Shania Twain, “Queen of Me.”

To think that there was a time when we thought we would never hear new music from Shania Twain again is incredible considering where she is today. Even though personal health struggles threatened to sideline her singing career, the best-selling female country artist was not only able to fight through it, but has returned to music as strong as ever. Queen of Me is the perfect title for Twain’s first album in six years, which is her sixth LP of original material since 1993. 

The 12 wonderfully curated tracks punctuate a new era for Twain with Republic Nashville, allowing her to branch out even more than she did on 2017’s Now.

Since the iconic days of “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” Twain has always been creating singalong dance anthems for. This album is no different, as the pop-country queen produced a few tracks to make us feel good. The album opener, and one of the early singles off the album, “Giddy Up!” is the perfect way to usher in the new era.

It’s full of bright guitar notes, a quick tempo, lyrics about getting lit in the city with friends, and a chorus of backup vocals chanting “giddy up,” which may as well be “let’s go girls!” for a new century. It’s fun, flirty and simple in the way that it doesn’t need to be any deeper than making you want to dance. Title track “Queen of Me” will inspire you to scream-sing in the car with your friends. It’s the perfect self-love track about all the great things we all bring to the table and how being ourselves is a power in of itself. For another song that gets you moving, check out “Number One.” And if you just want to feel good, you can’t go wrong with upbeat numbers “Brand New” and “Waking Up Dreaming.”

Shania Twain also finds time to look inward and write from the heart. She slows things down on “Inhale/Exhale AIR,” writing about how important it is to slow down and take in the simple things in life before they pass you by. The song references balloons, bubbles, skydiving and other lighter-than-air things to drive the point home. A chorus of acoustic guitars guide the song and give it an airy feel. Much of the album offers that breezy, first-day-of-summer feeling.

Then there’s “The Hardest Stone,” cowritten with and produced by Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph, which strips down the instrumentation so it comes second to Twain’s powerful vocals. That is, until her vocal is cloaked in airy chorus modulation. The latter half of the song is the closest Twain has gotten to dance-pop. “The hardest stone to turn is the heart,” she laments, with the rest of the song discussing the insecurity and questioning nature that can accompany uncertain love. The song is an internal soliloquy as Twain talks to herself about what’s learned from past relationships.

She also impresses on “Not Just a Girl,” an empowering track that closest touches her original country sound of anything on this album. “Hold me but don’t hold me down,” she warns. Twain has always spoken proudly of her womanhood and supported the women around her, so it’s great to see that things haven’t changed.

Queen of Me is everything fans of Shania Twain could hope for. At the same time, it’s a perfect introduction for anyone who’s not heard her to this point. Twain is making music that is fun, and she is having fun doing it.

Note: This album includes two additional songs on a Target-exclusive release: “On Three” and “Done & Dusted,” the latter of which was produced by all-star producer Dave Cobb.

Follow writer Piper Westrom at Twitter.com/plwestrom.