Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian singer and songwriter.
Alanis Morissette's 1995 international debut Jagged Little Pill became one of the most successful albums of all time. The raw intensity of the album's first single, "You Oughta Know", led Morissette to be labeled the "first lady of rage," though the album itself contained only two songs that hinted at any sort of anger or resentment. Since the extraordinary success of Pill, Morissette's popularity has waned as singers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have gained attention, though she is still one of the industry's premiere female singer/songwriters. Her latest album Under Rug Swept, on which she received sole writing and producing credits, debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts and went platinum within one month.
Alanis Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to schoolteachers Alan and Georgia Morissette. She has an older brother, Chad, and a twin brother, Wade.
Morissette showed a love for singing and songwriting at an early age. When she was 9 years old, she went to the home of singer Olivia Newton-John, one of her early idols, and said over the intercom at the front gates: "Hi, I'm Alanis. I want to meet you one day and I want to be famous, just like you."
In that same year, Morissette wrote her first song, "Fate Stay With Me", at the age of 9:
With the support of her parents and a relentless desire to succeed, Morissette traveled with Howe to New York City to meet with record executives, an experience that she would later write about in songs such as "UR" (from the album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie):
Overview
The Early Years
With the help of her childhood mentor Leslie Howe, Morissette released "Fate Stay With Me" when she was 11 years old. A year later, Morissette auditioned for a role on the Canadian children's television show You Can't Do That on Television, shot in Ottawa, her hometown. Morissette became a recurring cast member, but left after one season.
In New York City, Howe helped Morissette land a spot on Star Search, a popular televised American talent competition. Morissette flew to Los Angeles to appear on the show, but lost after one round.
In 1990, Alanis Morissette signed with MCA Records and released her debut full-length album, Alanis, in 1991. At the time, Morissette was credited simply as "Alanis" to avoid possible confusion with fellow Canadian singer Alannah Myles. The album went double platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the Top 10 on the Canadian charts:
Alanis and Now Is The Time
In December 2002, Morissette performed "Too Hot" for the first time in more than ten years during a concert in Toronto, Canada.
In 1992, Morissette was nominated for three Juno Awards: Single of the Year, Best Dance Record, and Most Promising Female Vocalist (which she won). In the same year, she released Now Is The Time, her follow-up to Alanis. The album attempted to move Morissette away from her debut album's dance-pop sound. However, Now Is The Time sold less than half the number of copies of her debut album, and Morissette lost her recording contract with MCA Records.
In 1993, Alanis Morissette moved from her hometown of Ottawa to Toronto. Living alone for the first time in her life, Morissette met with a bevy of songwriters, but the results frustrated her. A move to Nashville a few months later also proved unfruitful.
Morissette began making trips to Los Angeles and working with as many musicians as possible, in the hopes of meeting a collaborator. During this time, Morissette met with producer and songwriter Glen Ballard.
According to Ballard, the connection was "instant", and within 30 minutes of meeting each other, they had begun experimenting with different sounds in Ballard's home studio. Despite Morissette's naÃÂïvetÃÂé, Ballard knew he was dealing with a woman wise beyond her years.
The turning point in their sessions was the song "Perfect", which was written and recorded in 20 minutes. Morissette improvised the lyrics on the spot to Ballard's delicate guitar strums. The version of the song that appeared on Jagged Little Pill was the only take the two had ever recorded. With "Perfect", the floodgate was opened, and soon Morissette's thoughts and emotions began pouring onto paper at a frenzied pace.
At the same time, Morissette was exposed to new life experiences. She was living in a one-room apartment, when on the way home from the supermarket one afternoon, she was robbed at gunpoint. A man rummaged through her bag while another held a gun to her head and made her lie face down on the pavement. Morissette later revealed that her only concern was for the book of lyrics she was carrying in her bag. To her relief, the lyrics were untouched. They would eventually make up the bulk of Jagged Little Pill.
She would later write about her move to Los Angeles in the song "Unprodigal Daughter" (from the album Feast on Scraps):
Ballard and Morissette recorded the songs on Jagged Little Pill literally as they were being written. According to Morissette, Ballard was the first collaborator who had encouraged her to express her emotions completely and fully without any any fear of shame or embarrassment. As a result, Morissette unabashedly shared everything, from her buoyant love of life ("You Learn"), to her warm infatuations ("Head Over Feet"), to her darkest, most ruthless revenge fantasies ("You Oughta Know"). Morissette drew inspiration for her lyrics completely from personal experiences. For example, as Morissette began meeting with record labels, she wrote and recorded "Right Through You" about the patriarchy she encountered in the music industry (from the album Jagged Little Pill):
Moving to Los Angeles
The word "shake" referred to the record executive's handshake, which was not warm and firm, but cold and slippery. All was well, however, by the spring of 1995, when Morissette inked a deal with Maverick Records.
Jagged Little Pill Era (1995-1998)
In 1995, at age 20, Alanis Morissette released her first international album, Jagged Little Pill (lyrics). Expectations for the album were low, and Morissette's manager and long-time friend Scott Welsh would later admit that he didn't expect Pill to sell more than around 250,000 copies. The album debuted at number 118 on the Billboard 200 charts.
Things changed quickly, however, when a Los Angeles deejay from an influential radio station stumbled onto "You Oughta Know" and began playing it non-stop:
- 'Cause the love that you gave that we made
- Wasn't able to make it enough for you
- To be open wide, no
- And every time you speak her name
- Does she know how you told me you'd hold me
- Until you died, 'til you died
- But you're still alive
While "You Oughta Know" was a hit, it was the seemingly endless series of singles following it that sent Jagged Little Pill on its meteoric rise to the top. Second single "Hand In My Pocket" showed a calmer, mellower Morissette reflecting on her life, while third single "All I Really Want" made a casual reference to the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations:
- Do I wear you out?
