Alanis Morrissette is a fairly big pop star, but her career trajectory is somewhat atypical. Her career is front-loaded to say the least, but has successfully endured. Although she's still making music today, and occasionally salient music at that, many listeners will be familiar with her first album and its breakout success over 20 years ago. As an American, that's where I first heard her. And while I was never exactly an enthusiastic fan, I never had any problem with Alanis. That changed a bit, however, when I tried to sit down and listen to her whole album from top to bottom for the first time- and then followed it up by listening to every other song and album she ever made. It often made for a pretty uncomfortable experience, but I am as surprised as you are to report that the listening eventually got better, and Alanis' most recent work may be her best, though there is a catch. There's light at the end of this tunnel, but the tunnel is long and gets dark.
Maybe my harsh criticism is because I shouldn't have listened to this girl-power stuff while going through a divorce, but I am a slave to the alphabet. However, for the most part I was just not having this psychotic ex-girlfriend schtick. I found her to be frequently shrill, often unjust and hypocritical, and above all else incessantly complaining, I didn't enjoy much of it - and it did not stand-up well at all to repeated listenings. But there are moments. So now I'll try to review my listening to Alanis Morrissette's discography without descending into virulent sexism. Wish me luck.
Let's get this out of the way first: You know, she did some acting? She memorably portrayed God in those Clerks-adjacent movies. And I loved every season of Weeds, in which she also appeared, though blandly. She was also on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sex and the City. I remember hearing that as a youngster she was on Canada's You Can't Do that On Television, but it turns out she was only on five episodes. Yet here she is getting slimed. (You're welcome.) That's why she gets to complain on her recent album that: "These are the reasons I drink / The reasons I tell everybody I'm fine / Even though I am not / These are the reasons I overdo it / I have been working since I can remember /Since I was single digits." I'm sure that was traumatic and all, but you know what else is traumatic: listening to her complain about the same shit for a couple of decades. She goes on in the same song, "And so that's it, I am buying a Lamborghini / To make up for these habits / To survive this sick industry." Yes. Yes, it is sick. I'm genuinely sorry for what she underwent. I'm just not sure I need to hear about it in a pop song, much less via so much screeching in so many songs. I don't know where else to mention that she was engaged to, but never married, Ryan Reynolds; the two Canadians met at Drew Barrymore's birthday party. There may have been some red flags. Raised by Canadian teachers, she still had a devout Catholic upbringing. She self identifies as a "highly sensitive person" . Yea, we got that.
She's bitter AF right out of the gate. And to understand why, you need to dig up her old glossy-pop garbage music from the 80s - and OMG it is bad. She's only two years older than me, and I have some sympathy. I am genuinely sorry that as a teenager she was horribly exploited like crazy by patriarchal capitalism, but we are ALL going to pay the price. She's had a hit song called "Too Hot" and an album called Now is the Time that is mostly ballads; these are Canada-only releases and I simply am not listening to any more than that one video from "the Debbie Gibson of Canada." She opened for Vanilla Ice during this era. (Since I'll probably never get to 'V' let me take this opportunity to briefly remind everyone that he had the first #1 rap song on Billboard's Hot 100.) Perhaps it's not a coincidence then that she is currently married to a white rapper from Massachusetts and "feat." on several of his songs; I'm sorry, but it it not good. I'll admit to not giving him a thorough listen, but what I heard was not even tolerable. Also, besides Vanilla Ice, the other bands she has opened for or toured with over the years make a fairly pitiful list of bands I don't like at all: Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox Twenty. Fuck - that's a short list of awful bands! And just so that I'm not guilty of bias, it's only fair to conversely admit that she has also toured with Radiohead, Tori Amos, and Garbage and Liz Phair (both twice). So she must be doing something right. She's "alternative," you see.
Jagged Little Pill an album I am very familiar with, despite never previously owning (physically or otherwise) was her breakout success, though technically her third album. It seemed to be omnipresent while I was in college. She released one single after the other over a period of months and months, so she was always on the radio and MTV. Madonna's then-new label, Maverick, put the album out after everyone else passed. It was Maverick's second ever success, following shitty-grunge band Candelbox's self-titled debut. (Maverick eventually folded, but not before being part of a music industry group that sued a 16-year old cheerleader to the tune of $27k for file sharing a handful of tracks, in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court; the cheerleader lost.) There's no way around the fact that Jagged Little Pill is one of the best selling album of all time. Not bad for a worldwide debut. So many hit singles. So many sales. You maybe never heard of Glen Ballard, but he co-wrote some of and produced all these songs; he had previously done some writing/producing for Michael Jackson and a ton of other 80s pop acts.
