Come On Over

Come On Over is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain. Mercury Records in North America released it on November 4, 1997. Similar to her work on its predecessor, The Woman in Me (1995), Twain entirely collaborated with producer and then-husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange. With both having busy schedules, they often wrote apart and later intertwined their ideas. Twain wanted to improve her songwriting skills and write a conversational album reflecting her personality and beliefs. The resulting songs explore themes of romance and female empowerment, addressed with humour.

Produced by Lange, Come On Over is a country pop album with pop and rock influences. The songs contain country instrumentation such as acoustic guitars, fiddles, and pedal steel, in addition to rock riffs and electric guitars. She released an international version on February 16, 1998, with a pop-oriented production that toned down the country instrumentation. Then Twain embarked on the Come On Over Tour, which ran from May 1998 to December 1999. The album spawned 12 singles, including three U.S. Billboard Hot 100 top-ten hits: "You're Still the One", "From This Moment On" and "That Don't Impress Me Much."

Come On Over received mixed reviews from music critics. Some appreciated the album's crossover appeal and country-pop experimentation, while others criticized the lyrics and questioned its country music categorization. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999, Come On Over was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album reached number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, while topping the charts in multiple countries, including Australia, Canada, and the UK.

Come On Over is the best-selling studio album by a solo female artist, the best-selling country album, and one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 40 million copies worldwide. It was certified 20× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2004. Retrospectively, music journalists praised the album for revolutionizing country music, both musically and visually, and discussed its influence on subsequent country artists.

Canadian singer Shania Twain signed to U.S. label Mercury Nashville Records in 1991, and released her eponymous debut studio album in April 1993. It was a commercial failure, reaching number 67 on the U.S. Top Country Albums chart and selling just over 100,000 copies. However, the music video for the album's lead single, "What Made You Say That," and Twain's singing voice attracted the interest of Zambian record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The two collaborated on songwriting via phone calls, and met for the first time at the Nashville Fan Fair festival in June 1993. Soon after, they established a romantic relationship and wedded in December 1993. Together they worked on Twain's second studio album, The Woman in Me. They released it in 1995, and it represented Twain's break with the conventional country music formula to experiment with a rock-influenced country pop sound.

It sold over 10 million copies, surpassing Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (1967) as the best-selling female country album of all time, and establishing Twain as a sensation on the country music scene. The Woman in Me spawned four number-one singles on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 31st Academy of Country Music Awards and the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, respectively. Despite the commercial success, Twain refused to embark on a tour to support it. Her risky decision sparked criticism and speculation from Nashville industry experts that she was a manufactured artist with no ability to perform live. Twain cited a lack of logistical support, her reluctance to sing cover songs due to not having enough powerful music, and also a desire to take time off and focus on writing songs for her next album. A concert tour, she suggested, would have distracted her from improving her songwriting.

It's quite fun. It's relaxed, there's nothing contrived and it's really natural. If anything, when you know each other so well, there are fewer inhibitions, because I would be afraid to reveal so much to someone else. Our writing styles complement each other. We both come from different places. Lyrically, we think differently enough to make it interesting.

As with The Woman in Me, Twain and Lange composed all of the songs on Come On Over. They crafted material for the album "sporadically" as early as 1994, including "You've Got a Way." Twain composed the lyrics at Michael Bolton's New Jersey home, while Lange worked on Bolton's 1995 greatest hits compilation. Due to Twain's busy promotional schedule for The Woman in Me, she and Lange often worked separately, and then later amalgamated the parts. Twain documented her ideas on devices she carried with her at all times. She wrote rough drafts of music and lyrics in a notebook, and recorded bits of melodies on a small tape recorder or a MiniDisc. She explained, "We write everywhere. When we're driving to the grocery store we write. Sometimes, I come up with a melody when we're in the car and if I didn't bring the tape deck, I have to sing it all the way home so I don't forget it. When I get home I run to the tape deck to record it." Twain's longtime friend, Hélène Bolduc, noted how the singer perpetually observed others. She then wrote these observations in her notebook, and later referred to them while composing or when coming up with a title.