Will Shania Twain’s support for Trump end her career, or is she flip-flopping like Kanye? Only time will tell

Twain has been torn apart on Twitter after stumbling into a debate she possibly didn't mean to ignite

Is the politics-free superstar a thing of the past?

Another day, another bizarre celebrity story. This time it’s from Canadian singer Shania Twain, who in an interview with the Guardian said that she would have voted for Trump, stating: “I would have voted for him because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest. Do you want straight or polite?”

The comment wasn’t even part of the main thrust of the interview but sure as day, a Twitter storm ensued – a particularly good one given the pun potential (“So you’re a sympathiser with a racist? That don’t impress me much”) – before Twain took to the platform herself, writing: “I would like to apologise to anybody I have offended. The question caught me off guard.”

“I was trying to explain, in a response to a question about the election, that my limited understanding was that the president talked to a portion of America like an accessible person they could relate to, as he was not a politician,” she continued.

“My answer was awkward, but certainly should not be taken as representative of my values nor does it mean I endorse him.”

The incident appeared to seal Twain’s fate among Twitter users, with some declaring that she is “cancelled” (though one does wonder how big the demographic overlap of “Shania Twain fan” and “celebrity news follower of Twitter” truly is) while, simultaneously, some Trump supporters rallied to her side. Others said they understood that someone can express themselves awkwardly, while others were confused to find the story being so frequently discussed at all.

Presumably Twain, who has never really engaged with politics publicly, has always had a mixed fan base from all sides of the political spectrum, and her comments are unlikely to have won any new ones from either side.

Nothing lost, nothing gained, and only time will tell whether this is a storm in a teacup or the end of the road for the country singer. One question to consider is: is the politics-free superstar a thing of the past? After all, what makes a better musician than someone who reflects the zeitgeist? And these are politically charged times, where sides are chosen readily and flip-flops are only acceptable at the pool.

Scroll through contemporary hit-makers in the UK and you’ll find a list of politically open and active voices: Adele and Stormzy, who both support Labour, come immediately to mind. There is, as many have pointed out before, a leftward trend in musicians – but far from some media conspiracy, this is the sort of thing we should expect. Superstars normally rise to iconic status while they are young, attracting young fans who stay with the act as they age – and younger people usually vote to the left. It’s the same story in the US and Canada: billboards are dominated by Democrat supporters, from Beyoncé to Bruce Springsteen.

For the cynics, this may explain the swiftness with which Twain denounced the comments; a tactical move, perhaps, to neutralise any blowback and keep her potential to “fit” in the charts (though I don’t see why we should doubt her retraction). And hypothetically, if she did have sympathies with Trump, should we even be surprised? Twain is a wealthy white woman. If she did live in the US, she would be the archetypal Trump voter.

Could she survive being “outed” as a Trump supporter, then? Kanye West certainly has. West, who has previously said he would vote Trump, complimented far-right figurehead Candace Owens just last week and remains a tour-de-force in the pop cultural world.

Admittedly, not everyone can be Kanye West – such is the admiration of his fans that often his contradictions are forgiven (for example, West appeared with his wife Kim Kardashian-West in an Instagram post during the presidential race saying “HillaryForPresident”). But at the very least, West feels distinctly 2018 – polemic, and often outrageous. Is Twain a figure ready for this brave, scary new world? The jury’s out on that one.