When country-pop superstar Shania Twain took the stage at the 2022 People's Choice Awards to belt out a jaw-dropping medley of her biggest hits, it seemed like she'd never lost her ability to sing. But a new article in InStyle reveals that for seven years, the 56-year-old struggled to project vocally because of what was later diagnosed as nerve damage to her voice caused by Lyme disease. The illness, which the singer contracted through a tick bite in 2003, also caused dysphonia, a condition that can cause difficulties swallowing and speaking.

Despite being told that she might never sing well again, Twain returned to the stage in 2012 with her two-year Shania: Still the One residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. She followed it up with her first album in 15 years, Now. During her time away from music, Twain had plenty of time to reclaim and reassess her identity as an artist. The trailblazing country-pop crossover star forged her own way as an independent woman and mother while also proving she had the chops to write her own material without former husband and producer Mutt Lange.

When Twain was ready to return to the studio to record her latest album, Queen of Me, she knew it would be a daunting task, especially because of the surgery she'd undergone to repair the damage to her vocal cords. But the "Any Man of Mine" songstress says her fears were immediately dispelled when she made the first sound.