After years of fighting for a seat at the table, women are finally on top in country music. Artists like Megan Moroney, Miranda Lambert and Ella Langley lead nominations at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and Langley just became the first female country singer ever to hold the top two spots on the Hot 100 at the same time.
Shania Twain revolutionized the music industry with her genre-bending hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s. There’s no denying she’s the blueprint for so many artists — male and female, country and pop. She knows a thing or two about how difficult it is to challenge the norms of the tradition-obsessed country music machine, though that didn’t stop her from becoming the top-selling female country-pop artist of all time. As the host of this year’s ACM Awards, to be held on Saturday in Las Vegas, she’s aware that women have had to claw their way to the forefront of the industry.
“There’s more … awareness that we need more balance,” Twain tells Yahoo. “Diversity is stronger among the women right now. They’re so different from one another — they are presenting originality and that is demanding space.”
Country music has long been defined by its distinctly Southern sounds and themes. Banjo-plucking, guitar-strumming, accent-heavy songs about family, drinking, boots and trucks are both a stereotype and a reality. The industry hasn’t always been open to experimentation. Breakout stars, like Twain, often have to transcend the genre entirely to create an image and a musical catalog that can’t be denied by the bigwigs in country radio, who remain powerful gatekeepers even in the age of streaming. Twain had to defy them in the ‘90s.
Even after she made it big, purists criticized her for leaning too far into rock and pop. She says that when she first started performing at age 8, the genre was more accepting of different people and sounds — folk rock, dance country, country western and Southwest music could coexist.
“We had a little bit of everything,” she says. “I want to see us go back to where we were in our open-mindedness. There were more doors open then to variety and [style]. Let’s go there again and let’s open it up.”
It wasn’t just her crossover sound that the industry was resistant to. She was told she was too opinionated to attract male fans and too sexually expressive for women. Her music video for “What Made You Say That” — where she bared her midriff and got cozy with a shirtless hunk — was banned from CMT, but that’s the image that would go on to make her a star. She was sexy, funny, outspoken and hard to categorize all at once. “Nashville hadn’t seen anything like Twain [before] — a leopard-print-loving, midriff-exposing artist determined to be an international star,” the Independent’s Roisin O’Connor has written of Twain.
Twain’s willingness to rebel against the country machine, particularly her 1995 album, The Woman in Me, ended up changing it for good. Taylor Swift credits Twain for inspiring her country crossover. Carrie Underwood says she “paved the way” for a lot of women in country, whether they realize it or not. Post Malone, Harry Styles, Halsey and Rihanna have all cited her as an inspiration.
Still, the country remains difficult for women to break into, compared to men. Two decades after Twain’s star-making moment, radio consultant Keith Hill made headlines for saying that “if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out.” Per his metaphor, if the genre is a salad, women are the tomatoes and men are the lettuce. The 2015 controversy is now called “tomatogate.”
In 2026, women in country music have made significant inroads, getting respect from major genre institutions like the ACM Awards and radio stations, though there’s still a ways to go. Twain says embracing originality is the path forward for country music, which she wants to take global.
“The doors in country music should never be closed, period. So let’s start there. Whether it’s men or women or whatever it is,” she says. “Let’s take ourselves all over the world. We’re worthy of that, right?”
Twain knows better than anyone that a distinct sense of style and a unique offering is so important.
“When I was a kid, country music was so glamorous. Even the men were glamorous!” she says. “Over the top, but amazing.”
Everyone from the Mandrell Sisters to Crystal Gayle were strikingly individual — and fabulous. “The culture was more about, ‘How can I look my best while making an impact?’ I think women are a big part of that,” she says.
Reflecting on the country music industry now, Twain sees her early self in “quite a few artists.” Lainey Wilson immediately came to mind — especially her “positive thinking.”
“I always thought that, ‘OK, if I can manage my nerves and I can remember to smile, keep myself buoyant, that … will energize me,’” Twain says. “I see that in her.”
I can’t help but tell Twain that Sabrina Carpenter, with whom she’s dueted multiple times, reminds me of her. Carpenter isn’t technically a country singer, though her twang shows up prominently in “Please Please Please” and “Manchild.”
“Isn’t she just like a reincarnation of Dolly Parton?” Twain laughs.
Maybe she is, but Twain, who credits Parton as an early influence, is certainly part of that family tree that’s branching out all the time, as country music continues to mint superstars like never before.
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