Shania Twain reviewed

"Up!"
Shania Twain
Produced and arranged by Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Mercury Records
2002

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After five years of silence Shania Twain came up with new double album to the great delight of her fans. The album contains two discs of the same 19 songs: one of them is the pop version; the other is country. Shania, who was originally marketed as a country singer, makes an attempt in the pop version to somewhat liberate herself from the restrictions of the country genre. However, foregoing fiddle and banjo for guitars and keyboards really doesn't make much difference. On both discs, musically, Shania is still very country, with a slightly rough voice and typical "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah" inserted all the way though the album. Sometimes she does manage to break from genre tradition, like in Juanita and Kai-Ching, and this is when she sounds her best. However, in spite of this overall country-ish impression, Shania's lyrics definitely extend beyond the regular scope of topics covered by both country and non-country musicians. Unlike the Dixie Chicks, who sing about a womyn waiting for her man while he is fighting in Vietnam (what could possibly be more reactionary) and unlike Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera who are totally bogged down in bedroom matters (what could possibly be more backward), Shania comes up with more optimistic and even progressive ideas. An example of what could be called feminist lyrics is the song "She is not just a pretty face." The title is self-explanatory. Womyn is not just a pretty face. We would give Shania additional credit for saying that. Also contrary to the opinion popular in some pseudo-feminist circles, it's desirable and admirable for wimmin to be not only astronauts, but ballerinas as well. That is truly inclusive and feminist. Most of Shania's lyrics are very realistic and social. With her down-to-earth, sometimes even crude, manner, Shania criticized the omnipresent media-supported culture of consumerism and vanity, talks about experiences of a single mother in hostile social environment, and so forth. Of course, the problems are stictly Amerikkka related, but still it's more progressive to talk about American problems than not to talk about any problems at all. Unfortunatelly, sometimes Shania's down-to-earthness becomes somewhat vulgar. "Waiter! Bring me water!" is simply an account of usual female cattiness caused by male indiscretion, which of course exists, but doesn't have to be emphasized. All over, I would give the album three stars out of five. It's OK. For the most part, it's almost fun to listen to. Suggestions for the future for Shania would be 1) to keep developing the social contents of her songs, and 2)to update her image by making a final departure from the hopeless fiddles, banjo, cowboy hats, boots, tousled hair and torn tee-shirt.

MIM has explained that one might even "like" this music while knowing rationally that there is something wrong with it, maybe even profoundly wrong and evil. Being a Maoist means being a revolutionary scientist and that means having the ability to question everything that we like.

Who are you to decide?

See also our MIM Theory on gender issues

Read Mao on politics in all literature and art