- You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung-out
- I'm consumed by the chill of solitary
- I'm like Estella
- I like to reel it in and then spit it out
- I'm frustrated by your apathy
- A traffic jam when you're already late
- A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
- It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
- It's meeting the man of my dreams
- And then meeting his beautiful wife
- And isn't it ironic, don't you think?
Jagged Little Pill was a phenomenal success. It went on to sell 16 million copies in the United States alone, over 30 million copies worldwide, and its singles have become some of the most recognizable songs of the '90s. A backlash, however, was quickly brewing.
Morissette was dismissed by some as a record industry puppet. She was attacked for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Glen Ballard, though Morissette was responsible for all of Pill's lyrics and much of the album's music, and such a collaboration was not uncommon for many solo artists at the time.
Others called her sudden image change "calculated", "manipulative" and "greedy", while fans countered that such criticisms failed to acknowledge the possibility that Morissette may have grown artistically since she was a 17-year-old.
Despite this backlash, the album was nominated for six Grammy Awards. At the 1996 ceremony, Morissette performed a moving rendition of "You Oughta Know", one that all but drained the anger from the song, leaving only an air of sorrow and remorse. That night, Morissette won awards for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.
Later that year, Morissette embarked on a one-and-a-half year world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. The DVD Jagged Little Pill, Live chronicled the bulk of this tour.
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie Era (1998-2002)
In 1998, Alanis Morissette recorded "Uninvited", a song from the soundtrack to the motion picture City of Angels. The track was never officially released as a single, but nevertheless received widespread radio airplay.
Later that year, she released Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (lyrics), an experimental album with a wordy title and lyrics to match. Morissette once again collaborated with Glen Ballard, but this time she helped produce the album as well.
Fans and critics alike were shocked. Morissette didn't release Jagged Little Pill, Pt. 2, which would have been the commercially savvy thing to do. Obviously, Morissette was no longer pursuing commercial success. Most of the songs on Junkie challenged "traditional" song formulas, including "The Couch":
- So here we both are battling similar demons (not coincidentally)
- You see in getting beyond knowing it solely intellectually
- You're not relinquishing your majestry
- You are wise, you are warm, you are courageous, you are big
- And I love you more now than I ever have in my whole life
- We left the restaurant where the headwaiter in his 60s said,
- "Goodbye sir, thank you for your business, sir
- You're successful and established, sir
- And we like the frequency with which you dine here, sir
- And your money", and when I walked by they said,
- "Thank you, too, dear". I was all pigtails and cords
- And there was a day when I would've said something like,
- "Hey, dude, I could buy and sell this place, so kiss it"
- I too once thought I was owed something
Many critics wrote off the album as a flop; however, repeating the incredible success of Jagged Little Pill was an almost impossible task that Morissette never expected nor set out to do.
In 1999, Alanis Morissette expanded her rÃÂésumÃÂé by delving into acting. She appeared as God in the motion picture Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith. Smith, who claimed to be a big fan of Morissette, asked her to be in the film several times. She had to turn down the female lead, and by the time her schedule allowed her to participate in the film, only the role of God was left.
She also appeared on the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and starred in the play The Vagina Monologues.
Under Rug Swept Era (2002-2004)
In 2002, after a four-year absence, Alanis Morissette released her third international studio album Under Rug Swept, with the notable absence of Junkie and Pill collaborator Glen Ballard. For the first time, Morissette took on the role of sole writer and producer.
The album spawned the hit single "Hands Clean". The song's multi-layered lyrics told the story of a young Morissette's affair with an older man from two points of view:
- You're essentially an employee, and I like you having to depend on me
- You're a kind of protÃÂégÃÂé, and one day you'll say you learned all you know from me
- I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian
- I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it
The album was overlooked by the Grammy Awards, most likely due to its release date, but Morissette won yet another Juno Award for Producer of the Year.
In December 2002, Morissette released a dual DVD/CD combination package, Feast on Scraps, which included live concert footage and eight previously unreleased songs from the Swept recording sessions. The album was nominated for a Juno for Music DVD of the Year.
In September 2003, Morissette made headlines for supposedly exclaiming, "Thank you, Brazil!" after a show in Lima, Peru. Morissette and her concert attenders later indicated that she had in fact said, "Thank you, bless you", but by then the damage to her reputation had already been done.
In November 2003, Morissette appeared in the off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she didn't commit the crime.
So-Called Chaos Era (2004-present)
In response to the Super Bowl halftime controversy that occurred earlier in 2004, and the stricter FCC regulations that followed, Morissette changed the lyrics of the first single, "Everything", from "I can be an asshole of the grandest kind" to "I can be a nightmare of the grandest kind" for radio.
In April 2004, Alanis Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004, which was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Sporting a short, new hairdo, Morissette looked like a drastically different person from the angry, long-haired woman who once wrote and sang "You Oughta Know". At the event Morisette railed against "censorship" in the United States in the wake of Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident that had caused the lyrics of Everything to be changed. Stepping out a dressing gown, and apparently appearing nude, though in fact wearing a body suit, Morissette said "We live in a land [Canada] where we still think the human body is beautiful and we're not afraid of the female breast."
In May 2004, Morissette is scheduled to release her fourth international studio album So-Called Chaos. In July 2004, Morissette will appear in the motion picture De-lovely, a tribute to composer Cole Porter. The film stars Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, and featured performances by Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, and Robbie Williams.
Notable Works
Studio Albums
Other Albums
Notable Songs
Stage and Film
Live Videos
External Links