Shania Twain says things have become worse for women in country music
One of country music's biggest stars is opening up about the challenges women in the industry still face.
Shania Twain says the country music industry is dominated by men and not much has changed over the years.
The 57-year-old chatted to CNBC recently about her new album, 'Queen of Me', and her global tour of the same name.
Shania says she has faced sexism in the industry, but has learned to rise above it.
"The music industry going back 20 years ago, 30 years ago, was primarily more dominated by men. You know, male executives, most of the studio musicians were men, most of the managers were men, it was just more male-dominated in every sense. So being taken seriously as a woman was a challenge," she said.
The 'Man! I Feel Like A Woman!' hitmaker says she had to be "relentless", especially when her image was criticised because she was deemed too sexy for her genre.
Shania says she did notice some change as her career progressed.
"As I went along, I could see the progress. First of all, the genre and my fans, my music was appealing to a very broad audience, very open-minded fans. They were embracing my way of making my music and my way of visualizing my music through photography and videos."
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However, the Grammy Award winner says the industry has "regressed".
"I feel it’s more difficult for women to find space, to find room... I can’t really put my finger on why they’re making it so difficult for women, or, you know, why they’re not giving them that space. They’re certainly good enough, it’s just not an even playing ground right now," she told CNBC.
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Shania's latest song, 'Waking Up Dreaming', is currently at #8 on the ECR Top 40 with Danny brought to you by CTM.
The track is the lead single from her new album, 'Queen of Me'. The 12-track album was released in February.
Shania co-wrote all the songs on the album.
Tune in to the ECR Top 40 with Danny Guselli, every Saturday morning from 10am to 2pm.
Main image credit: YouTube/ Shania Twain (' I'm Gonna Getcha Good!' music video)