Shania Twain can now feel like a Barbie.
The Canadian music legend has been honoured with her very own Barbie doll. The Shania Barbie is modelled after her look in the iconic video for her 1997 hit "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", featuring a top hat, button-up shirt with tie, black mini skirt. thigh-high boots, and a floor-length, flared suit jacket.
The Timmins-born singer feels this honour is meaningful to her because it represents a movement that seeks to improve the world for girls and women.
“I felt very flattered to be a part of what I consider a very important movement right now to support female empowerment and toward positive change and positive reinforcement,” Twain tells USA TODAY. “It’s kind of emotional to be sitting beside my likeness as a Barbie and for what it represents.”
For Twain, Barbie offered a creative outlet for her as a child. She describes the doll as “part of my dream world” growing up because her family could not afford to buy her the real thing. So she made her own dolls based on the Barbie look.
“I was creating my own actual Barbies so that I could still play Barbie," she admits". And I would give them names and style them, and they would come from all parts of the world,” Twain says. “It’s that world of imagination that really seeds the beginning awareness of who you might become someday.
“They only lasted for like two days," she adds. "So, every couple of days, I would have to change the Barbie out and I would change the name, I would change the country they were from, I would change their role. I think I was just projecting my own self into these characters and playing them out and living them out through my imagination.”
Shania Twain is one of eight women to receive a one-of-a-kind Barbie in their likeness as part of this year's International Women's Day as well as Barbie's 65th birthday.
The other women to receive a doll are fellow pop star Kylie Minogue (Australia), actress Dame Helen Mirren (UK), actor/producer Viola Davis (USA), indigenous content creator Maira Gomez (Brazil), director/producer/writer Lila Avilés (Mexico), model Nicole Fujita (Japan) and comedia Enissa Amani (Germany).
@shaniatwain I had to But seriously... I am honoured to be recognised as a @barbie role model - I have my own one-of-a-kind Barbie doll!! Pinch me!! #Barbie #Sublime ♬ original sound - Shania Twain