Album Review: Shania Twain - Not Just A Girl (The Highlights)

Having sold over 48 million albums, Canadian Country superstar Shania Twain ranks as the 26th best selling artist in the US of all time, however, after a tumultuous period in her personal life, that proved tabloid fodder, she took a step back from her multi-Platinum career. However, she first returned from the musical wilderness back in 2017 with her third #1 charting album, NOW. Since then she has appeared on stage with Harry Styles and recorded a duet with Ronan Keating, however, it is with the release of a new Netflix documentary, Not Just A Girl, that a light is being fully shed on the true depth of her musical back catalogue.

Having teased the release of her latest collection, Not Just A Girl (The Highlights), with a single named after the series, Twain's third Greatest Hits collection is a surprisingly fleeting affair. While it does boast 18 tracks, for an artist with five studio albums and three remix albums (from which 43 singles have sprung), this really is just the choice cuts.

The album's only new song feels like an instant classic Twain cut. While her 2017 album, NOW, perhaps deviated into trying to find who Twain is in a contemporary market, Not Just A Girl showcases who Twain will always be.

In fact, quite tellingly, it is her 2017 release that is the most overlooked of the albums in her back catalogue - and unsurprisingly, 1997's Come On Over is the most prominent. Although this decision undermines some of the strengths found on NOW, it does celebrate the key moments that the majority of the non-devoted Shania fans will be seeking.

At its most tender it deliver From This Moment On and it's most playful That Don't Impress Me Much, but we all knew that already didn't we?

Not Just A Girl (The Highlights) was never going to be a bad record, it is just a shame that it doesn't move away from the main cuts and shed a little light on those deeper, forgotten gems.