Shania Twain Talks New Song ‘Poor Me’: It’s ‘Feeling Sorry for Myself’
When Shania Twain shared the track listing for her long-awaited new album Now, it was accompanied by a melodic snippet of guitar that sounded remarkably similar to the Chainsmokers’ smash “Don’t Let Me Down.” The guitar in question is actually part of the downcast new song “Poor Me,” which – Chainsmokers resemblance aside – is just one example of the musical and emotional range of Now.
“I’ve got happy moments, I’ve got sad moments,” Twain tells Rolling Stone Country of the collection. “And I had to decide what I wanted the album to be. And I wanted the diversity of emotions in there, so I had to basically pull out things that were leaning the balance any one direction too much.”
The lead single from Now (and still the focus for radio purposes) is the thumping “Life’s About to Get Good,” which married a four-on-the-floor beat to some gospel-style harmonies and relentless optimism in the face of adversity. “Poor Me,” on the other hand, allows Twain to embrace self-pity for a few minutes. “Poor me this, poor me that / Why do I keep looking back,” she sings, explicitly referencing a romantic betrayal as a skittering trip-hop beat and buzzing synths amplify the unease. Then, in classic country wordplay tradition, she flips the title phrase: “Still can’t believe he’d leave me to love her / So pour me, another.”
“That’s the farthest side of feeling really sorry for myself, you know, in life, and I’ve been there many times in my life over various things,” says Twain. “To me, [that song] was the epitome of that emotion.”
Now is scheduled for release on September 29th and will be available in both 12-track and 16-track deluxe editions.