Alanis Morissette plunged into the grunge-infested American
\nmusic scene after playing disco-doll up in Canada. The US paid no
\nnotice whatsoever of her before 1995, even after garnering a Juno
\nfor Most Promising Female Artist with her early, dance infused
\nalbums. However, this was no pop-diva who landed on American
\nshores. Her American debut came at a time of artists of stark
\ncontrast; sugary-sweet LeAnn Rimes on one side of the charts,
\nCourtney Love on the other. The Squeaky-clean vs. Dirty Grrrls.
\nWhat we got from Alanis was a woman who seemed to be somewhere in
\nthe middle, and knew where to draw the line before becoming either
\nof those extremes. What we also got, was a really pissed-off chick
\nwith a chip on her shoulder.<\/p>\n
“You Oughta Know” took the airwaves by force, immediately
\nshooting up the charts and becoming a sort of anthem for jilted
\nwomen. Alanis spares no one from the ugliest, hurtful scenes from
\nher pain and suffering. She’s happy to forcefully compare herself
\nto her ex’s new love “An older version of me, is she perverted like
\nme?” This was no weepy little girl, this chick had stones. She
\nwasn’t afraid to interject herself uninvited, just to say her
\npiece, “Did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity? I hate to bug you
\nin the middle of dinner.” Frankly, I don’t think she hated doing
\nthat, I think she reveled in it. As hurt as she may have been, she
\nwasn’t about to curl up and sing “How Do I Live Without You?” —
\noh, no. She seems to have focused all her anger and resentment into
\na cathartic soundtrack for love gone bad. And she allows millions
\nof people to share, albeit vicariously, in her psychological
\nrevenge fantasy.<\/p>\n
\nJagged Little Pill<\/i> almost seems like an exercise in
\nself-therapy. Alanis bares her soul, and her personal pains and
\ntriumphs. With a knowing wink and a crooked half grin, she explores
\nthe nature of love and relationships on songs like “Perfect” and
\n“Not The Doctor”; and the process of healing on “Hand in Pocket”
\nand “You Learn.” She seems to be describing her own pain and it’s
\naftermath in these songs. Telling the listener that’s it’s ok to be
\nhurt, and at the same time, giving a little glimmer of hope. In
\n“Head Over Feet,” she describes the antithesis of “You Oughta
\nKnow,” finding herself in love again, despite her own defenses
\nagainst it, singing “You’ve already won me over, in spite of
\nme.”<\/p>\n
On this disc Alanis teams up with producer and musician Glen
\nBallard, who helps bring out the best qualities of her quirky
\nvoice. Her voice is a bit odd at times, and often seem to be barely
\ncontained at the upper end of her range. Ballard does a nice job of
\nreigning it in. The end result is very well-balanced, sonically as
\nwell as thematically. The grungy, hard-rocking numbers mix well
\nwith the softer songs. The hurt she shares is juxtaposed against a
\nmirror of hope, and sometimes, against the unalterable eventuality
\nof simple fate, as in the eclectic “Ironic.” Her wry, intelligent
\nlyrics combine with some very catchy musical arrangements to make
\nfor a fine set of memorable songs that bear repeat listening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6010],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37848","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alanis-morissette","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37848"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}