It all starts with "You Outa Know," and I can't believe how dirty it is. It earns her a rare "Explicit" label, which very few of her other songs have, because she sneers, "Are you thinking of me when you fuck her?" - and that gets bleeped out, but not the part about "going down on you in a theatre." OK. People always be like, "Oh, you know Flea plays bass on that song?" as if that makes it cool. And I'm like, "Yea, I fucken know it's Flea (and the guitarist from the Chili Peppers at the time, Dave Navarro); he's popping and slapping a mess all over the song; how could I not know?!" I don't love the rhythm section here, which sounds like they strip-mined grunge and sucked out the bile (thank you Jello Biafra). I also understand that the late Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters played drums for her; you know it was only for one 18-month tour, right? He's in the video for "You Outa Know" but not on the album track. The song was a game changer for sure. It's like the 90s-post-grunge, post-Lilith Faire version of "I Will Survive" and people (girls?) were glad to hear it. I think she scared some of the boys. "Ironic" is actually the biggest hit from the album, and her most popular song ever. Some of this may be attributed to the iconic and admittedly clever video and also the endless public discussions around her occasionally inaccurate use of the term "irony." The song has massive cultural staying power too. This recent Politico news story contained the expression "Alanis-level irony" and everybody knows what the means, which is kind of beautiful. Sure, it's an OK song with a tad less acerbity, but with the intense over-singing I still feel like she's yelling at me. How does she sustain her anger? I feel bad for her ex-boyfriends, allegedly including Dave Coulier. Cut. It. Out. There's a reason that Rolling Stone called her the "Queen of Alt-Rock Angst," which is kind of niche-y TBH. Sure, it occasionally rocks, but I'd be more comfortable calling it alt-pop. Alternative-pop-rock?
One of the craziest things about that first album, and pretty much none of her other music: harmonica. I'll admit, I didn't see that one coming, and there's a certain charm in that. However, I actually can't believe how badly she plays the harmonica on this mainstream music performance; like, I could do that. YOU could do what she does to that instrument, I promise. John Popper agrees, as this guy quotes in his excellent response to the album., but I think it's great that Popper and Morsette played at the same Pro-Choice rally in D.C. in 2001 circa their respective peaks. Harmonica is one of the first things we hear on the album, as it opens the first song "All I Really Want," which rocks well enough. Many of her albums start strong, then fade fast. "You Learn" and "Head Over Feet" are slightly more-chilled out singles that kept this gargantuan pop phenomenon chugging for many months. I actually almost-like "Hand in My Pocket" because she kind of says "shit" and she's not as angry. I can also relate to the paradoxical self-assessment. The last song on the album (Was it a hidden song on the CD?) is the a capella "Your House." It's creepy and interesting, although not musically, but seems to be a clear violation of the consent the she otherwise holds so dearly.
She actually holds the record for the most Number Ones on the Billboard Alternative Song chart for a female soloist, group or duo, which is--again--a pretty specific niche. She's no Rihanna or TayTay. Yes, she's had like 8 singles reach the Top 40, but they are all on these first few album. Obviously the Grammys threw a couple statues at her. Her "highly anticipated follow-up" Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is supposedly "experimental" (it's not) and "electronic-infused" (<eye roll>; it's no Ray of Light). It does have another awful album cover, far worse than the previous album, and not as many successful singles. "Thank U" seemed to ride the coattails of the previous album to keep things going for a bit. She capitalizes by recording an Unplugged, as that is what one did in 1999 when one is a pop star. It's got to be one of the more disappointing entries in the unplugged series; sure it offers a nice career retrospect, if her first two albums could be considered a career, but the songs sound thinner, and nothing is added by stripping them down. This is especially true of the live-with-some-strings version of "Uninvited," which she had the good sense to close her set with. Still, I'm going to say this is her best song, and easily my favorite. I love the exotic soaring vocals, the twinkling start, and the way it builds to an epic orchestral swell. It's one of few songs from her early career that she can take credit for writing entirely on her own, although it's seemingly penned by the same inappropriate creeper who sang "Your House." The song never appeared on an Alanis album and wasn't even released as a single, even though it did get airplay and climb those charts. It's from the soundtrack of City of Angels, a movie with Meg Ryan and and Nicolas Cage that seems otherwise forgettable. But the soundtrack had this song, her first release following the previous album's success, and has got a bunch of other famous songs on it, include the Goo Goo Dolls hit single "Iris," which I don't love but certainly got that band noticed (for better or worse).
After that things are not as great. Under Rug Swept is the last album most people seem to remember. It had "Hands Clean" - and granted: we absolutely need to hold the slimy men running the music business accountable for their sins, and this was way before most people were calling them out. The meta video does a good job of doing just that, but for some reason it didn't seem to get that much airplay. As someone with the privilege of not having to face sexual harassments, and who was hardly a feminist yet in 2002, I registered no reaction whatsoever to the song or it's message. My bad. When the album opens with the obnoxious 1-2-punch of "21 Things I want in a Lover" and "Narcissus," it starts coming across as just a laundry list of bitter complaints.
