Country-pop sensation Shania Twain had Glastonbury fans excited in the run-up to the big event following the news the Man, I Feel Like a Woman hit-maker would be performing in the coveted Legend Slot.
Unfortunately, the 58-year-old left festival-goers as well as fans tuned in on TV disappointed, with many “concerned” by her performance.
While most of Twain’s music was popular throughout the 1990s, several of her big hits are still loved and played widely today.
However, far from her usual strong performances on stage, the singer appeared to struggle to hit certain notes and her vocals were deemed to be “off” during the highly-anticipated festival.
Body language expert Darren Stanton spoke exclusively to GB News about the musician’s awkward show, which sparked quite a backlash during and after Glastonbury.
He explained Twain gave three non-verbal clues during the show which suggested “insecurity” as she battled through the performance.
Body language expert Darren noted Twain kept biting her lip
BBC
Lip biting:
“I think although she was going through the motions, I think she looked quite tired,” Stanton explained. “And I think some of the gestures did come over with the fact that she kind of knew it, that people weren’t pleased.
“I think she didn’t believe it herself, if that makes sense. There were time she bit (her) lip, which is a bit of a self-reassurance gesture.
“So it’s very quick but there are certain times on stage where she does bite her lip, it’s almost like, ‘I’m not quite sure how that’s been received. I’m not quite sure if I’ve done my best.’ So it’s really demonstrating insecurity.”
Another signal was that Shania Twain seemed to ‘self-hug’
BBC
Self-hug
The expert went on to give more examples of Twain’s on-stage insecurity, with another being the “self-hug” she seemed to demonstrate.
“There’s a lot of anxiety gestures and pacifying gestures – one thing is she puts her arms across herself like a self-hug.
“There are quite a few things that leak out really, during some of those performances.”
Some suggested she could have been facing tech issues as the concerns came just a day after 1980s legend Cyndi Lauper faced similar criticisms.
Twain kept urging the crowd to sing the high notes
Getty
Skipping high notes
Lastly, the singer seemed to raise the microphone to the crowd to get them to sing some of the high notes.
“Well, before I move on – I want to say hats off to you, Glastonbury,” she enthused between songs.
“I mean, I just have to say thank you for sharing the experience – this is wild. I’ve been walking around since last night, driving around and getting through the crowds and through the tents and villages and this really is a city and it’s a community, and I do feel the privilege of being here, thank you very much for having me.”
She kept urging the crowd to sing, reminding them of some of the lyrics before placing the mic away from herself during some of the key parts of the songs.
“I noticed she did this with some of the difficult notes,” Stanton recalled. “Obviously, that’s quite an old technique. I think Britney Spears did this a few years ago as well, when she was out of the loop with performing.”
He added: “[Twain] was jumping around, she was still very fit, so physically, she was good – very active. But I did get the impression that for her it was to make the best of a bad situation, really.”
However, there could have been medical reasons for Twain’s weaker voice, with the 58-year-old recently explaining the harrowing details of how her voice was altered by an illness as she opened up about her health in her Netflix documentary – Not Just a Girl.
Talking about her Lyme disease diagnosis, she explained: “My symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy.
“I was losing my balance, I was afraid I was gonna fall off the stage… I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds.”
She continued, expressing the fear that gripped her: “My voice was never the same again. I thought I’d lost my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again.”
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