Gen Z's Unlikely Feminist Hero: Shania Twain

Harry Styles may have given Shania Twain a shortcut to Gen Z, but the New York Times argues that she'd already laid the groundwork decades ago. In a profile by Lizzy Goodman, the paper traces how the 60-year-old behind Come On Over—still the top-selling country album ever—ended up thrilling teenage crowds at Wembley and popping up on bills with Styles, Sabrina Carpenter, Mumford & Sons, and more. Younger stars namecheck her as an influence and feminist touchstone, and their fans, raised on their moms' CDs, now scream along to "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" in her signature leopard print. "Styles isn't sharing Wembley with any of the other women who dominated late-1990s radio," writes Goodman. "Teenagers do not seem this excited about, say, Faith Hill or Celine Dion.

But Twain herself pushes back on the "feminist icon" label. The piece digs into a childhood marked by poverty and violence, early sexualization on bar stages, and a long discomfort with being a girl at all — before Nashville videos and stagecraft let her turn femininity into something she controlled instead of feared. She insists her hits were about personal freedom, not ideology: "I was just somebody standing up for myself." For the full story, read Goodman's profile at the New York Times.