NEW YORK, NY.- If Alanis Morissette’s albums were children, “Jagged Little Pill” would be the spoiled one — universally beloved, lavishly celebrated, extravagantly fed. She has a soft spot for her second born, “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie,” which was reissued with new material last month for its 25th anniversary. (She plays from the album on her current tour, which has dates through September.)
Morissette was only 25 when “Supposed” came out, in 1999, but “Jagged” had made her a battle-hardened veteran of the It Girl industrial complex. She had hoped success would bring communion with other stars of popular and alternative music; instead, she found herself isolated and creatively drained.
“I felt like I was at odds with the credo of the ’90s,” she said. “I thought there would be more intimacy and vulnerability and kumbaya, but it was all about aloofness and ennui and I am not aloof.”
Inspiration came from the unconditional love of her friends back home in Toronto, and a monthlong trip to India, the grounding influence of which can be heard on the album’s breakout single, “Thank You.” “My songs can be an invitation to three emotions American culture generally doesn’t allow: fear, anger and sadness,” she said. “I get excited to embody those things onstage, and to have people watch me and feel it in themselves.”
In an interview from New York, Morissette discussed the parts of her life that give her strength and perspective. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1. Living Libations Essential Oils
Nadine Artemis had an essential oil spot called Osmosis in downtown Toronto. When I was a teenager, I walked in and I thought, “Wow, this woman is a master. She’s my guru.” So I basically — kind of jokingly, but semiformally — have been under her wing for decades.
2. Financial Intelligence
I had the pleasure of interviewing Howard Gardner, who came up with the multiple intelligence theory, for my podcast, and I asked him if I could add some intelligences. I think financial intelligence is an intelligence. It feels like activism to be a female empowered around money and knowledgeable around it, and to be entering into the seat of entrepreneurialism.
3. Judy Garland
Watching her dance and sing and her agency and also her vulnerability, in a time that was very anti-feminism. The beautiful torture of needing to express in multiple ways. I see that in her, Carrie Fisher, Shirley MacLaine and Liza Minnelli, too.
4. ‘No Bad Parts’
I wrote the foreword to Richard Schwartz’s “No Bad Parts,” and I love that book because it gives us a mechanism to interact with the various parts of ourselves as opposed to just being subject to their vicissitudes. Instead of having this angry part of me act out and ruin all my relationships, the theory is that I can dialogue with it rather than just losing it on people.
5. Cold Exposure
Being Canadian, cold plunges are a little less horrifying for me, perhaps, constitutionally. I do one before the show. A few days ago, Joan Jett and I did one together and it was maybe one of the Top 10 experiences of my entire life.
6. Being Nocturnal
If I’m on tour, I go to bed probably between four and five in the morning. I’ve always had such shame about how much I come to life at night. As a mom, and as a person living in a highly overstimulating world, something about the night, the whole world being cloaked in darkness, just gives permission to listen to the various messages that might being trying to get through.
7. Heavier Weights
For a long time, there was this messaging of 2-to-3-pound weights for women. But as I grow older and I turned 50, I’ve seen the benefits of going heavier. I carry 15-to-20-pound kettlebells with me and I feel strong as (expletive) right now.
8. Indoor/Outdoor Living
Everywhere I go, I want to knock down walls. My grandmother said, “You’re allergic to walls, Alanis, and you’re allergic to windows and doors.” As a culture, we get sort of sucked into our technology. But how do I stay connected to the actual earth? How do I get those bare feet in the grass and get muddy? I like the combination of being a little dirty but also chic, with a haute aesthetic, fabrics and silhouettes.
9. Wholeness Over ‘Wellness’
Over the last 10 years there was a lot of focus on wellness. I like looking at a human being from all aspects: the spiritual, the sensual, the somatic, the intellectual; all the pieces of ourselves that have been hidden or lost, or that we’ve lied to ourselves about or swept under the rug.
10. Anything Red
I’ve loved red since I was a tiny person. My room was red, my wallpaper was red, my bed was red, my first boombox was red. As a chakra-curious person, red to me is also associated with tribe and community, and survival and longevity. It’s not the most relaxing color to stare at — but every time I see it, it feels like my spirit color.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
