Mickey Guyton, Taylor Swift, The Chicks, Wynonna Judd, and Kelsea Ballerini as some of the female country artists who inspire her. She has also expressed admiration for female country singers Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Reba McEntire and LeAnn Rimes. Public image and reception Despite her success, Twain has been a divisive figure within country music among purists who initially did not take kindly to her "genre-blending". According to biographer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, most critics accused her of "diluting country with bland, anthemic hard rock techniques and shamelessly selling her records with sexy videos." Similar to Garth Brooks before her, Twain was initially branded an interloper whose modern production, presentation and songwriting "disrupt[ed] the genre's status quo". During the 1990s, Twain often received backlash for her unconventionally liberated appearance as a country music singer. Despite the breakthrough success of The Woman in Me, early detractors did not take her seriously as an artist, with several music journalists questioning her lyrics, the "manufactured" production of her albums, and her singing ability. Such critics concurred that Twain had little to offer apart from her sex appeal and music videos, often focusing on her physical appearance instead of her music. Early in her career, Twain found herself at-odds with the conservative opinions of the country music industry at the time due to her assertive personality and proclivity for wearing revealing outfits that exposed her midriff. Twain was constantly deprecated for baring her midriff to the point where critics nicknamed it "The most famous midriff in Nashville", while CMT banned the music video for her debut single "What Made You Say That". The Independent's Roisin O'Connor believes "Nashville hadn't seen anything like Twain [before] – a leopard print-loving, midriff-exposing artist determined to be an international star." According to Kristin M. Hall of the Associated Press, since the singer had not yet begun touring, Twain used music videos to broaden her audience. Similarly, Erlewine considers Twain to be "the first country artist to fully exploit MTV's style" by cultivating "a sexy, video-oriented image ... that appealed" to both country and pop audiences, largely without touring. Twain's record label cautioned her that both men and women would dislike her independence and sexual expressiveness, respectively, but she did not believe them. Record executives warned her that women would feel threatened by her "dressing too sexy". Refusing "to conform to a single archetype of femininity", Twain recalled