SHANIA SHARES EXCLUSIVE DETAILS
INTO THE EMPOWERING SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO
ONLY ON VEVO FOOTNOTES
Country music trailblazer and icon Shania Twain takes viewers behind the scenes of the official music video for “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” in the latest installment of Vevo Footnotes, in celebration of the song’s 25th anniversary.
In the video, Shania delves into the song and video’s influence, highlighting its transformation into an unexpected anthem that empowered women and shattered barriers in both country music and pop culture. She discusses the intentional decisions on fashion made for the music video, aimed at defying the expectations set for female musicians of that era. She talks about how her creative team was inspired by the iconic styling in Robert Plant’s “Addicted To Love” music video and aimed to take it to another level by reversing the gender roles and creating something unexpected with the high women’s coat and top hat with the veil.
Throughout the episode, Shania reveals how the music and video extended beyond the confines of country music and allowed her to reach new audiences. She also describes how Mutt Lange’s memorable guitar riff inspired her famous lyrics centered on “liberation, independence, and the human spirit.” Finally, she shares that she faced significant pushback on the creative side about wardrobe and concerns about being “too sexy” for her audience. However, in the end, the song became relatable to everyone, and she expresses her love for performing it today, as much as she did when it was first released.
FULL FOOTNOTES BELOW:
00:04 – If there’s any song that has ever affected culture, that I have written, it’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” I can’t take credit for knowing that at the moment of writing it!
00:22 – I worked with record producer Mutt Lange on the song. He had this guitar riff he had been playing all morning. Finally, he stopped the ruff and I said…”Man, I feel like a woman!” When that statement came out of my mouth, it was so obvious that the song was going to be about liberation, independence, and the human spirit.
00:44 – I was standing up for myself through the song. I wasn’t being apologetic for all the things I had been criticized for in my life – “you can’t do that, you can’t wear that, that’s too tight, that’s too short” This was my song that really said you know what I love about being a woman! I’m feeling comfortable in my own skin! That’s awesome!
01:06 – It felt anthemic right off the bat. We were picturing a stadium setting, with crowds roaring, so we built the production around that feeling. We layered lots of backing vocals to give that crowd roaring feeling. Mutt and I did all the backing vocals.
01:27 – I wanted to go beyond country music and this song was pushing my genre boundaries, musically it was not limited to one genre. It’s rock, it’s pop, it’s country.
01:44 – The styling in Robert Palmer’s video was so iconic and strong. We wanted to take that idea and turn it on its head. We wanted to make something unexpected and the role reversal was the vision.
02:00 – Mark Bauer got to work on the wardrobe, with that idea in mind and dressed me in that amazing high women’s coat, the top hat, with the veil added for a touch of femininity, in what was a “typically” masculine outfit
02:20 – I wanted to evolve with the peeling away layers of clothes, like layers of this person coming off and revealing a different side of my inner self. I wanted it to show and say so much more than just man and woman – there’s a whole area in between!
02:38 – We got a lot of flack for doing what we did at that time, we were taking country music to a place it hadn’t been before and some people didn’t like that. As part of the role reversal, it was important to have the guys be really sexy and androgynous. All of the little details of the fashion were considered and on purpose. It’s a real credit to Mark and his talent.
03:05 – I remember the art department saying, “This is way too sexy! The women listeners are not going to like this! They’re going to feel threatened.” They told me I was going to alienate a huge part of my audience. I knew that women would totally get it.
03:25 – It’s everyone’s song and they all take ownership of it in a different way. It’s a signature song for my entire career and I adore performing it and singing it today as much as I did back then.
03:40 – We shot the music video in New York with director Paul Boyd, who I had shot “From This Moment On” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” with, so we had a good working relationship going into the shoot.
