Alanis Morissette
97 quotes
Biography
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as the "Queen of Alt-Rock Angst", she became a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s, gaining international fame for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting.
"Down the road, I'll probably have a kid or two or three. And there will probably be political events or spiritual things to comment on, and humor."
"I've been surrounded by a lot of people who felt that external success would result in them feeling good about themselves. But it just seems extremely unfulfilling to me."
"In my opinion, I think sarcasm and humor in a song, without turning it into a novelty song, is really charming."
"I try to keep a low profile in general. Not with my art, but just as a person."
"I'm quite obsessed with the idea of nailing the girl friendship. It's such an art, so delicate."
"There's a lyric in the middle of the song that says, "I want to decide between survival and bliss." Basically I'm talking about the difference between really being alive and really embracing the reason why I'm here on this earth versus my just being asleep and sleep walking and accepting the status quo and accepting somewhat of a suffering mentality to being here. It really is my responsibility to distinguish the difference between the two and choose which one I want. It's so easy for me to want to not take responsibility for my life and relinquish it and look outside of myself for the answers that I know very well are within me. It's so scary to be silent and it's so scary to go within, until I do it. And once I'm doing it, I just wonder why I wasn't doing this all the time. So that decision to be fully alive is one that is preceded by some pretty intense decisions and some choices and responsibility-taking that at times can be very intimidating, again, before I do it."
"When [Jagged Little Pill] came out, I feel like I immediately went into survival mode to keep the 'overwhelm' that comes from being famous at bay. Ten years later, I have the luxury of time and distance to formally honor it."
"For a long time, I didn't understand the idea of not being able to appeal to a human heart. And then Marianne Williamson (if I can dare drop her name)... we were doing a Q&A on stage, and there was a question about evil, and my quick, sort of spiritual response was (and I actually stand by it in some senses)... was that human beings are... maybe we're traumatised, maybe we're disconnected, and our behavior, ideally, would be separate from the truth of who we essentially are."
"There's nothing ironic about being stuck in a traffic jam when you're late for something. [pause] Unless you're a town planner. If you were a town planner... and you were late for a seminar of town planners at which you were giving a talk on how you solved the problem of traffic congestion in your area, and couldn't get to it because you got stuck in a traffic jam, that'd be well ironic! [mimicking a town planner] 'I'm sorry, lads, you'll never guess!'"
"Canada has a passive-aggressive culture, with a lot of sarcasm and righteousness. That went with my weird messianic complex. The ego is a fascinating monster. I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet."
"I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet."
"When I was producing on my own, I was doing it in order to - in a very patriarchal entertainment industry, let alone planet - very much hell-bent on trying to prove to myself, if nothing else, that I could do it as a woman."
"I was always such a people-watcher. I would sit on street corners alone and watch people and make up stories about them in my head. Then, all of a sudden, I was the one being watched."
"We're taught to be ashamed of confusion, anger, fear and sadness, and to me they're of equal value to happiness, excitement and inspiration."
"It's a joke to think that anyone is one thing. We're all such complex creatures. But if I'm going to be a poster child for anything, anger's a gorgeous emotion. It gets a bad rap, but it can make great changes happen."
"When I was younger, I was terrified to express anger because it would often kick-start a horrible reaction in the men in my life. So I bit my tongue. I was left to painstakingly deal with the aftermath of my avoidance later in life, in therapy or through the lyrics of my songs."
"When someone says that I'm angry it's actually a compliment. I have not always been direct with my anger in my relationships, which is part of why I'd write about it in my songs because I had such fear around expressing anger as a woman."
"What influenced me was Tori Amos, who was unapologetic about expressing anger through music, and Sinead O'Connor. Those two in particular were really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote 'Jagged Little Pill.'"
"Trauma happens in relationships, so it can only be healed in relationships. Art can't provide healing. It can be cathartic and therapeutic but a relationship is a three-part journey."
"In LA, where I live, it's all about perfectionism. Beauty is now defined by your bones sticking out of your decolletage. For that to be the standard is really perilous for women."
"Beauty is now defined by your bones sticking out of your decolletage. For that to be the standard is really perilous for women."
"I live with some of my best friends from high school, very commune-like, in my house. It's my hippie way of life."
"At some point, I would like to write a book and other things, but I work best when there is some sort of deadline in my own mind, but not when fifty people or fifty million people are breathing down the back of my neck."
"I'm doing it because I choose it. And if it's not working, I can make a change."
"Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality."