Shania Twain holds the record for the biggest selling country album of all time: Come On Over. 

Growing up poor in a Canadian mining town, who could have foreseen that the woman born Eileen Regina Twain would go on to sell over 100 million records, cross country music into pop, and become one of the most recognisable voices on the planet?

Her life has been extraordinary, dotted with hit albums and huge shows, songs known by their opening line worldwide, and fans ranging from country music loyalists to Harry Styles. There've been plenty of lows too, including almost losing her voice completely to Lyme disease. Shania Twain may be a little more raspy, but she's got stories.

This episode was captured at the legendary Power Station in Midtown Manhattan (the recording studio where Bruce Springsteen made his biggest albums, where David Bowie recorded Let's Dance, and Madonna crafted Like a Virgin). It was the perfect place to sit down and travel back in time with Shania, as she reflected on the little Miss Twain that became the star. Stick around after the chat for a very funny story about what happened that day at the studio. Let's just say Take 5 alumni Lin-Manuel Miranda may have been involved (and Amanda Seyfried... and Hamilton star Phillipa Soo).

Shania Twain's song choices: 

• Dolly Parton - 'Coat of Many Colors'
• Tanya Tucker - 'Texas (When I Die)'
• Olivia Newton-John - 'Hopelessly Devoted to You'
• Tina Turner - 'What's Love Got to Do with It'
• Aretha Franklin - 'Respect'

00:00 Introduction and Setting the Scene at the Power Station

01:50 The Legendary Power Station Studio

02:35 Dolly Parton - 'Coat of Many Colors'

03:15 Growing Up Poor and Dolly Parton's Influence

06:45 Reflecting on Childhood and the New Album 'Little Miss Twain'

07:30 Singing in Bars as a Child and Tammy Wynette

09:01 Tanya Tucker - 'Texas (When I Die)'

09:30 Tanya Tucker: A Voice Beyond Her Years

11:00 First on Stage at Eight Years Old

12:45 Singing in the Bars of Timmins, Ontario

15:30 Mother's Dream: The Next Tanya Tucker

16:00 Dreaming of Horses Instead of Fame

17:05 Olivia Newton-John - 'Hopelessly Devoted to You'

17:45 Olivia Newton-John: Crossing Genres and Breaking Boundaries

20:30 Nashville, Crossing Over to Pop, and Doing It Her Way

24:00 The First Video, a Target Budget, and the Belly Button Scandal

27:10 Tina Turner - 'What's Love Got to Do with It'

28:00 The Queen of Comebacks

29:45 A 15-Year Break and Losing Her Voice

30:30 Lyme Disease, Vocal Cord Surgery, and Finding a New Voice

34:20 Aretha Franklin - 'Respect'

35:00 Aretha's Brilliance and Owning the Song

37:30 Respect, Recognition, and Not Feeling Like a Star

38:30 Finding Peace in the Bush

40:00 Full Circle: A Message to Little Miss Twain

41:00 A Surprise Visit from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Seyfried & Phillipa Soo

42:30 Next Time: Darren Hayes

43:30 Double J

This episode was filmed for season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.

Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview:

Peter Garrett has been an unstoppable force of Australian music for decades.

As the iconic frontman for Midnight Oil, a grassroots activist, and a former Federal Parliamentarian, he's spent a lifetime driving change. 

Kicking off a brand-new series of Take 5 with the theme "songs of change," Peter Garrett reveals a softer, surprisingly open side behind the public persona. 

Fall into the stories and songs that hold Peter Garrett together.

Peter's song choices:

• Peter, Paul & Mary - Tell It On The Mountain
• Warumpi Band - From The Bush
• DOBBY - Dirrpi Yuin Patjulinya
• Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - War (live)
• Sarah Blasko - Without 

01:46 A life punctuated by music and change

03:21 Peter, Paul & Mary - 'Tell It On The Mountain'

03:30 Growing up in a musical household

06:40 Reflecting on his parent's deaths

09:32 Peter Garrett's first band

10:14 Warumpi Band - 'From The Bush'

15:35 Midnight Oil tour to remote Indigenous communities in 1986

18:49 Influence of Warumpi Band on Beds Are Burning

22:33 DOBBY - 'Dirrpi Yuin Patjulinya'

26:35 Rob Hirst tribute at APRA Awards 2026

29:51 Discussing the legacy of Rob Hirst

34:39 Future of Midnight Oil

36:18 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - 'War (Live)'

41:29 Music and Politics

43:23 Reflecting on political career

45:27 Sarah Blasko - 'Without'

49:33 Peter's wife of 40 years Doris

52:37 Looking forward not back

54:24 Zan's final reflections

54:55 Preview next episode with Shania Twain

This episode kicks off a brand new season of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.

