Shania Twain's Son Is All Grown Up And Following In His Mother's Footsteps
Shania Twain was once part of a superstar duo that blended her personal and private lives when she was married to another music industry icon, Robert "Mutt" Lange, from 1993 to 2010. Before meeting Twain, Lange had already charted substantial success as one of the songwriting and producing greats for acts like The Cars, AC/DC, Journey, Def Leppard, Billy Ocean, and Bryan Adams. The pair enjoyed a fruitful and harmonious time in which they produced 11 hit songs and sold multi-million-selling albums together with Lange at the helm.
In 2001, the couple also welcomed a son, Eja D'Angelo Lange. Twain was at the height of her success when Eja was born, having sold over 25 million albums in the six years prior to his birth. The family had a few peaceful years of releasing music, touring, and retreating to their Swiss home for some normalcy before Lange dropped a bombshell on Twain, revealing that he had an affair with her assistant and friend in 2008.
Eja, who has the powerhouse DNA that any musician could hope for, has since grown up and harnessed his natural talents to forge his own path in music. He journeyed into music through his love for producing electronic dance music (EDM) and has already gained a songwriting credit with his iconic mother on her 2023 album "Queen of Me."
Twain raised Eja on Lake Geneva in Switzerland
Although Twain was raised in Canada and Lange hailed from England and Zambia, the two decided to raise Eja in Switzerland. In 1998, Lange and Twain bought a 46-room chateau overlooking Lake Geneva and retreated to the home in 2000 to work on new music and focus on starting a family.
On the Armchair Expert podcast, Twain said that the Swiss location was suited to her preferences and lifestyle. "I travel a lot, it's a good hub spot, very central for Europe. I love nature, I like to be quiet. I wouldn't have chosen a city," she explained. Twain also knew that the people of her town in Switzerland handled her celebrity status with more grace and described her neighbors as "calm and discreet. They might say hi or give me a smile, but they're not jumping up and down or shaking. I don't feel like a star there. I feel normal," she told People.
She wanted to raise Eja in a place where he could learn to be humble and appreciative, which meant away from the industry that made Eja's parents so famous. In 2007, Twain told People that growing up, Eja was expected to help with cooking, cleaning up his toys, and helping himself, rather than be waited on by others. Eja spent his days with his parents doting on him and his nights sleeping in a stroller in their studio, soaking up the musical creations while they worked.
Eja endured his parents' messy divorce
Twain and Lange's marriage came to an abrupt halt when Twain learned that Lange cheated on her with her friend and assistant Marie-Anne Thiébaud in 2008. Their divorce was finalized in 2010, and Twain put her focus on her son. She told The Guardian that Eja saved her because she knew he needed her, so she had to keep going. She stayed in Corseaux for Eja and never considered moving away from the source of the drama. "I just wasn't going to be pushed out. This is my home, this is my child's birthplace and I'm not going anywhere," she said.
For Eja, his parents keep the relationship civil for his sake, but there will never be any blissfully blended family vacations. In 2015, the New York Post reported that Twain said she was still willing to speak to Lange but never wanted to see Marie-Anne again. In 2023, she told Dax Shephard and Monica Padman on the Armchair Expert podcast that she and Lange don't speak, but they will text to communicate about Eja's life. "We both love our son so much, so we don't play any games like that. We have the same priority; we share spaces for him. No nonsense there."
Eja has always toured with his mom
Twain has always had her parenting priorities straight when it comes to her career, and that means Eja has been on every tour she ever played since he was born. On the Armchair Expert podcast, Twain said, "When he was younger he would always come, because career was never first over my child."
Although Eja no longer lives at home, he will continue to join Twain in 2023 on her 80-show tour for her latest album, "Queen of Me." She explained, "He wants to come along with his music setup because he's a producer and a writer, and he's going to bring his engineer and they're both going to just work on music on the road. I mean, why not, right?" Twain is not only supportive of his budding career, but she also still enjoys the motherly bond she has with him. "It's nice for me to have him around," she said.
Throughout his childhood, Eja developed a broad taste in music
Eja spent his life surrounded by music-making and performing. Unsurprisingly, he developed a taste for a broad range of music. When Aja was 16, Twain told Sounds Like Nashville that her son's taste in music was different from most of his friends who were his age. For example, while most teens were listening to the trendiest pop, rock, or hip-hop of the day, Eja looked to Hans Zimmer as a hero. Zimmer is a composer who is well-known for his movie scores, and his name is not one you would think of as a teen idol.
"There's a real broad spectrum in his life musically, so he makes all kinds of stuff and he orchestrates a lot of things," Twain said. Despite following his parents into the music industry, he's going in his own direction. He has an affinity for making electronic music like EDM and dubstep, and has explored his own musical world and compositional ideas independently of his parents. "He's just on his own journey," Twain said.
Eja used to make music alongside his mom
When Eja was a teen and started showing an interest in making music, his powerhouse mom was right by his side. The pair used to make their own individual music while working side-by-side when he was a teen. "He's very devoted and a real hard worker. He's got a crazy passion for making music, and it's really fun to watch," Twain told Sounds Like Nashville. Eja became interested in songwriting at a young age, much like his mom – Twain started writing songs when she was 10.
