Shania Twain confronts longstanding narrative that her music promotes man-hating

Shania Twain set the record straight after decades of her biggest hits being embraced as feminist anthems — insisting she was never out to bash men.

Twain's influence has stretched far beyond country music, with some of today's biggest stars crediting her as an inspiration.

When Harry Styles brought the Canadian singer onstage at Coachella in 2022, he revealed that her music had been part of his life since childhood.

"In the car with my mother as a child, this lady taught me to sing.

She also taught me that men are trash," Styles said while introducing Twain.

But Twain doesn't exactly remember delivering that second lesson.

"I didn’t ever say that," Twain recently told The New York Times .

SHANIA TWAIN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE 'UNHEALTHY' LENGTHS SHE WENT TO STAY THIN Hits like "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Any Man of Mine" have long been embraced by fans as female empowerment anthems.

But Twain pushed back on that narrative.

"It wasn’t meant to be a feminist message," she told the outlet.

For "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," Twain noted there is "no anger in it" and she didn't write it from the perspective of "a sexist person." In fact, she wasn't even thinking about men when she wrote the 1999 hit.

"I was just owning and celebrating what I think I waited too damn long to celebrate," she said.

"People want to celebrate who they are, and what they are, and they don’t want to be criticized for just being themselves.

And I think that is a liberty that we all deserve.