Alanis returns in 2002 with her first studio recording in four years! It perfectly captures the pure rockin', raw emotion that has made her one of music's most popular and recognizable women today. This enhanced CD also features links to a secret site that contains exclusive bonus videos and audio tracks -- we dare you to pass this one up!

Under Rug Swept is the fifth album by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette. Released by Maverick Records in the United States on February 26, 2002 and in the United Kingdom a day earlier (see 2002 in music), it was the first album Morissette had written and produced on her own. It debuted at number one on charts in twelve countries, including Canada, and produced the singles "Hands Clean" and "Precious Illusions". Sales, however, did not match those of Morissette's previous two studio albums.

Background and production

Before recording of the album began, when she hadn't written songs or journal entries for nine months, Morissette went to Toronto not knowing whether she was going to write songs herself or with someone else. In the first week of her stay she had written seven songs alone, and she described the writing process as "really fast and accelerated". As on her previous albums, Morissette took a stream-of-consciousness approach to the songwriting. She wrote the music and lyrics at the same time, spending around twenty minutes or less on each song, and recorded the vocals during the writing process, in one or two takes. "I really wanted to make sure that I wrote in the studio so that, while I was writing, I could be singing it at the same time", she said.Stringer, Jeffrey. . Borders Group. March 4, 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2007. According to Morissette, she had a "little space station" with a keyboard, an acoustic, an electric, her journal and a microphone set up, and everything was recorded onto DAT.Vineyard, Jennifer. . MTV News. January 31, 2002. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Morissette had not planned to produce an album on her own, saying "It was just a matter of when it would happen organically". She "kept things from becoming overwhelming" by refraining from cross-connecting her producing, songwriting and performing duties.Flick, Larry. "Alanis Excels On Her Own". Billboard. January 19, 2002, vol. 114, iss. 3, pg. 1.

Production of the album was delayed when Morissette became involved in disputes with executives at Maverick Records after she testified at U.S. Government hearings against artist-unfriendly record contract practices. As she put it, she had to go through lawyers to "have a dialogue with people" and take extended period of time to "have one little thing figured out". Because she was accustomed to having the producers on her albums act as "the buffer to the outside world" during recording, she found it a challenge to handle the situation on her own. "I was trying to be isolated enough to tap into my artistry while keeping people at bay who don't know fuck all about nurturance", she said. Eventually, it became "too much" for Morissette and she took negotiations into her own hands, which meant she had to halt her work on the album: "I had to be willing to throw the record away and not ever release it."

Despite the relatively low sales of Morissette's previous two albums, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and MTV Unplugged (1999), compared to those of her international debut album, Jagged Little Pill (1995), Maverick Records considered her a strong commercial asset and were concerned that she would leave because of the disputes and release the album on another label. For a time Morissette was threatening to leave Maverick (according to Entertainment Weekly), until label founder Madonna intervened and persuaded her to stay.Reese, Lori. . Entertainment Weekly. June 15, 2001. Retrieved January 28, 2007. During the delay, Morissette brought in musicians such as bassists Eric Avery (formerly of Jane's Addiction) and Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dean DeLeo (guitarist for Stone Temple Pilots) and Me'shell Ndegeocello to play on the album. After this period, in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, she previewed the track "Utopia" on her website.vanHorn, Terri. . MTV News. September 25, 2001. Retrieved January 28, 2007.

During the making of the album, Morissette wrote twenty-seven songs, which she eventually narrowed down to seventeen. When she was mixing and producing the album, every time she reached the eleventh track she, as she put it, "would shut down. My brain would shut off and I just felt like it was information overload ... I didn't want to overwhelm myself or anyone else in the process of trying to cram them all onto the double CD."Stevenson, Jane. . Calgary Sun. December 12, 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2007. She planned for several of the excluded songs to be released as single B-sides or on a separate EP to be released after the album; eight of them were released on a CD/DVD package, Feast on Scraps, released in late 2002. "I just could not face the idea of letting all of these songs go", she had said. "They're all precious to me. It's just a matter of finding the right framework in which to share them with the world."

