Shania Twain says her hit “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” came from “many years” of wishing she wasn’t a woman

In a recent interview with The Times, Shania Twain spoke about her transformation from rejecting the reality of womanhood to fully embracing her true identity and reflected on her traumatic childhood that inspired her timeless hit “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”

During the conversation, Twain revealed that she was sexually abused by her stepfather Jerry, who also physically abused her mother. “With this song, I’m saying that I waited too long to feel comfortable as a woman,” said the Canadian pop singer.

Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” tells the story of her journey from insecurity to self-acceptance

“For many years I shied away from it or wished I wasn’t a woman. I was a shy, insecure woman – not a human being,” Twain said of the popular song on her album Come On Over.

The five-time Grammy winner went on to say that although her mind told her she didn’t really care who she was, her body – the feminine – was getting in the way. Twain went on to describe how she was conscious of her curves and her other feminine features and did everything she could to avoid drawing attention to them.

The legendary singer said she felt like she missed out on the joys of girlhood, revealing that she never went to the beach in a bathing suit as a teenager. “I knew the boys would take advantage of me in one way or another,” she noted.

Thankfully, her feelings eventually changed. “I got tired of pretending I wasn’t a curvy woman, so I wrote, ‘Man! I feel like a woman!’ I guess I was a late bloomer when it came to being comfortable in my own skin, but after a while you just have to stop carping about the things you can’t change,” Twain said.

Shania Twain reflected on “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” – origin and development on the 25th anniversary of the song

Twain’s 1999 album Come On Over celebrated its 25th anniversary in April of this year, and the singer gave Vevo Footnotes some insight into the song’s background, talking about the song’s origins and the things it stands for.

Twain said she was working on the song with producer Mutt Lange, who at the time had been playing a particular guitar riff all morning. And when he stopped the riff, Twain heard herself say, “Man, I feel like a woman!” When that statement came out of her mouth, Twain said, it was so obvious that the song would be about “liberation, independence and the human spirit.”

Twain said she believed the song was a way of standing up for herself. She made no apologies for all the things she had been criticized for in her life, including her clothing preferences.

According to Twain, the song also marked her departure from country music and she began exploring other genres such as rock, pop and more.

Twain will perform the song during her June 30 performance at the Glastonbury Festival in England.