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Country singer Shania Twain returns to tour after 10 years off


Sun Sentinel
By Nick Sortal
July 13, 2015


You might scoff when you hear a singer younger than 50 in the midst of a "farewell" tour, but Shania Twain gives plenty of reasons for going into hiding.

"I've been on stage since I was 8 years old, and I have put in my share of performances," Twain said in a telephone news conference before launching her tour, which stops in Miami on Thursday. "I'm feeling less extroverted about a need to express my music and more content to just be creating it. I don't need to be in the spotlight...

"I want to write more and make more records."

But before that, she says she wants one more go-round with the fans. The glittery Canadian country-pop singer and songwriter started a 67-show tour on June 5, packed with favorites, such as "Any Man of Mine," "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?"

"I'm going to have the most fun I've ever had onstage, I'm more relaxed and savoring it, and in a farewell spirit," says Twain, who turns 50 on Aug. 28."We're going to celebrate and reminisce with all the hits [fans] know and we've all lived with," she adds. "I think the fans and I are going to be re-introduced to each other. A lot has happened in the last decade in all of our lives."

Twain topped the country charts from 1993-2002. She was sidelined by dysphonia, which causes spasms in speech and singing, but once recovered returned to performing in 2012-14 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

"During the last part of the two years in Las Vegas, I realized that I missed out on a phase, so I thought it'd be fun to go and visit people in their own hometown and atmosphere again," she says. "I enjoyed Vegas, but it was a motivation to experience going out into the arena setting."

She had hoped to have a new album to go with the tour, but it won't be ready until the fall, she says.

"The timing of the tour was based on not leaving a gap when my [Las Vegas] residency ended in December. I didn't want to shut down, but at the same time I was hoping my album would be further along," she says. "It didn't work out as planned, but I can't rush an album just for the sake of the tour."

And that further backs up her decision to worry less about big arenas and more about putting her thoughts on paper.

"My frame of mind is: I want to move on to do different things, and I need time to do it," she says. "I don't know about other songwriters, but it takes a lot of focus, a lot of emotional energy, and it's time-consuming.

"If I'm distracted all the time with all the facets of the tour and the touring itself, how much music am I ever going to write? I guess my focus has switched."

Shania Twain plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Tickets are $61 to $155.80 via Ticketmaster.com.