Upbeat single marks Twain’s first release since 2017 and first with Republic Nashville
Shania Twain wants to embrace the thrill of being in love in her new song “Waking Up Dreaming,” which was released on Friday. It’s the country-pop icon’s first new music since 2017 and first under a recording agreement with Republic Nashville.
“Do you know I adore you?/A million ways to show you, I do,” Twain sings at the top of “Waking Up Dreaming,” propelled by a hydraulic “Mickey”-style drum beat and subtle washes of synth. It gradually builds to a Shania-worthy maximalist sound, a dance party of gleaming guitars and unfettered bliss. “Let’s start waking up dreaming/And dress up crazy like superstars,” she sings, as if she didn’t perfect at least a dozen superstar looks already.
The video, directed by Isaac Rentz, goes all in on that idea. With its throwback aesthetic, the clip features Twain and some friends putting on a bright, neon-colored New Wave spectacle of hair-metal wigs and wild fashion that ends in a killer rock & roll show.
“Waking Up Dreaming” is the first solo release for Twain in five years, when she released the Number One album Now. In the meantime, she started her new Las Vegas residency at Zappos Theater in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, which had its last run of scheduled dates in September. In July, the Netflix documentary Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl was released alongside an album featuring her best work.