One of the photos of Shania Twain included with her album Queen of Me shows the singer covered in mud, while naked. The “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” star, 57, had a perfect response when asked why she decided to include the photo with the new record, while speaking to TalkShopLive. The singer revealed that she opted to do the photoshoot, because she hadn’t gotten a chance to do one earlier in her career. “I didn’t do it when I was younger so I’m going to do it now,” she said.
Besides making up for lost time, Shania also explained that she was looking to show how confident she was, fitting with the “self-empowerment” theme of the record. “I’m going to feel and show that I feel comfortable in my own skin,” she said. “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.”
Shania opened up about being insecure when she was younger and she admitted that she would even be insecure wearing a bikini, but now, she says “the heck with that,” and clearly enjoyed the photoshoot. “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 said.
The country icon also got into she came up with the title of the record, after earning the nicknames like “Queen of Country Pop” or the “Queen of Crossover” throughout her career. “Over the years other artists or journalists have used the word ‘Queen,'” she said. “Coming into my own skin so much more with age, and I really like it. Feeling more ownership of my own self-worth, [and] self-empowerment. So I thought, if I’m [the] queen of anything, I’m ‘Queen of Me.'”
Besides going nude for her new album, Shania has shown off tons of amazing looks in recent years, even giving a nod to her “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” dress over 20 years later in April 2021. She rocked a beautiful black dress while attending the ACM Awards back in August. The mud photoshoot wasn’t the only time that Shania has stripped down on this album cycle. She also went topless in the music video for the single “Waking Up Dreaming,” which she dropped in September.
Queen of Me will be released on February 23, 2023.