The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 13, 2004, Page B6, Image 16
Evolution of Alanis: No longer angry, she’s content in her own skin
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THE OHANOK COUNTY HECJISTEIt
Alanis Morissette had been peeling
away protective layers for close to a half
hour, her tone serious but punctuated by
infectious laughter. Maturation, the re
turn-of-Saturn effect that tends to radi
calize life at 30 (“I can’t believe there
aren’t 150,000 books written about this
phase”), the need to take responsibility
for her feelings and step away from “a
place of blame and being the victim” — it
certainly wasn’t light conversation.
Her life right now, she explained, is
about “embracing exactly what this time
period presents. That’s sort of a mantra
that I have in my mind every day:
Whatever is presented to me, whether it’s
in the form of a conflict with someone or
just a simple situation, there’s nothing
that I can’t transmute on some level.
“It’s exhausting at times,” she added,
laughing more heartily as her thought
went on, “but I just make sure I give my
self a break every now and then. Just tune
out and read People magazine, you
know?”
Perfect timing, then, to ask her to trans
niuie a vciy rcupic-c34uc 4uc3uuu.
What’s up with her hair? “Very in-depth,”
she kindly mocked.
Right, it’s frivolous. But after years of
framing her long, drawn face with a scrag
gly mane that reached her rear,
Morissette recently cut her 'do in half.
She now sports shoulder-length ringlets.
There probably hasn’t been such a dras
tic follicle fix-up in rock since the
Samsons of Metallica chopped off their
locks.
Is it representative of life changes? Or
did it come from just wanting a new
hairstyle?
“It’s a bit of everything,” she said.
“There’s an element of my having been
bored with the other hairstyle. I also used
to hide behind it like a security blanket
and avoid connection with people just by
literally putting my head down.”
That change is just one of many that
can be put down to growing older. “When
I was 21,1 was so judgmental of all things
Hollywood,” she recalled, “and yet part of
mie knew that I was destined to be on the
proverbial red carpet. I was judgmental
yet I yearned for it at the same time.
“Whereas now, I’m aware of why I’m
uicic. x in V/Uiuiui iauic vvxui ixxj xxxuixva
tion. And I’m just enjoying it.”
Enjoyment is the last thing anyone
would have thought Morissette experi
enced when she burst onto the music
scene nearly a decade ago.
We all oughta know how that Alanis
was. Wise beyond her years. Battle
scarred by love. Angry but justifiably so.
She emerged from a difficult adolescence,
largely spent making fluffy kids enter
tainment and fluffier pop, as a precocious
girl with a poet’s heart about to dive head
long into the anything-can-happen abyss
of young womanhood.
And everything did happen. By the end
of 1995, the just-21 singer-songwriter’s de
but, “Jagged Little Pill,” was well on its
way to becoming one of the biggest-sell
ing albums of all-tipie, to the tune of 30
million copies worldwide. Hugely influ
ential and imitated annually, it would be
come one of the defining albums of the
decade, scoring five hit singles and a then
record four Grammys for Morissette —
and taking naked confessionalism to com
mercial heights that esteemed forebears
such as Joni Mitchell and Sinead
O’Connor couldn’t scale.
it- uau guut iium ucmg iiwuuuj
an unusual name to an icon, one who in
advertently helped usher in the era’s
femme-rock movement. But the spotlight
was soul-draining, the aftermath of sud
den success taxing.
“I thought of myself in terms of tend
ing a plant,” she said. “A plant can’t sur
vive with all that focus on it. Just give it a
little water, put it in the sun and leave it
alone — it’ll grow. I was given too much
water and too much sun.”
Morissette’s reaction to such media
saturation has been well-covered:
Retreating after two years of touring, she
fine-tuned her spiritual side with an
Indian sojourn, then issued her chal
lenging second album, “Supposed Former
Infatuation Junkie.” Darker, deeper and
wordier, it sold a fraction of what its pre
decessor had. Though still her most re
warding collection, in retrospect it’s the
work that separated the casual fans from
the die-hards.
But her last two albums — 2002’s
“Under Rug Swept” and the recent “So
Called Chaos” — though no less intro
spective and outspoken, have found
Morissette growing comfortable in her
vv 11 oixiii. VJum. io u*v uugoi v/i jvuiu uiiu
the anguish of thorny breakups; in their
place, loving examinations of what’s hap
pening to her now, as opposed to what
happened years ago.
She’s developed a sense of humor about
herself (evident in “Eight Easy Steps”)
and “I’m much more compassionate with
myself,” as indicated by the tender real
izations of “Doth I Protest Too Much.” At
times she’s almost exuberantly happy;
“Knees of My Bees,” for instance, is a cel
ebration of love for her fiance, actor Ryan
Reynolds.
Turning 30, she says, “has brought me.
much more to the present moment, but
not at the exclusion of what’s gone on in
my past. I just feel like I’m using my past
for my own betterment nowadays. I can
still reference the past, but I don’t have to
live in it.”
Which means the more volatile Alanis
may be gone — if not forever, then for a
long while. “I laugh about that now, when
I hear people say, ‘We wish you were an
gry like you were in ’95.’ 1 always think.
‘Well, there are plenty of artists who want
to stay in their one persona. You can go
see them. Go buy their records.’”
Curiosa
CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1
latest album, “The Ugly
Organ,” was released in
2003.
Melissa AUF DER
MAUR is the former
bassist for Hole and The
Smashing Pumpkins,
and “Auf Der Maur,” her
self-titled debut released
earlier this year, is her
first stab at going out on
her own.
THE COOPER TEMPLE
CLAUSE is a six-piece ex
perimental-rock band
based out of Reading,
England. Their latest re
1 ~~~~ T Tv* 17i~r*
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Cursive is just one of the many bands on the Curiosa Festival bill.
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and Let the Flames Break Loose,” was released in
2003 and has garnered praise from publications like
England’s NME.
HEAD AUTOMATICA is the collaboration between
Glassjaw’s Darryl Palumbo and all-star producer Dan
the Automator (known best for his work with the
Gorillaz). Their debut album comes out Aug. 17.
SCARLING is Jessicka Fodera from Jack Off Jill’s
new band and the most goth-influenced group of the
festival’s lineup. The band’s latest album was re
leased in February.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm. sc. edu
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