Country queen Shania Twain has always been a champion for self confidence and living your truth. Now, the "That Don't Impress Me Much" singer is opening up about her decision to pose topless earlier this year for the single art for her song "Waking Up Dreaming" and why embracing her body has been liberating.
"This is me expressing my truth. I'm comfortable in my own skin, and this is the way I am sharing that confidence," Twain tells PEOPLE. "I think the best fashion is confidence, and whatever you wear — if you're wearing it with that, it's fashionable. 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. 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."
Louie Banks
Twain also shared that she had to reject the notion to start "covering it up a little bit more" as her body began to change.
"I started feeling a different pressure of, 'Well, your breasts are not as plump as they used to be. Your skin is not as tight as it used to be. Maybe you should start covering it up a little bit more,'" Twain said. "I hit this wall and was like, Whoa, my confidence is regressing. My courage is dulling. Why am I allowing this? Frig that. I am not regressing. I am embracing my body as it changes, as I should have from my childhood to my teens, as I should be from my taut, 20s and 30-year-old self, to my menopausal body. I'm not going to be shy about it. I want to be courageous about it, and I want to share that courage in the artwork that I am directing."
Louie Banks
The singer-songwriter, who was recently given the Music Icon Award at the People's Choice Awards, says she wants every woman to feel comfortable in her own skin.
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," Twain said. "But you have to do it within your own sense of what is right and good and safe for you."
The Grammy-winner recently appeared in ABC's live TV special Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration as Mrs. Potts. She called the experience a "dream come true."
Twain will release her new album Queen of Me in 2023. She recently announced her Queen of Me tour, which kicks off in April and runs until mid-November. Twain will hit over 60 cities in the U.S. and Canada, including New York City, Houston, Dallas and Nashville. Lindsay Ell, Hailey Whitters, Breland, Robyn Ottolini, Kelsea Ballerini, Priscilla Block and Mickey Guyton will all open for Twain on select dates.