Themes

Morissette has said that during the writing and recording of the album, she noticed a unifying theme emerging of "the desire to mend unions and bridge gaps. Whether it be between genders or between human beings, between spirits."van der Kooy, Dan and Cook, Shanon. . CNN. July 5, 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2002. She said that when she began working on the album, she was at "the middle of the beginning of the end of a relationship", and that entering the studio and writing new material "would propel me to face some of the truths that were scaring me. Inevitably, we ended up breaking up, so the record kind of followed the grieving of it, then the proverbial phoenix rising and continuing to grow." Under Rug Swept was also influenced by the extensive travelling Morissette did between recording sessions, particularly her stay at a Navajo reservation: "The sense of community the Navajo people really focus on, there's a similar sense of community I felt when I traveled, when we toured through the Middle East", she explained. "It permeates what I yearn for and I try to create it as best as I can through the songs". She described the album as melodically and sonically "more structured" than her previous album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998).Sullivan, Kate. . Spin. March 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2007.

The first track, "21 Things I Want in a Lover", features Morissette listing the qualities she looks for in a partner. "There's a part of this song where I'm joking, but there's a whole part of this song where I'm dead serious", she said. "Because the palm sweating, heart palpitating beginnings of a relationship often result in a huge amount of incompatibility, so the concept of compatibility is so much more important to me as I get older.". MSO. Retrieved April 5, 2007. "Narcissus" describes, as Morissette puts it, "that dichotomy of loving someone and really wanting it to work and wanting to bridge the gap and bridge the chasm and, yet at the same time, being totally repulsed by the qualities that are being presented and the pain that comes from it." She said the intention of writing "Hands Clean" was "to get to a place where I could be as truthful and as honest as I possibly could be about certain relationships in my past ... oftentimes I feel by not speaking the truth, by being silent, there's an element of an untruth in that ... sometimes can feel just as horrible as a lie to me."

"Flinch", the fourth track, was written about an experience Morissette had during which she almost ran into a man who had a profound effect on her: "I was surprised at how many years had past but still I was responding to the situation as though I had been spending time with him two minutes earlier ... I do believe that I will be able to get to a point where hearing his name or even running into him or hearing from him won't trigger me as much as it did and still does." With "So Unsexy", Morissette said she was "really trying to get into the underbelly of some of my insecurities and why little tiny things that are innocuous and inconsequential are translated in my own mind as to be taken so personally ... as long as I have my own back, it's not as scary and it's not as horrifying." In "Precious Illusions" she discusses "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."

Track seven on the album, "That Particular Time", documents a breakup and "the three distinct chapters in the relationship" Morissette was going through. " took many different forms, and I was beating myself up for a long time for being in a relationship that just didn't feel right", she said. "But then I realized that it was a very loving act for me to stick it out for a minute or two to really kind of see whether there was something worth continuing to explore in a romantic way." She said of "A Man", which is written from a male point-of-view as a response to "Narcissus", "For once I try to feel a bit of empathy and to imagine how it feels being a man in these confusing times ... I try to react as an honourable man to the vibes of erroneous machos who are damaging the image of my sex."HUMO. March 2002. "You Owe Me Nothing in Return" is, in Morissette's words, "about the real definition of what love is ... wanting for someone that you love what they want for themselves. And at the same time not sacrificing my own life and my thoughts and my own beliefs. Supporting someone in their choices and at the same time being able to express what mine are, even if they differ, is the ultimate healthy, loving interaction."

The tenth and penultimate track, "Surrendering", was the last song Morissette wrote for the album. According to her, it is "about the gratitude that I feel for someone tapping into the courage that it takes to allow themselves to be loved and to drop the defenses and fears ... And how thrilling it is for me to be able to be let in that kind of way ... It's a very peaceful, joyful song". Morissette considers "Utopia" a summary of the feminine and masculine elements in the relationship chronicled in the album: "For me, it's like they're sitting together in the same car and are finally driving down the same road in the same direction and there's a meeting of both worlds." She said that when she wrote it, she knew it would be the last track.

Morissette wrote several political songs such as "Awakening Americans" and "Symptoms" during the making of the album, but she decided not to include such material in spite of an online petition lobbying for their release. Morissette said she doesn't "resonate" with overtly political songs because they are "removed too much" from her personal experiences: "I love sitting up at two in the morning talking religion, but when it comes to my songs, it's just rambling, soapbox, obnoxious", she said. ("Awakening Americans" and "Symptoms" were released as B-sides.)

