Alanis Morissette Says She and Eminem Have 1 Thing in Common
Alanis Morissette has gone from singing some pretty dark stuff in the ’90s to humbly sharing a self-help podcast in the 2010s and now writing a book on meditation. Recently she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote her newly released, “Such Pretty Forks in the Mix.”
But they talked about much more, including the Broadway musical, Jagged Little Pill based on her ’90s album, and sharing something she has in common with Eminem.
Morissette’s beginnings in music
Alanis Morissette was born in Ottawa, Canada, the daughter of two teachers. She has a twin brother, Wade, who is also in the music business, and an older brother, Chad. She started playing the piano at six, took dance lessons at age seven, and started playing guitar at 21, according to IMDb.
After graduating from high school, Morrisette delved into her music career. In the early ’90s, she released two albums in Canada, for which she co-wrote the music with producer, Leslie Howard. The first album, “Alanis,” went platinum and one of the single’s, “Too Hot,” reached the top 20 on the RPM, a Canadian music magazine, singles chart.
But it wasn’t until her third album, “Jagged Little Pill,” that fans went crazy. She moved to Toronto and then on to Los Angeles, changed her style of music to alternative rock with lyrics of unsuccessful relationships, aggressiveness, and downright hostility.
The album topped the charts in 13 countries and sold some 33 million albums around the world. “Jagged Little Pill” remains one of the top-selling albums of all times and garnered nine Grammy Award nominations, taking home five including Album of the Year. Morissette was a mere 21-years-old at the time. That was 25 years ago.
A recent appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
Fast-forward to December 2020. At 46 Morissette is married and has three children. During her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! he recalled meeting her back in the day. Kimmel was working at an LA radio station, KROQ.
Morissette had a scheduled interview with the station’s morning show, “The Kevin and Bean Show.” “I remember hearing the song and saying, ‘this is a scary, scary woman,'” Kimmel said.
“That’s great,” Morissette said, “and it’s true.” Kimmel’s response, “But you didn’t seem that scary when we met you. You just seemed polite.”
“I think I had gotten it all out. Eminem and I have this thing where everyone assumes we are just going to come in and rip everything apart and scream at everybody,” she said. “But we’ve gotten it out in our music, so by the time we see you, we’re very convivial.”
What else is Alanis Morissette up to these days?
Morissette married her husband, rapper Mario Treadway, known as Souleye, in 2010. They have three children. Morissette enjoys spending time at home in San Francisco with her family.
Morissette began recording podcasts, Conversation with Alanis Morissette in 2014, interview teachers, authors, and leaders with differing views on a variety of topics aiming at healing, wholeness, and recovery. The podcasts are available on her website.
A rock musical based on writer Diablo Cody’s interpretation of Morissette’s album, “Jagged Little Pill,” opened on Broadway in 2019. As Kimmel revealed during his show, the musical has been nominated for 15 Tony Awards. Cody had first heard the album as a teenager growing in a Chicago suburb, according to NPR.
“I spent the entire summer kind of screaming along to those songs in my car when it came out,” Cody said in the article. “It was just irresistible to me.”
The musical is not about Morissette. “It tells a new story about the Healys, an American family that appears to be picture-perfect but, privately, is a mess,” NPR’s Denise Guerra wrote.
Songs in the production include not only those from the album “Jagged Little Pill,” but other Morissette songs and two more she wrote specifically for the musical, “Smiling,” and “Predator.”
Having just released her remix of “Such Pretty Forks in the Mix,” Morissette told Kimmel that she is currently writing a book on meditation, a much-needed niche, she said, during this time of the pandemic.
