Shania Twain's iconic 'Man I Feel Like a Woman' look becomes a Barbie
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Letâs go, (Barbie) girls.
Country-pop powerhouse Shania Twain, who sang her way to stardom with anthems of female empowerment, is being honored with a Barbie doll made in her likeness to celebrate the iconic Mattel dollâs 65th anniversary Saturday.
Twain is part of a star-studded Global Role Model Lineup, including Viola Davis, Kylie Minogue and Helen Mirren, which spotlights groundbreaking women with one-of-a-kind commemorative Barbies. The role model doll, an emblem of Mattel's highest honor, is not available for purchase.
Sitting beside her Shania-fied doll over Zoom, the âAny Man of Mineâ singer says Barbie was âpart of my dream worldâ during childhood.
âI felt very flattered to be a part of what I consider a very important movement right now to support female empowerment and toward positive change and positive reinforcement,â Twain tells USA TODAY. âItâs kind of emotional to be sitting beside my likeness as a Barbie and for what it represents.â
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Twain opens up about the impact Barbie had on her early life, as well as channeling the power of femininity in her songwriting.
Shania Twain nurtured her childhood imagination with homemade Barbies
Twain was creating her own Barbie world from the start.
While the singer-songwriter didn't get Barbies as gifts as a child, Twain says the doll still had a strong impact on her girlhood play.
âI was creating my own actual Barbies so that I could still play Barbie. And I would give them names and style them, and they would come from all parts of the world,â Twain says. âItâs that world of imagination that really seeds the beginning awareness of who you might become someday.â
But instead of stitching together leftover rags to make the dolls, Twain turned to her own backyard for inspiration, using plants and organic material to fashion dolls. Although the plant figures had a short shelf life, they allowed Twain to explore her evolving ideas of womanhood.
âThey only lasted for like two days. So, every couple of days, I would have to change the Barbie out and I would change the name, I would change the country they were from, I would change their role,â Twain says. âI think I was just projecting my own self into these characters and playing them out and living them out through my imagination.â
Shania Twain celebrates legacy of âMan! I Feel Like a Woman!â with new Barbie
Twain is known for her sharp style as much as her musical prowess, and the look for Twainâs Barbie takes inspiration from one of the singerâs classic looks.
The dollâs all-black ensemble serves as an homage to the 1999 music video for Twainâs âMan! I Feel Like a Woman!â, in which Twain wears a black trench coat-style blazer and matching top hat. The girl-power anthem, which went on to be certified triple platinum, became one of Twainâs signature songs and has since been performed by female artists including Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Kelsea Ballerini.
ââMan! I Feel Like a Woman!â is an exclamation of me in real time when I wrote the song feeling like it was time for me to embrace feeling good about being feminine and demanding respect for what I had to say,â Twain says. âBecause often in the world of a female and of a girl, if youâre not careful with the balance of your physical self â the way you present yourself â and with what it is thatâs going on in your brain, then youâre overshadowed by the girl, by the woman, by the curves.â
The iconic outfit has been revamped for Twainâs Barbie doll, as the dollâs hairstyle â a mane of cotton-candy pink hair â is a tribute to the finale look for Twainâs recent Queen of Me Tour.
âItâs where I am now, and itâs a surreal place to be in,â Twain says. âI never would have imagined in all of the joy of using my imagination and the freedom in that that I would have had the opportunity to manifest my ideas, my visions. So, (Iâm) able to inspire other little girls, other women to have confidence in that and step out behind whatever it is theyâre afraid the world will judge them for.â
Shania Twainâs girl-power lyrics come from âself-empowermentâ of songwriting
From the self-empowered sass of âMan! I Feel Like a Woman!â and âAny Man of Mineâ to the heartfelt confidence of âQueen of Meâ â the title track of her latest album â Twainâs embrace of female empowerment stems from the freedom sheâs found in songwriting.
âSelf-empowerment has always been a running theme through a lot of my songwriting, right from the very beginning,â Twain says. âItâs one of the places that I always felt I could express what I was thinking.â
But whether sheâs unapologetically embracing womanhood, putting a lover in his place or looking inward for strength, Twain says true empowerment comes from honesty.
âIt all just goes back to being your authentic self and slowly building confidence to put it forward,â Twain says. âI think the confidence and self-empowerment is all about your true genuine self, knowing who that is and not being distracted by the fear and the imposition of society.â
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