“From This Moment On”
Shania Twain with Bryan White
Written by Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Shania Twain
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
July 24, 1998
A Shania Twain pop classic tops the country chart.
The Road to No. 1
Shania Twain’s Come On Over ultimately produced four No. 1 country hits. This one is the third, following “Love Gets Me Every Time” and its immediate predecessor, “You’re Still the One.”
The No. 1
“From This Moment On” is a modern standard. Just not in its original version.
Indeed, every subsequent change to the song made it stronger. The album version features a lengthy spoken intro that wastes nearly a minute of run time. It was chopped off for the radio edit that went to No. 1 on the country singles chart.
Alas, that radio edit still featured Bryan White as a full-fledged duet partner. He’s an accomplished singer, but this song was written around Twain’s vocal strengths. White sounds strained and immature, making their duet sound like some weird talent show performance between a mother and her overindulged tween son.
The arrangement is also generic and uninspired, at least until the strings kick in. The best thing about this version is White’s harmony vocal. The two sound great together when Twain is singing lead and he’s harmonizing.
Thankfully, the song was improved before it was sent to pop radio. A Spanish guitar intro gave the song some distinctiveness, and Twain singing the song by herself makes the verses flow better. White’s harmony vocals were left in, preserving the best part of their duet. The pop mix is a B+.
But wait! There’s more!
The song reach its final and best form when it was remixed into a mid-tempo jam to extend its life at top 40 radio. The “Tempo Mix” is the most enjoyable version of this track, and has long been my go to for Twain playlists. It’s a solid A.
The Road From No. 1
One more No. 1 single is on deck from Come On Over, and it’s Twain’s final No. 1 U.S. country single to date.
“From This Moment On” (with Bryan White) gets a C.
Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties
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White sounds strained and immature, making their duet sound like some weird talent show performance between a mother and her overindulged tween son.
Once again, Kevin, you have put into words what I felt for years/decades!. Thank you.
I had never heard that Tempo Mix. It’s awful. Lol. It doesn’t fit her vocal at all to me.
I didn’t realize Twain’s last U.S. country #1 was from Come on Over. Wow.
Man, listening to this brings back great Summer of 1998 memories! “You’re Still The One” is my favorite love ballad single from Come On Over, but this one is a very close second. The first four singles from the album are actually my favorite singles from this legendary era from Shania.
I personally like the duet version with Bryan White the most because it’s the one I’m most used to hearing since it was all over country radio in the Summer of ’98 and after that, plus it’s the version on my copy of Come On Over, which is the original country version. That being said, I also really enjoy the Shania solo pop mix, as well, which I’ve occasionally heard on pop stations and in restaurants.
As for the duet version, I totally agree that the two sound wonderful together especially when Shania is singing lead and Bryan is harmonizing. The parts with Shania singing the falsetto notes while Bryan is providing harmony are especially so beautiful, and they’re still known to give me goosebumps. And talking about another part that still gives me chills, I just love how how they come together so perfectly right after the instrumental solo and bridge with the totally climactic “Froooooom thiiiis moment…” Man, is that just so beautiful! I do happen to think Bryan sounds fine on his lead parts, but maybe I’m also biased because hearing his voice makes me nostalgic for the mid-late 90’s, and for the longest time, it was the only time you could still hear Bryan White on the radio after the 90’s were over, thanks to it still being played as a recurrent (while none of his solo singles really got played much, if at all, in the 2000’s). I agree with you though that this is definitely Shania’s song, and it indeed played more to her strengths. I really love her tender and sincere delivery of this beautiful declaration of love, and the gorgeous melody fits her like a glove.
Sonically, it also still really moves me. Just the piano playing throughout the first two verses gives me a lot of nostalgia! One of my most favorite parts though has always been the instrumental break, which really still sounds epic to me, and as you say, it’s really where the song starts to take off. I love the strings, the electric guitar solo, and the powerful drumming, and it’s such a perfect setup for the song’s climax with the beautiful bridge and that breathtaking moment when they come together for the final chorus. I also love the return of the strings near the end while Shania and Bryan each do their “Mmmm’s” while harmonizing and the lovely steel nicely topping it off. This one certainly became a classic for a reason!
Again, this is another song that instantly reminds me of the trips to Lancaster, PA that we went on during the Summer of ’98, especially the first one we took right after Summer break started with my mom and dad. We were staying at the Hampton Inn on Greenfield Rd, and I believe on our second morning at the hotel, I turned on the clock radio, and “From This Moment On” was playing. It was during one of the parts with Shania singing falsetto, and Mom was imitating it, lol. At first, she didn’t know who it was, and I guess had not heard the song yet. I recognized the song and knew it was Shania and Bryan because I had already heard it a few times already before that. After that, we tried breakfast at the Olde Greenfield Inn next door to the hotel. On the previous morning in our hotel room when Mom turned on the radio, it was “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys playing, and I’m not gonna lie, I was actually kind of digging it, and it was quite a good song to help wake us up. :) I believe I turned it to a country station sometime later after that.
I also heard “From This Moment On” during various other times in the backseat such as the second trip to PA with my mom and step dad, trying out new cars while we were shopping for a new one, and the trip to California that we also went on with my step dad later in the summer. During the California vacation, “You’re Still The One” was also still getting played a lot, and we even heard it on TV one day while we were all in our hotel room. The California trip is also the first time I ever heard “Honey, I’m Home,” and when I hear it today, I still think about us driving around Orange County while I was listening to it for the first time in the backseat.
While Mom wasn’t too big of a Shania fan during the peak of the Come On Over era, she did eventually really come to appreciate her, and she quite likes her today. “From This Moment On” is actually one of her favorite Shania songs, as well, and she had been enjoying watching some live performances of it on her laptop more recently. It’s one of the few 90’s country songs that we can fully agree on, along with George Strait’s “I Just Wanna Dance With You” from this same time frame. :)
I only appreciated just how far-reaching Shania Twain’s music was at this point of her career when a buddy of mine ( a decidedly non-country listener) unexpectedly broke the silence on a remote northern Ontario lake by breaking into this song while jigging for walleye. I still crack-up today just recalling that absurd moment and memory.