Shania Twain Recalls How She Missed Out on the Chance to Collaborate With Prince

What could’ve been. Shania Twain opened up in a new interview with Apple Music on Tuesday (Feb. 1) about the time she almost worked with Prince before his death.

“I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced,” the country icon tells Zane Lowe in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard. “We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumours album with you.'”

“And that was the weirdest thing he could have ever have said,” she continued, “because Mutt [Lange], his standard of what he thought, of what I could live as a standard was that album, [Fleetwood Mac’s] Rumours album. And he said that to me. So when Prince said that to me, I’m like … ‘This is way too ironic what you’re saying.’ Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan.”

However, Twain admitted she found herself “too insecure to go and get with Prince in the studio” because she was still in the process of finding her voice after splitting from Lange, who was not only her husband of 15 years, but also her longtime producer and collaborator on smash albums such as 1997’s Come on Over and its 2002 follow-up, Up!

On their phone call, Prince also laid out some ground rules for his would-be studio time with Twain — namely that there was no swearing allowed at Paisley Park.

“So that was another strike,” Twain joked. “I’m like, ‘Oh no, I love you so much, but I don’t think I could get through writing and recording an album without swearing, somewhere along the way! What are you going to do to me if I swear? I might have to stand in the corner or something.’ I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died.”

This weekend, the singer — who just dropped her galloping new single “Giddy Up!” — is set to serve as a presenter at the 2023 Grammy Awards along with the likes of Cardi B, Viola Davis, Olivia Rodrigo, Dwayne Johnson and more.

Watch Twain recall her missed connection with His Royal Badness below.