E-mail a friendAlanis Morissette
airdate July 29, 2005
Alanis Morissette was playing piano by age 6 and writing songs by age 9. At 17, she became a pop diva in her native Canada's music industry and went on to unprecedented success for a female artist with her '95 debut U.S. album, the groundbreaking "Jagged Little Pill." The seven-time Grammy winner has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Morissette's new CD, "Flavors of Entanglement," is her first original studio release in four years. Having added acting to her résumé, she can also be seen in Radio Free Albemuth.
Alanis Morissette
Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Alanis Morissette back to this program. The 7-time Grammy winner is out this summer with an acoustic version of her hit debut disc, 'Jagged Little Pill.' Hard to believe it's been 10 years, but that original CD sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Why are you still making records? That's enough for a lifetime right there.
Alanis Morissette: Throw in the towel.
Tavis: 30 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling debut for a female solo artist in all of music history. The new CD is called 'Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.' Go figure. In just a few minutes, she'll perform a song from the disc, but first, Alanis, nice to see you again.
Morissette: Good to see you.
Tavis: Glad to have you back. I always feel good when folk come back on the program. It makes me feel like I didn't do too badly the first time.
Morissette: You did so well. I felt so welcomed and challenged.
Tavis: I'm glad you're back. Thank you. So my little--my--anyway, I'm glad you're back. 2 things have happened, though, since you were here last. More than 2 things, but certainly 2 things. One, you became a U.S. citizen.
Morissette: I did. I'm an American citizen again.
Tavis: So you're from Canada?
Morissette: Yep.
Tavis: U.S. citizen, that's funny for me because who was here the other night? Jane Seymour. Jane Seymour's been here like 26 years--the actress--been here 26 years and she finally became a U.S. citizen. So I'm like, "Is there something in the water? Like, why is everybody becoming--
Morissette: She was sworn in the same day I was.
Tavis: It was the same day?!
Morissette: Yeah.
Tavis: Oh, wow! Now, that, I didn't know. You guys were in the same ceremony?
Morissette: No, 2 ceremonies: one in the morning--4,500 people--and one in the afternoon.
Tavis: So you already knew about this--
Morissette: She was the morning woman, I was the afternoon. Yeah, exactly.
Tavis: 'Cause musicians sleep late, that's why.
Morissette: Yeah, we don't get up that early.
Tavis: As a matter of fact, if they had a session that swore you in at 1:00 A.M., you would have been really cool with that.
Morissette: It would have never happened.
Tavis: So it happened on the same day. So she gave me her reason, but this ain't about Jane Seymour, although I love her. Why for you? Why now?
Morissette: Well, I'm a dual citizen, so I'm still Canadian. I wouldn't have done it if I had to revoke my Canadian citizenship, but a lot of great reasons. America's been so good to me as an artist, supported me, there's no ceiling here in so many ways. I feel very much like I could have an idea and it will be met with, "Let's do it. What's your idea? Let's flesh it out." To be able to bring my family down if they want to come down, and it makes it a little easier to travel. I travel so much that some of the visas are easier to get, and I just love America.
Tavis: That's cool. Well, we love you, Alanis.
Morissette: Oh, well, thank you.
Tavis: 30 million CDs, of course, you figured that out by now. Secondly, I see this ring on your finger here. This wasn't here the last time I saw you.
Morissette: No, it wasn't.
Tavis: So, congratulations. You're engaged now.
Morissette: I am engaged.
Tavis: Tell me about the dude.
Morissette: His name's Ryan Reynolds, fellow Canadian, and just a lovely creature. We've just been on this amazing journey. I'm sure it's no news to anyone in committed relationships, but it's a wild journey being in a commitment like this.
Tavis: So you're happy.
Morissette: I am.
Tavis: That's a good thing.
Morissette: Mm-hmm.
Tavis: This 'Jagged Little Pill' CD made a lot of people happy 10 years ago. Can you believe it's been 10 years?
Morissette: I can't. It feels like about 5 minutes. Yeah. But it's been a wild 10 years, and in some ways I feel like it's been 20 years in a lot of ways, too. There's been a lot of evolution and change and growth, and I think doing the acoustic versions has really allowed me to acknowledge it for the first time, because during that 1995 period, I was in survival mode. I just put my head down to keep it together, and now I can actually look at it with some objectivity and enjoy it in some ways for the first time.
