In 2008, Shania Twain had a pretty rough time, as she was divorcing her then husband Robert Lange for committing adultery with one of her best friends. Anybody who has found themselves in a similar situation knows just how difficult this can be and how it tarnishes one’s well-being for quite some time. Evidently, Twain knows exactly what that situation entails, and consequently, she had to deny a collaborative album with Prince.
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When Twain was in the thick of her divorce, Prince approached her and wanted her to appear on his album, The Next Rumours. However, given that she was in no place to work, she politely denied the collaboration. And even though she was open to revisiting it at some point, she never got the opportunity as Prince tragically passed in 2016.
Why Shania Twain Wasn’t Quite Ready To Get Back to Work
In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Twain vulnerably divulged exactly why she had to turn Prince down. She told Lowe, “I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced.” According to Twain, Prince asked her, “We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumours album with you.”
Twain then transparently stated, “When Prince said that to me, I’m like, oh man, I’m not even divorced yet. I’m just like, I’ve been dumped, but I’m not, obviously, divorced yet. I’m like, this is way too ironic what you’re saying. Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan.” In addition to the emotional trials Shania Twain was experiencing at the time, she had also had a bout of Lyme disease that left her voice in shambles. So, that also prohibited her from committing to Prince’s project. “Then on top of it, I hadn’t found my voice yet” and “I was still working on it. I was so far from finding it still,” Twain disclosed to Lowe.
Seemingly, Prince’s offer just could not have come at a worse time for Twain, and she acknowledged that. As she shared with Lowe, “I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died.” Twain’s decision to forgo making an album with Prince is of course justifiable, but how legendary and successful would it have been if these two teamed up? Well, sadly, all we can ask ourselves now is “What If?”
Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage
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