Critical reception

Reviews of Under Rug Swept on its release were generally positive.. Metacritic. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Billboard described the album as "supreme" and "very human ... satisfies with moments of darkness, enlightenment, anger, bittersweet tension, and happiness ... Although 2002 is still young, consider Under Rug Swept one of the year's best.""Album Reviews". Billboard. March 2, 2002. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Q magazine said the album was "a smart shot across the bows ... some of the most inviting music of her career ... Morissette has fashioned a lyrical Trojan Horse to be wheeled into unsuspecting homes for months to come."Blake, Mark. . Q. February 2002. Retrieved January 28, 2007 from the Wayback Machine. Robert Christgau wrote, "The pop-rock here lacks the faux-punk edge ... But Morissette instantly demonstrates her gift for the catchy ... topping memorable verse with indelible chorus, she's a self-actualized nut who goes for what she wants, exactly as pretentious as the college girls she represents for."Christgau, Robert. . robertchristgau.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. According to LA Weekly, the album "is Alanis Morissette in top form, exercising her God-given right to vent and sound beautiful doing so."Lewis, Miles Marshall. . LA Weekly. March 13, 2002. Retrieved January 28, 2007.

Other critical appraisals were less favorable. Rolling Stone, in a three-star review, wrote "The music is brawny and meticulous ... Under Rug Swept just about drowns in psychobabble. While the tone of the songs, and the grain of Morissette's voice, promise intimacy, there's hardly a private detail anywhere."Pareles, Jon. . Rolling Stone. March 14, 2002, RS 891. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Entertainment Weekly said "the album's garbled title is also preparation for some of the clumsiest lyrics to be heard on a pop record in years ... The songs are riddled with such overwritten Psych 101 ruminations."Browne, David. Under Rug Swept (2002)"

Chart performance and promotion

Under Rug Swept was closely guarded before its release: for journalists to listen to it, they had to be invited to Maverick Records headquarters and listen to a single play copy in a special listening room.. Chart. March 2002, no. 134. Retrieved April 5, 2007. In July 2001 Geoff Mayfield of Billboard was quoted as saying that because of the popularity of artists such as Radiohead and Staind, it was a "good year for rock ... It's not just one kind of rock that's connecting right now — the palette is varied. For an artist who comes from rock, this could be a fertile time." Other industry insiders said it may become a commercial return to form for Morissette; The Record noted Morissette's age- and gender-transcendent appeal, the "smart" lyrics on the album and the appropriateness of its "soulful introspection and spiritual awareness" in a post-9/11 society, and how Morissette "stands out from everyone else on radio ... there are few artists addressing relationships in a serious way, especially from a female point of view."Rubinoff, Joel. "Sad little Alanis is now mighty female role model". The Record. February 22, 2002.

This text has been derived from Under Rug Swept on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0

Artist/Band Information

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards and has been nominated for two Golden Globe Award as well as preliminary Academy Award nominee. Morissette began her career in Canada, and as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums, Alanis and Now Is the Time, under MCA Records Canada. Her worldwide debut album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill, released in 1995, which remains the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S., and the highest selling debut album worldwide, selling more than 30 million units globally. Her following album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998 and was a success as well. Morissette took up producing duties for her subsequent albums, which include Under Rug Swept, So-Called Chaos and Flavors of Entanglement. Morissette has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.

In February 2005, Morissette became a naturalized citizen of the United States while maintaining her Canadian citizenship.

Early life

Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein), a Hungarian-born teacher, and Alan Richard Morissette, a French-Canadian high school principal. She has a twin brother Wade Morissette (also a musician) who was born 12 minutes after her. Morissette's parents were devout Catholics.

Music career

1990–92: Alanis and Now Is the Time

In 1991 MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. Morissette co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. By the time it was released, she had dropped her stage name and was credited simply as Alanis. The dance-pop album went platinum,. Canadian Recording Industry Association. and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top twenty on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top forty. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada;. CNN People in the News. January 4, 2003. comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice.Farley, Christopher John. . Time. February 26, 1996. Morissette was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").. Los Angeles Times.

