The Woman In Me

Shania Twain wasn’t the first pop-savvy country superstar to embody feisty female self-determination. But her second album, 1995’s The Woman in Me, was a revelation and, for Nashville, something of a revolution, too. Despite still being fairly new to the industry, the Canadian-born artist exercised independence from a system that relied on the songwriting material, studio direction, and cautious marketing strategies of Music Row pros. She cowrote and recorded the entire album with her then-husband, producer Mutt Lange, who’d specialized in thundering backbeats and arena-rock licks in his work with AC/DC and Def Leppard.

The dozen tracks were stocked with taut, galvanizing hooks and an attitude that was down-to-earth, but sparkled with modern irreverence, forwardness, and youthful kick. The project proved to be a broadly appealing blockbuster, spinning off a string of chart-toppers, including the frisky, fiddle-accented shuffle “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?,” the honky-tonk stomp “Any Man of Mine,” and the roadhouse rocker "(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!"