Shania Twain on Ella Langley, Country’s Need to Make Space for Women

But according to Twain, Langley’s success also underscores the gender disparity in country music. “I would imagine if the awareness and the doors were wider open a few years ago, she would have been here a few years ago,” Twain says. “She’s not just great now; she didn’t just come out of nowhere.”

Twain, 60, knows about that imbalance firsthand. It’s been 23 years since she had a Top 10 hit on country radio as a lead artist (“She’s Not Just a Pretty Face”), while some male peers around her age have had numerous Top 10 singles since 2020.

“It isn’t just me. There’s a lot of women that have been around for a while, that are only just now surfacing. They’ve been there, there just hasn’t been any room for them to be exposed,” she tells Nashville Now. “I’ve built my audience, I’ve worked hard for that audience. We love each other, but what about the new artists? What about the new women? How are they going to get to build an audience if they’re not heard?

“I’m not saying give anybody anything on a silver platter,” she continues, “but just give them some space.”

On Thursday night, Twain celebrated the release of Little Miss Twain with an intimate performance at Racket in New York. Presented by SiriusXM, it dovetailed with the launch of “Little Miss Twain Radio,” a new pop-up channel on SiriusXM that focuses on the country singer’s own music and the influences that made her “Shania Twain.”

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