In 1992, she released her second album, Now Is the Time, a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than Alanis and contained more thoughtful lyrics. Morissette wrote the songs with the album's producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "people could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it ... people will like your next album if it's a suck-ass one." As with Alanis, Now Is the Time was released only in Canada and produced three top forty singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" and "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". It was a commercial failure, however, selling only a little more than half the copies of her first album.Wild, David. . Rolling Stone. November 2, 1995. With her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.

1993–97: Move to Los Angeles and Jagged Little Pill

In 1993, after graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Eventually she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard. The two wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and by the spring of 1995, she had signed a deal with Maverick Records.

Maverick Records released Jagged Little Pill internationally in 1995. The album was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation changed quickly when a DJ from KROQ, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the album's first single. The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic.

After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hit singles helped send Jagged Little Pill to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand In My Pocket" followed, but the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, respectively, kept Jagged Little Pill in the top twenty on the Billboard 200 albums chart for more than a year. According to the RIAA, Jagged Little Pill is the best-selling international debut album by a female artist, with more than 16 million copies sold in the U.S.; it sold 33 million worldwide, making it the third biggest selling album by a female artist, and the biggest selling debut album (though technically it is Alanis's international debut, not her first album) of all time.Newman, Melinda. Billboard. March 4, 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2006.Walker, Steven. . The Age Blog. August 24, 2007. Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum and produced four RPM chart-toppers: "Hand In My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head over Feet". The album was also a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom.Dale, David. . The Sydney Morning Herald. July 12, 2005.Harris, Bill. . Toronto Sun. November 17, 2006.

Morissette's success with Jagged Little Pill was credited with leading to the introduction of female singers such as Shakira, Tracy Bonham, Meredith Brooks, Patti Rothberg and, in the early 2000s, Pink and fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne.Mayer, Andre. . CBC Arts. June 13, 2005. She was criticized for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, and her previous albums also proved a hindrance for her respectability.Hannaham, James. . Spin. November 2, 1995. Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album.. Los Angeles Times. At the 1996 Grammy Awards, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.. Los Angeles Times.

Later in 1996, Morissette embarked on an eighteen-month world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. "Ironic" was nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards—Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form. Los Angeles Times.—and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where Morissette also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award.. Los Angeles Times. The video Jagged Little Pill, Live, which was co-directed by Morissette and chronicled the bulk of her tour, won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.. Los Angeles Times.

Following the stressful tour, Morissette started practicing Iyengar Yoga for balancing, and after the last December 1996 show, she headed to India for six weeks, accompanied by her mother, two aunts and two female friends.

1998–2000: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Alanis Unplugged

Morissette was featured as a guest vocalist on Ringo Starr's cover of "Drift Away" on his 1998 album, Vertical Man, and on the songs "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spoon" on the Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets. She recorded the song "Uninvited" for the soundtrack to the 1998 film City of Angels. Although the track was never commercially released as a single, it received widespread radio airplay in the U.S. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, it won in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.. Los Angeles Times. Later in 1998, Morissette released her fourth album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, which she wrote and produced with Glen Ballard.

Privately, the label hoped to sell a million copies of the album on initial release; instead, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 469,000 copies—a record, at the time, for the highest first-week sales of an album by a female artist.. Chicago Sun-Times. May 25, 2000. The wordy, personal lyrics on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie alienated many fans, and after the album sold considerably less than Jagged Little Pill, many labelled it an example of the sophomore jinx.Lynskey, Dorian. . The Guardian. September 19, 2003. However, it received positive reviews, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone.Sheffield, Rob. . Rolling Stone. December 10, 1998. In Canada, it won the Juno Award for Best Album and was certified four times platinum.. Los Angeles Times. "Thank U", the album's only major international hit single, was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; the music video, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy.Willman, Chris. . Entertainment Weekly. November 6, 1998, iss. 457.. Los Angeles Times. Morissette herself directed the videos for "Unsent" and "So Pure", which won, respectively, the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Director and the Juno Award for Video of the Year.Ramirez, Maurice. . VH1.com. October 4, 1999. The "So Pure" video features actor Dash Mihok, with whom Morissette was in a relationship at the time.

