JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Country legend Shania Twain had a childhood full of poverty and abuse. But on her new album, she's looking back at her early years and finding some of the silver linings. The album is called "Little Miss Twain," a title that comes from performing in bars, starting when she was 8 years old.
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SHANIA TWAIN: I was a little girl singing adult songs and entertaining adults - mostly intoxicated adults.
RACHEL MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
TWAIN: And that little girl was introduced often - 'cause I was the only child in those environments most of the time - ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage, Little Miss Twain.
SUMMERS: Shania Twain spoke with Wild Card host Rachel Martin.
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MARTIN: What are you looking forward to when you're older?
TWAIN: Well, older...
MARTIN: You can define what that means.
TWAIN: Exactly. Well, I...
MARTIN: Ten years from now, tomorrow, 20 years.
TWAIN: No, I want to live till - to be 200.
MARTIN: Two hundred?
TWAIN: Yeah. I don't care how unrealistic that is. That's - yeah. I would rather project longevity.
MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
TWAIN: And imagine that whatever it is that I want to do next, or accomplish, doesn't have to be rushed. So if I only think, oh, well, I'm only gonna live to be 80...
MARTIN: Yeah.
TWAIN: ...If that's my projection.
MARTIN: Right. That feels like this clock.
TWAIN: Well, then I've got to hurry frigging up...
MARTIN: Yeah. Yep,
TWAIN: ...'Cause I've got so much to do.
MARTIN: Yeah.
TWAIN: I got to - like, I'm never going to absorb it. I'm not going to live in the moment with it. And I'm going to be rushing through it. And I don't want to live, like, life...
MARTIN: Yeah.
TWAIN: ...With urgency, right?
MARTIN: Oh, my God. I hear you...
TWAIN: 'Cause then...
MARTIN: ...So much on that. Yeah.
TWAIN: So I want to do whatever it is I want to do. I want to do it with quality. I want to absorb it. I want to enjoy it.
MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
TWAIN: I want to make so much more music, different kinds of music. You know, there's so many things to do, and I can't do all of it in...
MARTIN: Right.
TWAIN: ...Just 20 years.
MARTIN: You need 200 years (laughter).
TWAIN: Exactly.
MARTIN: I love it. I'm all for it. Let's meet again...
TWAIN: Exactly.
MARTIN: ...A hundred years from now.
TWAIN: Right? You got to use your imagination.
MARTIN: I know. It's powerful.
TWAIN: This is what I do for a living. This is what I've done since I was a small child. My imagination is my...
MARTIN: Yeah.
TWAIN: ...Medicine. It's my escape. It's my joy. It's my mood. It's my energy.
MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
TWAIN: So, you know, in my imagination, I'm going to live to be 200, and I'm going to achieve all these incredible things.
SUMMERS: You can watch the full conversation with Shania Twain on YouTube by searching for NPR Wild Card. Her new album, "Little Miss Twain" is out now. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
