"Shania Twain" is the debut studio album by Shania Twain, released on April 20, 1993, by Polygram and Mercury Records. The album was a worldwide commercial failure when first released, but following the significant success of Twain's three subsequent albums, an interest in "Shania Twain" developed, leading it to be certified Platinum in 1999 by the RIAA for shipments of over one million copies. To promote the album, the singles "What Made You Say That," "Dance with the One That Brought You," and "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" were released as singles and accompanied by music videos. After her debut album sank, Twain met rock producer-songwriter Robert “Mutt” Lange, and they married in 1993. Lange was mainly known for crafting hit albums and songs for AC/DC and Def Leppard, but he was the first to recognize that she had a distinctive voice as a songwriter that others had overlooked.
Other artists initially recorded five songs. "There Goes the Neighborhood" was recorded by Joe Diffie in 1990, "When He Leaves You" was a single for Donna Meade in 1989, "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me" was recorded by Con Hunley in 1980, and Tom Jones in 1983, "Still Under the Weather" was recorded by Andy Williams in 1990, and "What Made You Say That" was recorded by Wayne Massey in 1989. In her 2011 autobiography, "From This Moment On," Twain expressed displeasure with her debut studio album, revealing that she had very little creative control and was frustrated with being unable to showcase her songwriting abilities.[5] However, she did co-write one song on the album titled "God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That."
After her subsequent albums, "The Woman in Me" and especially "Come on Over," catapulted her to superstardom, Twain essentially disowned this album and has not performed any material from it live following the conclusion of her "Come on Over Tour" in 1999. Even during the tour, as mentioned earlier, only the song "What Made You Say That" was included from the album in her setlist despite her only having three albums of material at the time to draw from. In addition, no selections from it were included on her "Greatest Hits" compilation album.