Shania Twain’s honest playlist: ‘If Dancing Queen comes on, you rush out’

The country-pop superstar loves Abba and secretly listens to Lloyd Webber, but which British heartthrob’s single gets her out of bed in the morning?

The song that changed my life
There’s many critical songs on The Mission soundtrack, but Gabriel’s Oboe [by Ennio Morricone] hit me hard. I had to pull off the road, I cried like a baby. I didn’t realise how powerful music could be until that moment. I was 22.

The first single I bought
At Seventeen by Janis Ian. I reference it in my album Little Miss Twain and it says so much about the emotions of a teenage misfit. I felt like her, I related – but I was also thinking: “Wow, I have to some day write this well.” It gave me a goal; I was so in awe. I made very little money, babysitting, taking care of my neighbour’s horse, singing in bars. I would get like 20 bucks, that I would mostly give to my family, but I got that record for myself.

The best song to play at a party
If Dancing Queen by Abba comes on and you’re in the bathroom, you rush to get out, you can’t miss a second of it.

The song I secretly like, but tell everybody I hate
Nobody ever wants to listen to The Phantom of the Opera, but I nerd out and listen to the whole album. I have to do it by myself – it’s sort of a secret.

The song that gets me up in the morning
When it comes to getting out of bed, pop always brings me somewhere new, like Harry Styles’s Sign of the Times. I love it.

The song that makes me cry
Michael Jackson’s Ben used to make me cry as a kid.

The song I do at karaoke
I was always the kid singing in bars, the last thing I wanted to do was get up and pretend. I was really purist about it. But I realised I’m missing out on all the fun. My favourite is Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack.

The song I want played at my funeral
I’ve been through a lot of grief in my life and there are intimate moments where you need to bawl your eyes out. As the dead person, I want to say: this is a moment you cannot control, life goes to shit sometimes. So I would choose Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin; some things you can’t change.
Shania Twain’s Little Miss Twain is out now.