What Made You Say That

Album: Shania Twain (1993)
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Songfacts®:

  • In "What Made You Say That," Shania Twain decides to finally let her man know exactly how she feels. After fretting over the phrasing, she decides the right words are simply "I love you." After she tells him, she wonders what made her say it. Maybe it was the moonlight, or the starlight in his eyes. The guy's reaction: "What took you so long?"
  • This was Shania Twain's first single. It was written by the country music songwriters Tony Haselden and Stan Munsey, and was originally recorded by Wayne Massey, whose version was released in 1989. Twain had to switch the gender - in Massey's version he's singing about a girl.

    Haselden also wrote the Le Roux song "Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin' For The Lights)"; Munsey wrote "All I Want Is A Life" by Tim McGraw.
  • The song was just a minor hit, reaching #55 on the Country chart. Twain was 28 when it was released, which was old to be breaking into the business. The other singles from the album didn't get much attention either, but her next album, The Woman In Me, released in 1995, was a stunning transformation. It was produced by her husband, Mutt Lange, whom she married at the end of 1993. On her first album, she didn't write any songs, but she and Lange wrote all the tracks on The Woman In Me. Lange was a seasoned hitmaker who had worked with Def Leppard, Huey Lewis & the News, and other pop stars. He and Twain were able to put together an album packed with sassy songs that placed on both the Pop and Country charts, including "Any Man Of Mine" and "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" It went on to sell a stunning 12 million copies in America and make Twain a megastar.
  • The music video shows Twain on a beach in Miami cavorting with a shirtless model. It's what got the attention of Mutt Lange, who was very impressed. He contacted Twain's manager, Mary Bailey, looking to work with her, but Bailey didn't know who he was and just sent him an autographed photo. Eventually, Lange got his bona fides across and started a working relationship with Twain that quickly turned personal.
  • The video was directed by Steven Goldmann, best known for making Faith Hill's video for "This Kiss." He went on to directed several more Shania videos, including "You Win My Love" and "No One Needs to Know."

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