Tenille Townes recently joined Shania Twain on Twain’s Queen of Me Tour, which wrapped up in both artists’ home country of Canada earlier this month, completing a full circle moment for Townes that began two decades ago.
Full-Circle Moment
In a video shared to Townes’ Instagram, she and Twain share the stage together, replicating a moment that first occurred when Townes was nine years old and Shania brought her on stage to sing with her during one of her shows.
Reminiscing on their first meeting, the two women told the crowd it was nearly 20 years ago to the month that they first performed together in Edmonton. “This is incredible,” Twain said, noting that when she was nine years old, she was “never on a stage like this.”
“It was insane,” Townes said, recalling the costume her mom made for her for the night. “I told my mom, I was like, ‘I’m singing with Shania tonight. This is the night.’ And she was like, ‘Brace your heart, we’re just going to have a good time.’ And you saw me! You saw me, and you pulled me up here. You are such a huge reason why I’m standing here doing the thing that I love to do so much. So thank you.”
“It just blows me away, really, it does,” Twain told her before the two launched into a performance.
Townes captioned the clip, “I’ll never get over this full circle…. Shania, thank you for seeing a 9-year-old kid in your crowd and… (fast-forward almost exactly 20 YEARS!) for inviting her on tour with you NOW!”
Tenille Townes Said She “Had The Time Of My Life” Touring With Shania Twain
In a separate post, Townes shared a series of photos from her time on Twain’s tour and wrote, “They say don’t meet your heroes, but I really don’t agree… had the time of my life on this tour! Thank YOU guys for coming early and jammin with me, sharing in the full circle [moment], and making these shows ones I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Speaking to PEOPLE in May, Townes called her upcoming time on tour with Twain “surreal.”
“It’s such a crazy full circle because I was one of those crazy 9-year-old kids who went to one of her concerts,” she said. “I had a costume that looked like her Miami concert DVD, and I had a sign that said, ‘Shania, can I please sing with you?’ And she pulled me up onstage.”
Reflecting further, she added, “I was 9 years old, and that was the moment: I was standing next to my hero, like, ‘This is it. This is what I want to do.’ We’re going back to that city on this tour, getting to open for her, which is so surreal. I’m so excited.”
How Did Tenille Townes And Shania Twain First Meet?
Townes first shared her connection to Twain with fans in a Facebook video in December 2021, posting a series of clips from her childhood as well as a video of her performance with Twain 20 years ago.
“I grew up singing along to every single Shania Twain song,” she said in a voiceover. “She was my hero. I got tickets as a gift to see her concert. My family took a 5-hour road trip to see it. I made a sign that said, ‘Shania, can I please sing with you?’”
“I know this sounds crazy, but when we walked into the arena, I had this feeling it was really going to happen. I just believed it,” she continued. “From the moment the show started I was signing my heart out. Halfway through, Shania came around to where I was standing and randomly picked me to come up on stage with her. I stood next to her looking out into the crowd and I knew then it was exactly what I wanted to do.”
