Alanis Morissette
On her introspective new album, her empathy for addicts, and how she finally came to terms with ‘Ironic’
As with the rest of humanity, Alanis Morissette’s big plans for 2020 haven’t quite worked out. With the hit musical of Jagged Little Pill running strong on Broadway as the year began, she was going to release her first album in eight years, the wrenching Such Pretty Forks in the Road, in May and then tour for the 25th anniversary of her debut. The new album is still coming out — now on July 31st — but the rest of it has evaporated. “It’s the classic stages of grief,” says Morissette. As for the nearly decade-long wait between studio albums, there’s an all-too-simple explanation, she adds with a laugh: “I think it’s straight-up having three children.”
The introspection of your new album feels well-suited to the times. What was your thinking in delaying it from the spring?
I just thought it intuitively doesn’t feel right to be putting a record out about one woman’s crisis when we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I got a fifty-fifty reaction depending upon which friend I told that information to. One would say, “Yeah, wait, please. I can’t take any more.” And then other friends said the total opposite thing: “Are you kidding me? I want to lose myself in your story and in your words.”
When you were 20, you sang, “I haven’t got it all figured out just yet.” It feels like part of this album’s message is that it’s still OK to feel that way later in life.
Yeah, and the spiritual running joke for me around that is that if I’m trying to figure it out on the level of ego, I’ll never figure it out. If I’m trying to figure this out by what I’m going to consume, or who I’m going to meet, or who I’m going to be married to, there will always be this ache, this hunger. For me, that’s the spiritual food that I’ve been really looking at.
“Reasons I Drink” feels like a very honest song about addiction. What were you thinking there?
There’s such a tendency to shame people and judge people who are reaching for the billions of whacka-mole addictions that are out there. But the center of all of it is people — myself included — just seeking relief from being dysregulated. And then those of us who become really addicted, it starts off as something that helps, and then eventually kills you dead. For those who have any kind of addiction — work, sex, alcohol, any kind of drugs — I have a lot of empathy for me and them, because not only are they struggling with seeking relief, but also with being judged.
The Jagged Little Pill musical cleverly builds some mockery of your “Ironic” lyrics into the show. Is it a relief to feel like you’ve put some nails in the coffin of the whole “most of that isn’t actually ironic” thing?
Yeah, until the next generation wants to kick my ass! Until the next onslaught of shaming. Diablo Cody [the musical’s writer] just nailed it. You know, I didn’t even want that song on the record. I remember a lot of people going, “Please, please, please.” That was one of the first songs Glen Ballard and I wrote, almost like a demo. But people wound up liking the melody, and I wasn’t that precious about it. I came to realize later that perhaps I should have been. [ Laughs] Whoops!
On the new song “Nemesis,” are you singing about psychedelics?
Yeah. I’ve experimented with a lot of portals to find God, and some of them are temporary but still open up the window. I am a curious girl, so most things I would experiment with. I have a lot of friends who found that ego-obliterating experience was really powerful for them. For me, I’m a little bit of an anxious bird, and I definitely don’t need anything to help me go to those places.
You were supposed to spend this summer on tour with Liz Phair, who sometimes seems to have wished for a more Alanis-like career. But have you ever wished for a more Liz Phairtype career?
I’ve never really thought of it, because it would require me not to be me. Maybe in a parallel universe I have a swallowable amount of fame. But it was too late at 22 — I was like, “You can’t put all this back in the box.” Then after a while, it did chill. I was so ignorant about the trajectory of fame that I thought, “Oh, my God, does it stay like this forever? I want out!” But of course it changes, which was lovely. I could start to breathe again.
The fun Canadian dancepop music that you recorded before Jagged Little Pill is now easily accessible online. If you happen to listen to something like your 1991 single “Too Hot” now, what do you make of it?
I’ve always been drawn to different genres. I just finished the video for [new single] “Smiling,” which has a lot of dancing. Since I was six, I’ve considered myself a writer and a dancer, you know? [ Laughs] Back then, I wanted to have a loop and an electric guitar — dance and rock. And I was collaborating with people who understandably had a very, very clear sense of “No, you’re either this or you’re that.” That’s something I’ve heard so many times throughout my life. But at 16 or 17, I was working with people who had a beautiful agenda and made great music. And to be honest, I was nowhere near ready to be singing autobiographically at 15. Too scary!