Alanis Morissette know there are plenty of people
out there who predict she'll never be able to match the
incredible success whe's had in the past year. Despite
the pressure she's under to make a second album as appealing
as the Grammy-award winning JLP, Morissette, 22, is surprisingly
confident as she prepared for a world tour that will take
her the the end of the year, when she returns to the studio
with co-writer Glen Ballard. The tour brings her to a
sold-our GM Place next Wednesday.
With You Learn, her fourth hit from JLP currently
at No. 2 on the Canadian singles chart, the album has become
the best-selling debut of the decade (WOOHOO!!) with sales
surpassing that of Hootie and the Blowfish's Cracked Rear
View. Cracked sold 9.03 million copies after it's July 1994
release and JLP hit 9.11 millions copies sold.
Morissette, a LA resident for the past 2 1/2 years,
performed at the huge Prince's Trust Concert June 29 in
Lodon's Hyde Park along with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and
the Who. She had four sold-out dates at the Greek Theatre
in LA.
Life on the road is somply about surviviing day to
day, the Ottawa-born singer said. Yet, in a recent phone
interview, Morissette sounded extrememly relaxed.
"My personal life is going well," she said. "It's
difficult on the road to do anything except be a leader, a
partner, or a boss. It's about survival rather than thriving.
But things are getting much better, and I'm more communicative
these days. I'm in that grey area between the
passive-aggressive apporach I've taken all my life. But
I think it's impossible no to to repress some things."
Q: What kind of pressure are you under to follow the success
of JLP?
A: There are two distince worlds I inhabit. One is the
entertainment world, where I'm growing as a lyricist and
a communicator and a performer. Then, there's the business
side. The latter world, I can't control. I don't even
think about it for more than the time I need to because I
know it's not under my control. All I can promise is, I
will write from wherever I am at the time. And if that
results in my losing thousands of people who bought my
first album, so be it.
Q: Did you have any idea the album would take off the
way it did? It's sold 13 million copies worldwide at
last count.
A: When it was finished, I though it would appeal to
the people who would understand what I was after. I
just really appreaciated the entire process. It was
amazing working with Glen. I've worked with over 100
collaborators, and it was a very unfulfilling process for
whatever reason. But I always held out that I'd eventually
find someone on my own wavelength.
Q: Having never seen you in concert, how do you fill an
entire evening with just one album's worth of material?
A: I've got five or six new songs written. Two with
Glen, some with the band, and one I'm writing alone. We
used to cover Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees. The plan
is, I'll come off the road in December, then go back into
the studio with Glen in January. I'd like to write the
next record in the same concentrated amount of time. The
first one was done in something like a little more than
two months.
Q: What recent experiences will you draw upong when
it's time to write new material?
A: I'm inspired by conversations with people first and
foremost. Connecting with someone on a cerebral level
is the best thing in the world. It's next to godliness
for me. It's important to me that people be open to
vulnerability and honesty, and I've noticed there are a
lot more spiritual, open-minded, cerebral people that
I'm meeting.
Q: Was YOK totally misread as an angry shout out?
A: The song was more vulnerable than upset or angry.
Anger is an extension of hurt, to me. It's a cowardly
way of dealing with pain. When I sing the song now, I
think back to the original emotion. The acoustic version
with strings at the Grammys was my way of carrying it
back to its first emotion, feeling hurt and confused.
So, when I see the Angry Young Woman label, it's
completely missing the point of what the song is about.
Q: Did it bother you to be used as the figurehead for
the latest chapter in the Women in Rock series?
A: It's just the media spin. It's the people I'm singing
to and the spirit that's getting the real message across.
Thsoe short, snappy cliches just end up selling someone
short by making them appear to be one-dimensional. It's
shorthand, a quick one-line summary of a person. I
understand the need to sensationalize, but people need
the patience to delve deeper than that. And a lot of
journalists do go beyond it. But others feel compelled to
characterize me in that way.
Q: Well, I almost hate to ask, but are you angry lately?
A: Yes, I'm angry sometimes. Anger is a part of me, like
it is with everybody. It's one part along with other the parts.
Q: Does it bother you to be spotted in public?
A: I'm sometimes recognized on the streets. I can go
some days where nobody looks twice. It depends on the
molecules in the air that day. I know my face isn't that
well-known as some artists.
Q: Describe your audience.
A: I see everybody, every shape and form. Some nights
it will be predominantly yound women. In Amsterdam, I
was surprised to see something like 98% males.
Q: Is there any emotion, feeling or thought you won't
deal with in a song?
A: If it writes itself into a song, I don't question
it. I'm empowered by my vulnerability and not apolegetic
at all for it.
Q: Are you much of a student of pop music?
A: I've never thought about fomulas. It's to my chagrin
that I'm so ignorant about all the music that's out there.
I have so few CDs. When I was writing with Glen, he would
comment about all these albums he thought I knew. And I
hadn't heard of any of them.
Q: How's life at Maverick?
A: They've given me 100% freedom. It took time for them
to believe I was self-sufficient creatively and decisionwise.
We've earned a mutual respect that only comes in time.
I've had some good and bad experiences in that regard with
labels in the past. But I have no complaints today.
Q: How do you fill time on the road? Are you reading anything?
A: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (by Tom Robbins), books on
pshycology and autobiographies. With Cowgirls, I can relate
to some of it. With that writer, there's something profound
every 20 pages.
Q: Do you feel any responsibility, now that you have
power in the music business, to call attention to any new
or little-known acts you particularly like?
A: I've sung the praises of several different artists who
I thought would connect with my fans. I've taken a few
bands I really like on the road. I do whatever I can,
really. I don't believe I've got a magic wand I can wave
and make things happen. Bur for people like Radiohead,
Tori Amos, Bjork, and PJ Harvey, for whatever reason, there
are people I connect with that they don't connect with.
Maybe my music is a little more literal than theirs.
