Shania Twain's songwriting is 'very communicative'
Music star Shania Twain has opened up about her approach to songwriting.
Shania Twain's music is deliberately "communicative".
The 61-year-old singer believes her approach to songwriting has helped her to build a strong bond with her fans.
Shania - who first began performing in bars as a child - told American Songwriter: "My intentions were always the same: to communicate things that I believe I have in common with others. I think that made the music very communicative. It was just very open communication, open dialogue."
Despite this, Shania doesn't follow a set of rules with her songwriting.
The country singer said: "I don’t have any one way of writing a song, so every song I’ve ever written, it never starts the same way. It’s almost like a recipe: it’s whatever I’ve got in the fridge. Whatever’s on my mind, whatever is inspiring me in the moment.
"If I have my guitar with me, then that’s wonderful. I will sit down alone with my guitar, and I will just tinker away. That might mean I write a melody first, or it might mean I write a chord progression first.
"If I don’t have my guitar with me, I will often just write down concepts.
"Other times I write poems, and then the poem dictates the cadence and the phrasing of whatever melody I might come up with at some point later on."
Shania wants to ensure that her fans can relate to her lyrics.
The award-winning star explained: "Normally, I’m really intentional about being relatable with my fans, because I want to share it with as many people as I can.
"It’s like having a conversation: I don’t want to have a conversation that’s not relatable. Whoever I’m sitting in a room with, I’m going to want to have a conversation that’s compatible, where we have a lot in common, and then it’s more of a mutual conversation. So I do write a lot with that intention.
"I believe in having a sense of humour, too — I think that’s a really good way to communicate, maybe even some sassy things. I’m not trying to be confrontational, but I like to be honest about what I’m thinking and my stance on things."
