Shania Twain admits she didn't know if she'd ever release a new record

— -- Shania Twain admits she once thought she would never release a new album following her split from longtime musical partner and former husband, Mutt Lange.

Vocal problems only reinforced that belief.

But a decade and a half after her last album, Twain’s "NOW" is new in stores and online today.

"I took the long, long, long, long, long way around. I really didn't think that I would ever make another album without Mutt," Twain revealed. "It was a huge loss in my life ... to lose Mutt. I just thought, 'Well starting over in life is hard enough. ... You know, music, forget that.' I didn't have my voice back yet, and I never thought I would sing again anyway, and I just didn't think it was anything I would ever do again."

All the while, Twain, 52, continued to write, even though she says she'd accepted the fact that it would now be others singing her songs. Gradually, a series of events changed her mind: she wrote her autobiography, shot a docuseries for OWN and eventually returned to the stage for a Las Vegas residency, paving the way for a tour -- one she then believed would be her last.

"Everything was leading up to making the album, but without the courage yet still," she recalled. "They were all ... courage-builders, till I finally realized, 'Wow, I really think that I can record again. There's something still there ... and I can write it on my own. I'm just gonna do this myself.'"

"The whole journey," Twain continued, "that was the most courageous time for me, you know, saying, 'You're gonna take all the weight yourself and all the risks yourself, and if it doesn't work, the accomplishment was taking on the challenge.'"

The Canadian superstar will set out on the "Shania Now" tour starting in May.