Shania Twain Was "Petrified" Posing Topless, but Says It Was "Empowering"

Fans have seen country-pop superstar Shania Twain in plenty of leopard print, velvet, and sequins, but when she released her 2022 single Waking Up Dreaming, she was decidedly dressed down. In the promotional art for the track, Twain posed in nothing but psychedelic swirl-print boots, a cowboy hat, and a white skirt. During an interview on the Today show to speak about her new single, "Giddy Up!," Twain said that posing topless at age of 57 was petrifying — but adds that she's glad she did it.

Twain explained that the idea of a topless shoot was "really scary," but added that afterward, she felt that it was "so empowering." She took the shoot as an opportunity to face her insecurities head-on. 

"I don't love looking at myself in the mirror with the lights on, or looking in the mirror at all at my body, so I said, 'Listen, I'm gonna face that fear, I'm gonna go into that photo shoot, I'm gonna put fashion aside,'" she said. "So, fashion, we use to flatter our shapes, to maybe hide the things we don't like, to make us look more like what we wish we really did look like without the clothes, putting fashion aside, this is me … I'm so glad I did it. I was petrified."

Late last year, Twain spoke to People about her relationship with clothes and how she approached her fashion choices. She also mentioned the topless shoot, saying that now, she has no reason to be ashamed of her body.

"I am a woman in my late 50s, and I don't need to hide behind the clothes. I can't even tell you how good it felt to do nude shooting," she said. "I was just so unashamed of my new body, you know, as a woman that is well into my menopause. I'm not even emotional about it; I just feel okay about it. It's really liberating."

She added that she hoped her music and the images she chooses to release alongside her songs help other people realize that they don't need to hide, ever. As long as something feels good and right, she notes, there's no reason to feel self-conscious.

"I want other women that are aging or any women … even if you're 12 and you're developing, you shouldn't feel like you need to hide behind your fear or your self-conscious shield," she said. "But you have to do it within your own sense of what is right and good and safe for you."

Twain's new album, Queen of Me, which includes "Giddy Up!" and "Waking Up Dreaming," will be out on Feb. 3.