s the bra-less factor!’ she said, roaring with laughter before telling a story from 1993. ‘So when I did my very first video, What Made You Say That? this is very, very, very first album I ever recorded. I was bra-less in that video.’

She recalled that at the time ‘it seemed fine because I was perkier’ and now her ‘message is, why should it be offensive just because I’m older?’

A couple of years ago Shania had to undergo open-throat surgery because she had contracted Lyme disease, and her new album is her first since the operation.

Getting the surgery was already a ‘big decision’ that took ‘courage’ because it left open the possibility that she might never be able to sing again afterwards. 

‘It seemed fine because I was perkier’: Shania noted that she had also been bra-less in her first ever music video, What Made You Say That? in 1993

Queen Of Me consequently became ‘a big test’ and she admitted that initially she was ‘writing songs a little more – that were less challenging for my voice.’

She shared: ‘But then as I went on, I started pushing myself through that fear zone, and pushing through the fear and the anxiety of being able to commit myself to an album and a good performance for an album that is so permanent.’

Shania elaborated: ‘You know, when you’re live you can have a bad night, you could hit a bad note, you might have a great night. It’s not as permanent as an album.’

An album to her is ‘a stamp of where you’re at in your creative work and your performance work so it’s a huge milestone for me, the Queen of Me album.’

What if: She is already anticipating the prospect of collaborating with artists – such as Harry Styles, who brought her onstage at Coachella this year for multiple numbers (pictured)

She dished: ‘Every day that I was recording I was testing the new voice. And I would try things that wouldn’t work, but I would try and try and try again, and eventually – so it was a training process for me as well.’

Shania divulged that ‘getting on the mic in the studio it’s so vulnerable. You can hear every little thing. You can’t drown it out with production or a band or mixing or anything like that until much, much later on so you’ve got to live with whatever your performance is in a raw state and it’s like looking in the mirror literally.’

The process ‘was good, it was very good for me. I had to some things I just had to – it took longer to achieve than others but I’m so happy and I really did push my own vocal physiotherapy through the process of recording the album.’

Queen Of Me is a landmark for her in that respect – and also because ‘I don’t know if the procedure that I had will last forever.’

If however her voice does eventually give out permanently, fans can rest assured that she will continue writing for other artists.

Sizzling: Harry, 28, recently had a box office smash with his new film Don’t Worry Darling, which he stars in alongside Florence Pugh

In fact, even for herself, she has already managed to write four albums’ worth of material with help from the coronavirus lockdowns.

She is already anticipating the prospect of collaborating with artists – such as Harry Styles, who brought her onstage at Coachella this year for multiple numbers.

One of their duets was her iconic song Man! I Feel Like A Woman, which Harry sang while prancing around the stage in a sparkly plunging sequined jumpsuit. 

‘Well, he invited me on his stage which was so wonderful and lovely, lovely person. I want to say lovely kid, but I mean he’s not a kid anymore, is he? He’s a man,’ she said.

Working with Harry ‘would be my dream, yes,’ Shania said although she noted: ‘He’s busy making movies right now.’

Harry, 28, recently had a box office smash with his new film Don’t Worry Darling, directed by his scandal-struck girlfriend Olivia Wilde, 38.

Despite his full movie schedule, Shania ‘would love’ to make music with him. ‘Put it out there. We gotta make it happen, absolutely.’