Somehow So-Called Chaos is a little better. Less bitter, less shrieking. She still has lots to complain about but has more diverse content, and she seems more reserved in these complaints. We get another truly awful album cover, including one of the most awkward photos of a famously beautiful pop star that I've ever seen. Perhaps the title and picture (the font is also relevant) are veiled reference to My So-Called Life. That was one of my favorite shows. If Claire Danes-super-fan me is left wondering if there's an allusion here, then it is falling flat.
Flavors of Entanglement is actually pretty good, or at least I didn't have any specifically articulated problems with it. It sounds very much like an "early 2000s" record and not at all like "90s rock." There's hardly a distorted electric guitar to be found, but there's plenty of electronica flourishes. There's even an almost-drum-and-bass song- with strings! OK...OK.... Even the ballads are tolerable, if not impressive or necessarily enjoyable. It helps enormously that she has toned it down a bit. She's still got plenty to complain about but she's more reserved, calmer about it: there's less angry shrieking and it helps. At least to this listener. Even the album cover is an improvement; it's just another obscured portrait, but this one is vaguely alluring, what with the smoky eyes and all. Maybe that's just me! Ironically, this is the first I've heard of any of these songs. I'm not sure they made much of an impression in 2008, and that's somewhat unfortunate. It's a well-constructed album of decent songs with a good, polished sound. Forty-six minutes might be the perfect album length. The Deluxe edition that adds another twenty minutes of original songs ruined it. This was the album about breaking up with Ryan Reynolds. The next one, 2012's Havoc and Bright Lights is a pretty weak and forgettable affair produced by the same guy that made her previous record. I appreciated the lighter tone, but like some of her other stuff it made no impact on me. It was her first album away from Maverick Records. It did well in Canada, but not elsewhere. Critically response was mixed at best. So maybe to make the critics STFU she released a four-disc collector's edition of Jagged Little Pill to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. That's too many discs. Five years later she took it on the road for it's 25th, although COVID killed that idea, at least temporarily. She kept milking it, and the album became a musical on Broadway in 2019; apparently its pretty good (15 Tony nominations!) if you're into musical theatre.
So yea, then she's been around for over 20 years and, after an eight year break between albums, she evolves. There's still that glossy pop production, but rather than electronics and dumbed-down beats this is a more band-oriented sound: I can hear the guitar, bass, drums, and plenty of piano and keyboard driven tracks. There's a new depth and maturity in her singing and lyrics on Such Pretty Forks in the Road, which could be described as mom-rock. I'm not saying that pejoratively. Moms needed this music, just as much as all those jilted ladies needed "You Outa Know" all those year ago. "Reasons I Drink" is a mom-rock anthem, despite being hyper-personal. The first song from the album, and another single, is "Smiling." It ain't bad! It's like she heard me praising "Uninvited" and leaned-in to that sound. I declare it to be my second favorite Alanis song. But you know what, the album cover is bad again. Like real bad. Like disturbing. Like - why? She's a pretty lady, but the pic of her on the album cover is the stuff of nightmares.
Her most recent album from 2022 is my favorite...but she doesn't sing on it. At least, she doesn't sing any words, although there are some wordless vocals. No more biting lyrics though. It's an ambient album - and so I like it! I can listen to this while reading, yoga practicing, or maybe even falling asleep; it's versatile! I'm sure there is better meditation music out there by Brian Eno or whoever, but this was so nice to hear after all the bitter anger and complaining. The Storm Before the Calm goes on for a while and goes to some different places with a bunch of long tracks, but it is delightfully chill and I could listen to it over and over again without getting irritated at all. She made the album with the guy from Darkside, a semi-defunct electronic outfit. I'm picturing Alanis laying on her back on a yoga mat while bad ambient music plays; then her eyes pop open and she says, "Come on, I can make better instrumental chill-out music than this!" So she does. I'm here for it. This will stay in my rotation for chill-out purposes. Also: Who is this obscurely beautiful, young hippie woman looking so serene on the album cover? Has Alanis really chilled out? Is that even her? If so, I'll have whatever she's having...
I guess I'm slowly coming around, but it's to a mixed a big at best.
Even as I was drafting this Alanis was levelling her charges of sexism against the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, right after she was excited, apparently. And good for her, sincerely. Somebody needs to say something. I also want to fight sexism. But I want to fight obnoxious music too. I listened to a lot of Alanis in 2022 and was ultimately more vexed then entertained by it, but there's definitely some good stuff in there for some people. You could definitely do a lot worse for such a wildly-successful international pop star.
