Canadian country music icon Shania Twain paid a visit to CFB Esquimalt, Thursday April 19, thanking members of the Canadian Armed Forces for the service. Kristyn Anthony/VICTORIA NEWS

Canadian country icon Shania Twain paid a visit to CFB Esquimalt Thursday to thank members of the Canadian Armed Forces for their service and to promote her new single, “Soldier.”

The five-time Grammy Award-winner called the new song – featured on the soundtrack of the upcoming war drama, Thank You For Your Service – a “very emotional expression.”

“I wrote the song about the heartbreak of saying a sad goodbye to a loved one that is heading off, and with the feeling of never being certain they would ever return,” she told the crowd.

Twain arrived from downtown Victoria by zodiac boat to board the HMCS Ottawa where she toured the ship, and mingled with the crowd to sign autographs and pose for photos.

“Who’s not a Shania fan?” joked CFB Esquimalt base commander Capt. Jason Boyd, who was excited to meet the woman whose albums he remembers waiting in line for while he was in military college.

“It truly speaks to what kind of character she has and the support that she shows for what it is that we do, and the appreciation she shows,” he said of her visit to the base. “So we’re here today to show that appreciation back.”

With 100 million records sold worldwide, Shania Twain is the best-selling female Canadian artist in country music history, and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

The Timmins, Ontario native released her fifth album Now in September 2017 and her tour of the same name kicks off next month, with two shows slated for Vancouver, May 5 and 6.

kristyn.anthony@vicnews.com