Watch Take 5 on ABC iview:

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe

Take 5 with Zan Rowe is back on your screens from Thursday August 20, and Season 5 is the biggest yet!

What song makes Peter Garrett cry? 

What was the tune that woke David Byrne up to the full body physicality of music, at Studio 54? 

And who do you think a teenage Jacinda Ardern was blasting, as she hooned around her hometown in New Zealand? 

You’re about to find out, as Take 5 returns for a 5th season on ABC TV and ABC iview. For the last 6 months Zan Rowe has been zipping around Australia, to New York City and Los Angeles to capture 8 extraordinary conversations with absolute legends. 

Like Shania Twain, who revealed a poverty stricken childhood that made her a star. Or Darren Hayes, who laid it all out in a heartbreaking conversation about loss and healing. 

You’re going fall in love with Lainey Wilson, the singer who’s selling out arenas with her bell-bottom country and southern charm. And you’ll learn more about Genesis Owusu, a visionary doing completely his own thing and winning all the awards, all at just 28 years old. 

If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to adore Vika & Linda Bull even more, their Take 5 will confirm. Fall into the worlds of these 8 incredible guests as they Take 5.

You’ll catch all the episodes from Thursday August 20 on ABC TV and ABC iview.

PLUS: every week, we’ll drop extended cuts of these chats right here on the podcast. All the bits we had to leave out of the TV episodes, the stories that didn’t make the edit, the moments that stayed with us.

So hit follow and get ready for a season of Take 5 that’ll shift your perspective, make you laugh, and maybe even make you cry.

And while you wait for Season 5, there’s plenty to explore. From Paul McCartney to Trent Dalton, Sophie Ellis-Bextor to Lorde – Take 5 has been a radio and podcast favourite for two decades. Dig in!

Watch the first 4 seasons of Take 5 on ABC iview: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe

This is one of the best bits from Take 5.

One of the greatest songwriters of all time sat down with Zan Rowe to open his songbook and dive deep into the making of five of his greatest. 

Paul McCartney has provided the soundtrack to billions of lives. His legacy in song is unparalleled; starting with The Beatles, who changed the game forever, he rolled on with his own solo career while building a new band in Wings, and collaborating with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Johnny Cash and Dave Grohl.

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/take-5/paul-mccartney-take-5/9230996

SONG

• The Beatles - 'Blackbird'

This is one of the best bits from Take 5.

Kacey Musgraves is a straight shooter, a woman of conviction. In person and in song, the bridge she creates with her fans is something else, and it’s made her one of the most loved artists around.

For Kacey’s Take 5, Zan wanted to find out about the music that brought her to today, and to borrow a title from her own debut album, helped Kacey “follow her arrow”. 

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/take-5/kacey-musgraves-take-5-with-zan-rowe/11122692

This is one of the best bits from Take 5.

Founding member of Blink-182, Angels and Airwaves, and UFO enthusiast, Tom DeLonge hung out with Zan Rowe back in 2012, while in the country to play Soundwave Festival.

You don't create a career like that without loving music, so Zan dived into the music that changed his life.

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/take-5/tom-delonge-take-5/9035742

SONGS

• The Cure - ‘Friday I’m In Love’
• The Police - ‘Every Breath You Take’

This is one of the best bits from Take 5.

In 2024 Emily Wurramara released her second album NARA and cemented herself as a powerful indigenous storyteller. 

The Warnindhilyagwa woman joined Zan Rowe to Take 5 on the same day her second album was released and the energy in the studio was pumping. It’s very much a record of renewal, and one of Double J's 50 Best Albums of that year.

Listen back to Emily talking about her love of John Fogerty and Cat Power, during her Take 5 on songs of renewal.

