“This is a very good time to be alive as an empath and a highly sensitive artist,” the singer-songwriter told Yahoo Entertainment.
For a long time, Alanis Morissette felt alone.
From a career standpoint, she was doing considerably well for a teen in 1990s Ottawa, Ontario. She had released two dance-pop albums before she was legally allowed to drink in her native Canada (the legal drinking age up north is 19 in most areas). She had signed a two-album record deal and was drawing comparisons to Debbie Gibson. She was on a trajectory that, if correctly followed, would likely amount to local teen pop stardom — but Morissette felt misunderstood. She was coming of age yet she wasn’t actually allowed to talk about the complicated rage that came with it — at least as an artist.
“I’d been writing with people in Canada who really wanted to just take the lead,” she told Yahoo Entertainment. “They were underestimating my ability to write. Then, I started writing with [music producer] Glen [Ballard] and [he was] basically inviting me to express myself very authentically. A complete contrast to what [my] experience was as a teenager, where I was encouraged to write less.”
In 1995, she released Jagged Little Pill.
“My main goal was to write a record I loved,” she said. “I achieved that.”
Morissette has come a long way since then and is now headlining a tour with special guests Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Morgan Wade. While she says she felt loneliness in those early years, she has since developed a strong voice that got its start with the Grammy Award-winning album.
Her third album overall but first release worldwide, Jagged Little Pill marked Morissette’s first foray into alternative rock. It went No. 1 in 13 countries and to date has reportedly sold more than 33 million copies around the world, making it one of the bestselling albums of all time. Morissette made history as the first Canadian artist to reach double diamond status — to sell more than 20 million units — and became the youngest artist at the time to nab Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Jagged took home five out of the nine Grammys it was nominated for.
Morissette was finally speaking her truth — and the world was listening. With her “metaphorical helmet” on, she crafted a record that was a real representation of where she was at that moment.
“When I was younger, my anger was very personal. Hyper-personal in a way that might be obvious with Jagged Little Pill,” she said. “And then as I got older, my anger would show up on behalf of more macrocosmic issues. Issues with the feminist movement, issues with melting patriarchy, gaslighting, narcissism, abuse, all of this stuff.”
The album’s commercial success was proof of its resonance with listeners.
“I’m chronicling the unfolding of a lifetime,” she added about the album. “What I’m realizing is that there’s a lot of people who relate to the chapters and the phases. I just feel way less alone than I did when I was 21 touring Jagged Little Pill.”
Morissette’s loneliness at 21 was a source of comfort for many. Her artistry has caused a ripple effect in the music industry, with modern singer-songwriters and bona fide female pop-rock stars screaming about the pain of growing up and getting older, of soul-crushing heartbreak and living in a patriarchal world. Morissette’s influence is hardwired into artists from younger generations, like Olivia Rodrigo and indie pop band Muna, who’ve made their adoration for the “Ironic” singer known.