When Up! was released in November 2002, Shania Twain revealed in one of many promotional interviews that she writes far more songs than can fit on her records and that she hides any personal, introspective songs she pens, not even playing them for her husband and collaborator Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Now, this is certainly a psychological quirk worth exploring, but it also suggests why Twain's albums are such brilliant pieces of mainstream pop. Anything that doesn't fit the mold is discarded, so the album can hum along on its big, polished, multipurpose hooks and big, sweeping emotions. This is Super-Size pop, as outsized and grandiose as good pop should be. And, unlike the work of most pop divas, where the subject matter is firmly about the singer, none of the songs on Up! are remotely about Shania Twain, the person -- let's face it, she's never faced a situation like "Waiter! Bring Me Water!," where she's afraid her guy is going to be stolen away by their hot waitress. No, these songs have been crafted as universal anthems, so listeners can hear themselves within these tales. Just as cleverly, the songs are open-ended and mutable -- always melodic, but never stuck in any particular style, so they can be subjected to any kind of mix and sound just as good. (Indeed, Up! was initially released in no less than three different mixes -- the "Red" pop mix, the "Green" country mix, and the "Blue" international mix; sometimes the differences in mixes were so slight, it sounded like nothing was changed, but each mix revealed how sturdy and melodic the structure of each of the 19 songs was, and how they were designed to sound good in any setting.) True, the sheer length of the album could be seen as off-putting at first, since these 19 tracks don't necessarily flow as a whole. Then again, part of the genius of Up! is that it's designed as a collection of tracks, so the album is durable enough to withstand years on the charts, producing singles with different textures and moods every few months. Time revealed Come on Over as a stellar pop album, and the same principle works for Up!. Upon the first listen, singles seem indistinct, and it seems like too much to consume at once, but once you know the lay of the land, the hooks become indelible and the gargantuan glossiness of the production is irresistible. In other words, it's a more than worthy follow-up to the great mainstream pop album of the late '90s, and proof that when it comes to shiny, multipurpose pop, nobody does it better than Shania Twain. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

It's got to be a marketing first. If you haven't heard, Shania Twain's new album comes as two CDs priced as one. The first "red" CD is pop; the second "green" CD features the exact same songs, only done country style. The weird thing is that to the undiscerning ear, aside from the addition of country instrumentation, there isn't a great deal of difference between the two CDs. That's because both, of course, rely on husband Robert "Mutt" Lange's glossy pop production. Shania appears in her underwear on the cover, but as a vocalist, she remains somewhat faceless, her only real signature being that little pop yodel/yelp thing she occasionally throws into a word.

Some of those words are far from Dylan; "Ka-Ching" (which samples Pink Floyd's cash register from "Money") would seem to be about crass consumerism, but Shania's politics seem confused at best. "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" works slightly better as a pop song (the way it is now on the radio); "Forever And For Always" is a better country song, and so on. That is to say, they will all be hits. Two of them--most obviously "C'est La Vie" but also the title track--seriously recall Abba. (Well, "C'est La Vie" does more than recall; it's a "Dancing Queen" rip-off, actually). Up! will confound the lines between country and pop more than ever. But as a pure vanilla pop effort for aficionados of the form, about a third of it might getcha real good. A third Middle Eastern version of the 19 tracks are available online, but there really aren't enough hours in the day.