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/take-5/emily-wurramara-take-5-songs-of-renewal/104257048

SONGS

• John Fogerty – ‘I Will Walk With You’
• Cat Power – ‘Sea of Love’

Poh Ling Yeow has been part of our lives for two decades. As a TV chef, a gourmet stall owner, a celebrity in the jungle, and a cookbook author. Poh is a painter and has even popped up an actor, describing herself as having a greed for life experience.

Poh is currently hosting and judging on the latest series of Masterchef, and this week she's Taking 5. 

Fall into the stories and songs that have shaped who Poh has become.

Poh's song choices:

• The Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love
• Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams - Without Us (Theme from Family Ties)
• Sade - Like a Tattoo
• A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
• Jóhann Jóhannsson - A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder

00:30 Introduction to Poh Ling Yeow

01:10 Poh's love of being a DJ

03:14 The Bee Gees - 'How Deep Is Your Love'

05:45 Growing up and being unsupervised

12:40 Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams - 'Without Us'

14:07 Wanting to be a popular American teen

21:10 Sade - 'Like a Tattoo'

24:13 Reconstructing how you see the world after religion

29:11 A Tribe Called Quest - 'Electric Relaxation'

31:03 The ending of a shared history

34:23 Masterchef as contestant and host

37:58 Jóhann Jóhannsson - 'A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder'

Show Notes

Watch Poh on Masterchef: https://10.com.au/masterchef

Watch Zan on Race Around the World: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/race-around-the-world

2026 marks 20 years since Hot Chip released The Warning. Their second album leapt from the quiet, reflective electro of their debut and catapulted us all onto the dancefloor.

To mark the occasion, we share an episode from 2020 when Joe Goddard and Al Doyle dropped in to Take 5. Their theme? Jubilant songs. Their vibes? Pure joy. 

From classic to modern gold to deep cuts, settle in with some "heaters" as Hot Chip Take 5!

Hot Chip's song choices:

• Prince – Starfish and Coffee
• Fever Ray – To The Moon and Back
• Teyana Taylor – Hurry {Feat. Kanye West}
• Double Exposure – Everyman (Has to Carry His Own Weight)
• Hot Chocolate – I Just Love What You’re Doing (Kon Edit)

00:06 Hot Chip introduction and anniversary of The Warning

01:08 Using sampels to create joy

04:10 Prince – 'Starfish and Coffee'

06:22 Innocence and joy in music

07:18 Fever Ray – 'To The Moon and Back'

09:27 20 years of Hot Chip

19:07 Teyana Taylor – 'Hurry {Feat. Kanye West}'

20:49 Freedom and joy

21:34 Double Exposure – 'Everyman (Has to Carry His Own Weight)'

23:53 Hot Chip on stage joy

29:45 Hot Chocolate – 'I Just Love What You’re Doing (Kon Edit)'

31:45 Next week's guest!

This month, Gotye's breakthrough album Like Drawing Blood, turns 20. It was the record that took him from bedroom producer to Hottest 100 favourite, showcasing his incredible talent at sewing sounds. The man behind Gotye, Wally De Backer, has been keeping a low profile for a while. But back in 2007, after a huge year following this album's release, he joined Zan Rowe to Take 5. 

This is one of the very first episodes of Take 5, and the first time it's ever appeared on the podcast.

So jump in the time machine and travel back to this mid 2000's moment. It was before Gotye released his worldwide smash "Somebody That I Used to Know", Homebake Festival still existed, MySpace was king, and Wally was at a precipice; head spinning from a wild year but with no idea of what was ahead.

His theme? His top 5 moments of the last 12 months. His songs, all Australian. 

Gotye's song choices:

• Josh Pyke - Fill You In 
• Karnivool - Shutterspeed  
• Faux Pas - For The Trees 
• Emily Ulman - Upping The Ante
• The Presets - Are You The One?

00:17 Gotye introduction and 20th Anniversary of 'Like Drawing Blood'

02:30 The songs that soundtracked Gotye's 2006 breakthrough

02:58 Josh Pyke -'Fill You In'

04:55 Gotye and his love of heavy and progressive music

06:08 Karnivool 'Shutterspeed'

07:52 Bringing Gotye's songs to live with a band

11:59 Drummers who sing

14:28 Faux Pas - 'For The Trees'

17:24 Buying your first iPod

18:39 Emily Ulman - 'Upping The Ante'

20:30 What Gotye was about to embark on in 2007

24:15 The Presets - 'Are You The One?'

26:13 Next weeks guests!