Looking at the cover reminded me of this other album “My Bloody Valentine” that was written by Loveless, an Irish Rock band. Both album covers show very vibrant colors and 90s inspired styles. These album covers and a few of their songs reminds me of American rock and the mainstreamed songs that can be found in many coming of age TV shows and movies. Shows like “Buffy the Vampire” or “One Tree Hill” that came out and were still airing before and during the 2000s. In my first listenings I felt like Avril Levigne was inspired by Alanis Morissette. I say this because throughout the whole time I listened to the “Jagged Little Pill” album I thought about “Complicated” by Avril Levigne, and “Sk8er Boi”. The whole time I thought of how both female artists are able to show how much they are full of passion and always had songs full of emotions and stories.
Personally I can only go lengths to understand Alanis Morissette songs. I read her song lyrics and I personally would skip “Forgiven” although I know there’s more to the songs. Some of Alanis songs express themes of growing in and out of religion but also going through mistakes in past relationships and how she faced deceit in other people. Still my least favorite, along with “You Learn”, because it’s not really my style and it sounds preachy with the lyrics “You live, you learn” as well as the music video. In “You Learn” music video, it felt a bit out of place, random and wasn’t as inspiring as her other music videos. In “You learn” music video you see her walking past people whether it’s in an urban area or riding a white horse in the city while randomly changing into different colored tracksuits. What also caught me off guard the cartwheeling or the part where she kisses a random street performer and then walks away.
My favorite parts of the album and the songs were in, “You Oughta know” beginning lyrics. She sings “I want you to know that I am happy for you. I wish nothing but the best for you both,” with a loathsome tone. It implies she resents the person she’s writing this towards. Secondly I like the way the harmonica fits songs like “Hand In My Pocket” and the song “All I Really Want”. “Ironic” has to be one of my favorite music videos. I like “Ironic” music video because it shows her on a road trip with herself, different takes of her as if there’s more than one of her. I like the way it’s filmed, and how it only takes place inside a car. It’s different from how she takes the heartbreak and pain in “You Oughta Know” music video. She used “You Oughta Know” as a more traditionally rock music video, full of anger that’s more visible than what she showed on “Ironic”. In “Ironic” she was more playful and took it as misfortunes being part of life yet in both music videos you can see her personality and strong emotions flow through her movements and her dances.
The whole album’s themes ties back to the acknowledgement about the many troubles life brings her. Whether it’s about being disrespected, failed relationships, dealing with men in the music industry, worrying about her friend MaryJane’s mental health, and her feelings, Alanis is able to freely express herself through this genre. They are all relatable and remind me of a recent singer by the name Rina Sawayama. Both of these artists have a way of making different styles and genres shape their albums. Some songs from Rina Sawayama and Alanis Morissette have in common like “Right Through You” and Sawayama’s “STFU”. Both of these songs talk about men and the music industry, vocalizing how women are treated unfairly. As well as Alanis “Hand In My Pocket” and Rina Sawayama “Love me 4 Me” talk about loving themselves even if they aren’t what society would call as perfect. I make these comparisons because I listen to many female artists and their similar styles in them. Everytime I listened to one of Alanis “Jagged Little Pill” songs I’d think of how many other artists who’d switch genres, use electric guitars and feel more expressive through rock music to this day.
Cbc.ca interview “You Oughta Know: an Oral History of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill” Ballard says, “we were just writing songs and I think that’s the best thing that could’ve happened, because I think she was much too original.” Like I said before, she has a clear way of expressing her personality and a way of expressing how she feels indirectly with singing tones in all her songs. Many female artists now are very expressive and full of similar subjects Alanis Morisette expressed in her “Jagged Little Pill” album. In another article by cbc.ca “Jagged Little Pill at 25: How Alanis Morissette Tapped into Female Rage and Changed Music for Good” in the article she expresses her take on the topic of rage and anger expressed by women in music. “Big part of their success was that they unapologetically tapped into an artery of raw female emotion — especially anger, says Morissette,” I highly agree with this portion of the article., There’s this endless stream of talent when artists, especially women, learn that anger is part of our important emotions and shouldn’t be left out when writing music. Alanis shows how there’s a lot of potential for artist growth when sharing anger and themes around that emotion
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