Of all the singers-songwriters of her generation, no one has touched a raw emotional depth like Alanis Morissette. As she looks back on her amazing thirty-year career, she talks about the reality and messiness of life as an artist, mother and highly sensitive person. In recent discussions, Morissette expressed gratitude for her ability to perform songs from her extensive repertoire without compromising her authenticity.
The California native, who has sold more than 33 million copies of her groundbreaking album “Jagged Little Pill,” opened up to us about her artistic process, character development, and the trials she’s experienced on her journey so far. Morissette’s career has been marked by both triumphs and tribulations, including her experience with postpartum depression after the birth of each of her three children and navigating a culture that often felt alien to her when she first moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19.
Musically, Morissette recalls her formative days in LA as both an isolating experience and an endless source of artistic inspiration. She’d spend her afternoons writing on the beach, tangle with a culture in which nobody had the patience to stop and query her. While this formative experience brought her a lifetime of success, it nearly didn’t happen. It provided her an escape where she could channel her frustrations and anxieties into her art.
Morissette admits that with reflection on her life now comes the gratitude for the stability she has finally been able to find. The singer and actress has had 15 years of matrimony bliss, herself. Just last week, she was able to move into a permanent home—all of a block from her original house. This relocation followed his ousting from Malibu, California, in the wake of those same 2019 fires that forced many artists out of their homes. She calls her new arrangement “room-mating indefinitely” with a friend. During the same period he ended up losing his Altadena home, just north of Los Angeles.
Besides her aesthetic choices, her love of jewelry gives away a lot about the character. She’s lumped in with the worst of the fuck-yeah-icky aesthetic of dirty chic. This aesthetic reflects her chill California disposition and fearlessly subverts tradition. This singular artistic vision has translated into her music, where she has dared to expand upon the nuances of sensitivity and the beauty of emotional juxtaposition.
Morissette identifies strongly with being part of the 20% of the population classified as “highly sensitive,” as well as the 4% considered “empaths.” She is convinced that these qualities have greatly impacted her real life and her artistic performances. Building on the influential work of psychologist Howard Gardner, Morissette believes there are many different intelligences. She applies this knowledge, both to her homeschool environment and to advise fellow friends who worry about the education of their kids.
I have 16 intelligences,” she explained, “and I use that as a template when I’m homeschooling.
Ultimately, Morissette’s approach to life and art is intimately connected to her feminist, post-identity perspective. She spoke openly about how her sensitivity impacts her approach to songwriting and that’s seen in her lyrics that embrace the complexities and contradictions of life. Her song “Hand In My Pocket” encapsulates this sentiment:
“I’m high, but I’m grounded / I’m sane, but I’m overwhelmed.”
Though she’s been through the gauntlet of past and present issues such as lacto-menopause, Morissette is as passionate as ever about making music. She understands that her responsibility is more than just writing the next great track. It’s interpreting the multilayered, nuanced tapestry of human experience with a clinical eye.
“My job has always been to understand an entire model through clinical training and otherwise, and then update it,” she explained.
Morissette’s honest musings about society show her to be a deep thinker about American culture. She highlights the special benefits of traveling, of seeing for yourself and understanding what other countries think of America.
“The gift of traveling the planet is I get glimpses of how the international community perceive America,” she remarked.
Her comments have an ironic bite, as she lamentingly jokes about American exceptionalism.
“Nice, nice, nice. Then piss us off on the wrong day and we explode.”
That cultural commentary blends seamlessly with her personal story, and it’s that combination of voice and wisdom that makes it so relatable and powerful. Morissette’s just-open-enough approach of laying herself bare has created a community whose members feel spiritually supported by Morissette’s confessions.
Of her many features her hair is the most conspicuous, the most discussed. As such, it functions as her creative compatriot, representing her identity and artistic evolution.
“I mean, my hair is a band mate,” she noted playfully.
The musician reminisced about opening for rapper Vanilla Ice early in her career, reflecting on how far she has come since those days.