Canadian country legend Shania Twain has always had a penchant for profanity. However, it almost came back to bite her when Prince reached out to work with her on his new album.
The “Purple Rain” singer asked Twain if he could come on board her new album as producer. “The very first person that called me, who reached out to me before I’d even written the album…[was] Prince,” she recently told reporters.
The pair exchanged many calls and emails, but ultimately Twain didn’t feel ready to hop back into the studio. Prince also famously held a “no swearing in the studio” policy, which Twain was fearful she might not be able to abide by.
“When I’m working with music and I’m relaxed, I swear,” Twain told Shelly Easton of 92.5 XTU.
“When he was calling me and mailing me, I wasn’t ready to do the album,” said the Ontario native. “He said, ‘Come to my studio, let’s get started,’ and I just said, ‘I can’t sing right now, I just don’t have my voice yet.’”
What was in the works for some time never came to fruition as Prince went back on tour. He died in April 2016 and they never got the chance to work together. “I’m really regretting not getting back to that,” Twain said.
Now is Twain’s first album in 15 years, and is available Sept. 29.