Morissette contributed vocals to "Mercy", "Hope", "Innocence", and "Faith", four tracks on Jonathan Elias's project The Prayer Cycle, which was released in 1999. The same year, she released the live acoustic album Alanis Unplugged, which was recorded during her appearance on the television show MTV Unplugged. It featured tracks from her previous two albums alongside four new songs, including "King of Pain" (a cover of The Police song) and "No Pressure over Cappuccino", which Morissette wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley. The recording of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie track "That I Would Be Good", released as a single, became a minor hit on hot adult contemporary radio in America. Also in 1999, Morissette released a live version of her song "Are You Still Mad" on the charity album Live in the X Lounge II. For her live rendition of "So Pure" at Woodstock '99, she was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards.. Los Angeles Times. During summer 1999, Alanis toured with singer/songwriter Tori Amos on the 5 And A Half Weeks Tour in support of Amos' album To Venus And Back.

2001–03: Under Rug Swept and Feast on Scraps

In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album Blowback. Morissette released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello. Shortly after recording the album Morissette essentially fired this whole band by proposing a huge pay cut (at least 50% for most members) while offering the drummer, Gary Novak, a slightly smaller pay cut but an increase in work and responsibility. This effectively ended the band as it was, and an entirely new band was hired shortly after, featuring Jason Orme, Zac Rae, David Levita, and Blair Sinta, who have been with her since.

Under Rug Swept debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S.Caulfield, Keith. . Billboard. January 3, 2006. It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year.. Los Angeles Times. A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.

Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package Feast on Scraps, which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.. Los Angeles Times.

2004–05: So-Called Chaos, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic and The Collection

Morissette.jpgthumbrightAlanis Morissette, 2004

Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-reveal incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Morissette released her sixth studio album, So-Called Chaos, in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S. The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on adult top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top forty on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word asshole, American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word nightmare instead.. Canadian Press via CTV Television Network. April 7, 2004. Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse commercially than "Everything", although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit.

Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jagged Little Pill, Morissette released a studio acoustic version, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV North America, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale.. BBC News. June 15, 2005.. CBC Arts. June 14, 2005. As of November 2010, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic had sold 372,000 copies in the U.S., and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid 2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, Morissette was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.. Canada's Walk of Fame.

Morissette opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in the autumn of 2005.

Morissette released the greatest hits album Alanis Morissette: The Collection in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy", was a U.S. adult top 40 and dance hit, but it achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere. A limited edition of The Collection features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour: "King of Intimidation" and "Can't Not". (A reworked version of "Can't Not" had also appeared on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.) The DVD also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single "Joining You". As of November 2010, The Collection had sold 373,000 copies in the U.S., according to Soundscan.

Morissette contributed the song "Wunderkind" to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.Baltin, Steve. . Rolling Stone. January 13, 2006.

Alanis performed two songs with Avril Lavigne: Morissette's "Ironic" and Lavigne's "Losing Grip".

2006–09: Flavors of Entanglement/Leaving Maverick Records

Alanis Morissette at Espacio Movistar 6.jpg250pxthumbrightAlanis during a live concert in Barcelona, June 2008

2006 marked the first year in Morissette's musical career without a single concert appearance showcasing her own songs, with the exception of an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January when she performed "Wunderkind".

On April 1, 2007, Morissette released a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Black Eyed Peas's selection "My Humps", which she recorded in a slow, mournful voice, accompanied only by a piano. The accompanying YouTube-hosted video, in which she dances provocatively with a group of men and hits the ones who attempt to touch her "lady lumps", had received 16,465,653 views on February 15, 2009.The Celebrity Truth. . . June 7, 2008. Morissette did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke.Saxberg, Lynn. . The Ottawa Citizen. April 5, 2007. Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note.Herndon, Jessica. . People. April 11, 2007. On the verge of the release of her latest album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like "My Humps" in a conversation with Guy Sigsworth and the joke just took a life of its own when they started working on it.

Morissette performed at a gig for The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame, at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles in April 2007. The following June, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada", the American and Canadian national anthems, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks in Ottawa, Ontario.. Canadian Press via Maclean's. June 1, 2007. (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries.) In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest.

