Shania Twain's new album Little Miss Twain draws a mixed review

Saving Country Music reviewed Shania Twain's new album, Little Miss Twain, scoring it 5 out of 10. The outlet frames that as an improvement: her last album, 2023's Queen of Me, scored just 1.5 out of 10 on the same site, a result the reviewer calls generous in hindsight. Now 60, Twain gets credit here for leaning into reflective, personal songwriting drawn from her early life rather than trying to sound decades younger, even though the review says she still slips back into that habit on parts of the record.

The album is billed as a return to Twain's roots, and the review hears that most clearly on tracks like opener "Stranger Things," built around brushed drums, acoustic guitar and references to her native Canada, and closer "New Love," which the reviewer calls possibly the best song on the whole record for how cleanly its production serves the songwriting. Guests include Tanya Tucker on the title track, which leans into Twain's own rags-to-riches story, and Josh Homme on "Faded Blue Jeans," a song about a teenage romance that the review says buries Homme's distinctive tone under excessive vocal layering.

That layering is the review's central complaint: heavy overdubbing and production choices blunt several tracks, including the otherwise personal "Northern Town" and the disco-leaning "Quit My Life." Other songs draw more direct criticism, like "Right Time," which the review says trades a promising banjo-and-fiddle opening for what it calls paltry adult contemporary, and "Dirty Rosie," a pop-rap detour the reviewer says would suit a much younger performer.

The review frames the record against her presumptive future in the Country Music Hall of Fame, arguing that any aging performer, Twain included, is better served embracing their actual stage of life and career than chasing relevance. It draws a direct comparison to another Saving Country Music review the same week, for Wyatt Flores' new album Scared of Heights, which trade outlet Country Central scored a full point lower.

Ultimately the review concludes Little Miss Twain will not be what Twain is remembered for, much like Queen of Me before it, even as it credits her for getting more personal. Little Miss Twain is out now, joining the rest of the year's country releases tracked in the release calendar.