Tavis: Tell me how--that explains why you decided to do it 10 years later--the acoustic version, that is--tell me, though, whether or not you've had any struggles trying to make this thing good, make it relevant, make it uniquely different enough so that folk wouldn't say, "I got that from 10 years ago."
Morissette: Well, I think by default because there's been evolution in my personal life and my voice, even. Down to that detail, it was going to be different by default. I didn't really go into it thinking it had to be any one thing, I just thought, "Let it be what it is. Let it be a snapshot of these acoustic, more vulnerable, you know, sort of more broken-down skeleton versions." Yeah, so, and I just really see it as a tip of the hat to a record that, like I mentioned, I hadn't really acknowledged or been able to take in at the time.
Tavis: So I'm fascinated to hear this from you--forget the critics--so 10 years later, you can tell that your voice has changed. How has your voice changed? I'm just curious now. How did it change for you over 10 years?
Morissette: It's gotten lower and higher, so the range has broadened, and there's more confidence. I'm not crossing my fingers every time I go to hit a note anymore. I have more control over it.
Tavis: That confidence comes with? Comes from performing a lot or--
Morissette: It comes from touring, touring my face off for the last 10 years. Yeah.
Tavis: Yeah. After 10 years, you still love this music on this CD as much as you did when you recorded it?
Morissette: I do. Every time I sing the songs, I just feel like it's a new communication. I think if it were a same audience every night, it would be a little weird, but I feel like I'm having a new conversation every night when I'm singing these songs, so--
Tavis: I've often wondered how an artist feels about performing the same song 10, 15, 20, 30 years later. Even though the audience changes every night, I gotta know--I gotta believe at least there are certain nights--even if you love the song, you're like, "I'm really not feeling that song tonight," but you know that the audience really wants to hear that song.
Morissette: They need you to. Well, songs like--I'll think of a song like 'You Oughta Know' or even if I'm in a really edgy kind of frustrated mode, I'm trying to sing an overly sweet, kind of lilting, you know, self-caring song, the songs will catapult me into that head space pretty quickly, so that helps. And then there's no more fun to be had than expressing a range of emotions in one evening. It balances everything out; it calibrates it all for me.
Tavis: How did the fans--you just--you're gonna perform a number here in just a second off the acoustic CD. But you just finished--you just wrapped the acoustic tour? How did the fans respond on the tour?
Morissette: It was my favorite tour hands down. Yeah, it was such an exchange. You know, typically I would just perform, there'd be a monologue aspect to it, do my thing, run away and hide. So, now it was much more of an energetic exchange, they were a lot more vocal, there was more interactivity, so yummy.
Tavis: All right, so since it was that yummy, I assume that some delicious idea has come out of doing this acoustic thing 10 years later, so what did you figure out, what did you feel, what did you think, what's the plan for something uniquely different down the road? I know something had to come out of this beyond just another great CD.
Morissette: Yeah, a couple different sides of it. The touring side, it's really inspiring me to be more interactive, and I'll always rock out and do rock tours as such, but I like to think that in the future, I can do more interactive kinds of things. On the record side, I love recording acoustic versions, breaking them down. It's my favorite thing to do, so I'll obviously do studio records to begin with, and then do different versions always.
Tavis: Well, since it's your favorite thing to do, I'm such a nice guy, I'm gonna let you do it here.
Morissette: Well, bless you.
Tavis: Well, thank you. So, we will let Alanis prove to us how much she really loves this acoustic thing. Up next, a performance by Alanis Morissette. The song you're gonna do is 'Head Over Feet.'
Morissette: 'Head Over Feet.'
Tavis: Does that remind you of this guy Ryan now?
Morissette: It really does.
Tavis: I'm sure it does. Oh, love, what a wonderful thing. Up next, Alanis Morissette and some band mates. Stay with us.
From her terrific new CD, 'Jagged Little Pill Acoustic,' here is Alanis Morissette performing 'Head Over Feet.' Enjoy. Good night from Los Angeles and keep the faith.
Back to July 29, 2005