Morissette's seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid 2008. She has stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth.. September 15, 2007. On October 3, 2008, Morissette released the video for her latest single, "Not as We".

Morissette left Maverick Records after all promotion for Flavors was completed.

2010-present

Recently, Morissette has contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Morissette has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording.

In April 2010, Morissette released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time soundtrack.

On May 26, 2010, the season finale of American Idol, Morissette performed a duet of her song "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox.

In late January 2011 a song entitled "Professional Torturer" which Morissette wrote and performed for the film in which she stars, Radio Free Albemuth, surfaced through various outlets.

Acting career

In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actor: twenty episodes of the children's television show You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988.. Orpheus Musical Theatre Society.

In 1993, she appeared in the film Just One of the Girls starring Corey Haim, which she described as "horrible".

In 1999, Morissette delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues.

In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Charlie Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that Morissette would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 until May 28.Staff. . MTV News. April 19, 2006.

She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

In 2006, she guest starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary/documentary Pittsburgh as herself.

It was announced on Morissette's website that she will be starring in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. Morissette will play Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. Morissette stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film".

It was announced in May 2009 that Morissette had been cast in at least seven episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. These episodes aired from June to August 2009.

In early 2010 Morissette returned to the stage, performing a one night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell out. In April 2010 Morissette was confirmed in the cast of Weeds season six, performing again her role as Dr. Audra Kitson.

Personal life

Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier, 15 years her senior, for a short time in the early 1990s. In a 2008 interview with the Calgary Herald, Coulier claimed to be the ex-boyfriend who inspired Morissette's song "You Oughta Know". Morissette, however, has maintained her silence on the subject of the song.http

Morissette met Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and the couple began dating soon after. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for Morissette and Reynolds announced they had mutually decided to end their engagement. Morissette has stated that her album Flavors of Entanglement was created out of her grief after the break-up, saying that "it was cathartic".

On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario “MC Souleye” Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home. In August 2010, it was announced that Morissette was pregnant with the couple's first child. Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway, was born on December 25, 2010.

Morissette is a vegan.

Discography

* Alanis (1991)

* Now Is the Time (1992)

* Jagged Little Pill (1995)

* Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)

* Under Rug Swept (2002)

* So-Called Chaos (2004)

* Flavors of Entanglement (2008)

Videography

* Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997)

* Alanis Morissette: Live in the Navajo Nation (2002)

* Under Rug Swept DVD Audio (2002)

* Feast on Scraps (2002)

* VH1 Storytellers: Alanis Morissette (2005)

* Global Warming: The Signs and The Science (2005) — hosted

* The Collection CD/DVD Edition (2005)

* The Great Warming (2006) — hosted

Filmography

Tours

* 1991: Vanilla Ice tour (opening act)

* 1995: Jagged Little Pill/Intellectual Intercourse Tour

* 1996: Can't Not Tour

* 1998: Club Tour

* 1999: Junkie Tour

* 1999: Junkie Tour Australian Leg (with Garbage)

* 1999: 5 ½ Weeks Tour (with Tori Amos)

* 2000: One Tour

* 2001: Under Rug Swept Tour

* 2002: Toward Our Union Mended Tour

* 2003: All I Really Want/Feast on Scraps Tour

* 2004: So-Called Chaos/Au Naturale Tour (with Barenaked Ladies)

* 2005: Diamond Wink Tour

* 2008: Exile in America (with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath)

* 2008: Flavors of Entanglement Tour

* 2009: Flavors of Entanglement South American Tour

Awards and nominations

Alanis Morissette Star on Walk of Fame adjusted.jpgthumbleftMorissette's maple leaf on Canada's Walk of Fame

See also

* Canadian rock

* Music of Canada

* Best selling music artists

*List of diamond-certified albums in Canada

*List of best-selling albums worldwide

*List of best-selling music artists

Further reading

*

* Canadian chart positions courtesy of the RPM 100 Singles chart listings.

* . Billboard. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

* . Allmusic. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

* . Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved August 23, 2006.

* by Stieven-Taylor, Alison (2007). Sydney. Rockpool Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921295-06-5

References

This text has been derived from Alanis Morissette on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0