Eja's style of composition is heavy on beats, and that's how Twain liked connecting with him when they were writing. As a teen, he would sit with his mom while they were both working on their own individual music. In an interview with "LIVE with Kelly and Mark," Twain said that it would get a little complicated because the mother and son were working in two different Digital Audio Workstations to write music — at the time, she was using ProTools and Eja was using Logic — but they still found a way to make it work. "We just sent music back and forth. I use the guitar and he uses synthesizers, and, uh, you never know. Maybe some day we'll come up with something really great."
He probably won't be a performer like his mother
Although Twain is set to conquer another 80-show world tour for her latest album, it's unlikely that we will ever witness Eja on a stage as a performer like his mother. In that regard, he tends to be more like his father. His dad is worth $225 million as a producer for work that reaches far beyond his professional efforts with Twain. Because Lange's catalog runs so deep, he is credited by some as the greatest rock producer of all time, so it's no surprise that his talent as a writer and producer came naturally to his son.
Twain is a self-professed introvert, and it appears her son Eja takes after her nature. He's at home in the studio, like his father, and probably won't pursue performing. "He just has a quiet confidence about him. He doesn't have that extrovert—you know everybody look at me—type of personality. I think he'll enjoy music more just being the creator of the music," Twain told Sounds Like Nashville. Being a performer is a completely different vibe that Twain doesn't see in her son. "It's just really taxing being a performer, being the person out in front unless that's what he really wants," she said.
Eja is a big fan and supporter of his mom
Eja has witnessed his mother at the helm of her own career for his entire life. He was born when she was at the peak of her success, slept alongside her as a baby during her writing and studio time, and has always toured with her. It's no surprise that he's grown up to be one of Twain's biggest fans, alongside big names like Harry Styles.
But Twain is a humble person who hasn't been loud about her success at home. As a teen, Eja convinced his mother to show more pride in her accomplishments. Twain told ET Canada, "My son said, he's like 'Mom, where are all your awards?'" Every award, including Grammy, Academy of Country Music, and Billboard awards, was tucked away in an archive located in the family home.
Twain said "So, he goes 'Can't we at least put the Grammys up?'" Eja continued to question her. "'He's like [sic] don't you want to see them? Don't you, aren't you proud of these? These are, like, you earned these.' Um, so it was really cute," Twain explained. She proudly displayed her Grammys after the conversation with her teen son. Twain believes Eja sees her as just "mom" despite her mega-stardom. "He knows what I've achieved, he knows what I represent, um, in my career – does not see me as that!" she declared.
Eja is credited on his mom's latest album
Eja is certainly blossoming as an audio engineer, and he also has the songwriting chops of both of his parents. In 2023, he received his first songwriting credit for the song "Number One" on Twain's "Queen of Me" album. Twain was initially worried about the post-production phase, in which songs sometimes face being cut as the artist and producers decide on the final tracks and sequence of the album. She told ET Canada, "I didn't tell him he was on it until it was already done. I just didn't want to get his hopes up too high."
Twain believes in her son's talent, and she expressed her love for working with him in a sweet tweet. She used a play on names that referenced her old songwriting partner and ex-husband and wrote, "It's the first Twain / Lange co-write in over 20 years and that feels very special to me." Some fans responded with curiosity about the song while others gave positive reviews of the song. One fan stated, "Had me so emotional when seeing that, and HOW amazing it turned out."
Eja used to post original songs and remixes on SoundCloud
As for Eja's published music, he has only shared a few tracks on his SoundCloud. He doesn't have any published solo music on major streaming platforms yet. But it sounds like he will be working hard on his writing and producing when he and his engineer join his mom on tour, so perhaps we will get to hear new music from the experience.
He has a modest following on SoundCloud, but he hasn't posted any new music since 2015. His original songs are often tagged as #dance, #electronic, and #EDM, and he has several songs with over 10K listens, including "Interstellar," "Hold on 2.0," "Beethoven," and "Odyssey – Black." Fans of his music show respect for his talent in the comments. One fan referred to him as "Daft Punk's apprentice" and another fan affirmed, "dude you're actually on another level... like no one else is even close." One of his biggest tracks, "2020," is a collaboration with Big Mac, Camrawn, JoZtin, and Lil Ghost that has over 60k listens.
Eja settled into a Los Angeles-area home in 2020
Relocating to Los Angeles to be near one of the music industry hubs is a common move for anyone who is looking to work and get ahead in music. In 2020, when Eja was 19, he purchased his first home in Los Feliz, California, situating him in the Hollywood Hills and the heart of the scene.
According to Dirt, the mid-century modern-style home was built in 1961 and has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. The layout is 2,300 square feet. The neighborhood is described as "pedestrian-friendly," and many of the homes, like Eja's, are positioned on the hillside with little to no yard. Eja paid $1.8 million for the home, and the house had been extensively renovated in 2014.
When Eja bought the home, he had one roommate: his furry pal Luna, the dog that Twain dearly loved and missed when Eja moved away (via People). If Eja needs to get away from Los Angeles, joining his mom on the road for her tour is Plan A; heading to one of her other properties in Las Vegas, the Bahamas, Switzerland, or Ontario can be a solid Plan B.