Shania Twain says she's 'found a new voice' since throat surgery

March 6 (UPI) -- Grammy-winning singer Shania Twain says she's "found a new voice" since undergoing throat surgery.

The 54-year-old country music star said in a preview of Sunday Today released Friday that her voice will "never" be the same after having open-throat surgery due to Lyme disease.

Host Willie Geist asked Twain to recall the first time she heard her singing voice after the surgery.

"It was little by little, because the surgery is quite, it's invasive," Twain said. "It's given me more room to play, to be honest. I have gravel; I think it's kind of sexy."

Twain said she's accepted that her voice has changed and has learned to embrace her new sound.

"I mean, it's there. I have to go with it," the star said. "I don't mind it."

"I'm never gonna have my old voice again, and that's just the way it is. I'm okay with that," she added. "I found a new voice, and I like it."

Twain was initially diagnosed with dysphonia, a vocal cord disorder, in 2011, and later discovered she has Lyme disease. Her illness caused her to lose her voice for several years, and she underwent two open-throat surgeries.

"I had to have an operation that was very intense and it's an open-throat operation," Twain told Extra in June. "I had to have two of them, so that was really, really, really tough and I survived that, meaning emotionally I survived, and am just ready to keep going."

Twain launched a new Las Vegas residency show, Let's Go!, at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in December. She begins the second leg of the residency March 13.