Shania Twain Revisits the Enduring Cultural Impact of ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ Video to Honor 25th Anniversary
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In a new episode of Vevo Footnotes, Twain discusses the creative decisions that went into crafting the now-iconic video.
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In the latest installment of Vevo Footnotes, Shania Twain takes fans behind the scenes of the music video for “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” in honor of the 25th anniversary of the empowering song.
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In 1999, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” reached No. 23 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, and reached No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs chart. But the song’s spirit of empowerment, confidence and freedom have etched an enduring, decades-spanning connection with music fans. The song, and its video, continue to draw superb viewership on Vevo. From 2016-2022, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” saw an average lift of 31% in global daily views annually on International Women’s Day (March 8) over the previous 10 weeks leading up to the holiday, including a 57% lift in global daily views in 2021 and a 24% lift in 2022.
In the Vevo Footprints video, Twain discusses the song’s role in breaking barriers and defying genres, and crafting lyrics that she says centered on “liberation, independence and the human spirit.”
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“I was standing up for myself through the song,” she says in the annotated video. “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!” She also added of the song’s rock-fueled instrumentation, “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.”
She also discusses the intentional fashion decisions she and her team made for the video, which was inspired by the styling in Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.”
“We wanted to take that idea and turn it on its head,” Twain says. “We wanted to make something unexpected and the role reversal was the vision… [Fashion designer/stylist] 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.” She added, “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.”
Twain also remembers “getting 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.”
She recalled even the art department questioning whether female listeners would feel threatened by the video.
“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,” Twain says.
But clearly, the song has become an anthem — whether helping people hype up for a night of partying, or serving as an encouragement for being confident in themselves and their own personal visions. “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” also won a Grammy in 2000 for best female country vocal performance.
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