Published on Nov 17, 1998
Some people see a change in musical styles to be a dangerous
thing. While it can scare away fans who latch on for one song, most
groups aren’t done in by such a change.
In the case of Alanis Morissette, however, it is indeed a factor
in the artistic failure of her latest release,
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. But the biggest reason
this album fails is that she takes herself too goddamned
seriously.
With only a few exceptions, gone are the driving, syncopated
rock beats that had her on almost every radio station in the
country. Gone also is a lot of the regular lyrical structure,
replaced with what often sounds like a stream of consciousness
vocal delivery.
The first single, “Thank U,” is infectious enough, and a solid
choice for the leadoff track. What I do question is why she and
producer Glen Ballard would choose to use a drum loop sample
instead of having Gary Novak provide the backbeat. (If you listen
very closely, you can hear a very short break in the drum pattern,
especially early in the song.) While I still like this song, it did
tell me there was cause for alarm regarding the rest of this
disc.
I hate it when my intuition is right. What fans have been
waiting two years for turns out to be almost like a ranting
commentary on Morissette’s life since experiencing the juggernaut
that was
Jagged Little Pill. While the ribald tales of love and sex
are nowhere to be found on this album, there is a lot of talk about
failed relationships, many of which I would dare to claim are
autobiographical from Morissette. Unfortunately, namy of these like
“Front Row” and “Are You Still Mad” fall prey to weak songwriting
(many sound like variations on one chord) and the rambling lyrical
delivery. However, when Morissette is on, as she is with “Unsent,”
she shows some flashes of her earlier brilliance.
Two things are seriously missing from
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. The first is a sense of
poppiness that spread through much of
Jagged Little Pill, though her track “Uninvited” from
City Of Angels – a decent song, in my book – was a warning
of things to come. Many of the songs on this album seem to be
nothing more than droning mantras to anguish (“Baba”, “The Couch”,
“I Was Hoping”) – so much so that when the few shards of pop stick
their heads up (“Joining You”), they sound incredibly out of place.
I don’t think this was the effect that Morissette wanted to
achieve.
Second, and more importantly, there is not a sense of
tongue-in-cheek playfulness on this album. On
Jagged Little Pill, songs like “Ironic,” “You Learn” – even
“You Oughta Know” – had a sense about them that put a smile on your
face even if the message wasn’t the happiest. I didn’t find myself
smiling through one moment of
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie – not one lousy time.
(Alanis, dear, you gotta stop believing your own press releases and
what the fanzines say about you. You’re 24 years old, and you could
make a clown kill himself with all this misery talk. Lighten up,
for Jah’s sake.)
Granted, Morissette might have wanted to move away from the pop
circus and create something that was a little more artistic.
However, whenever you’ve built up a strong legion of fans who are
expecting to hear more music in a vein they’re used to, it would be
better to ease into such a transition. Instead, Morissette has
jumped head-first into the pool with this one – and there isn’t a
lot of water down there.
Granted, also, that no matter what Morissette came out with
after
Jagged Little Pill, it would be held up to the world’s most
powerful magnifying glass and compared to her previous work. Again,
I recognize that Morissette might have wanted to move past the pop
song structures of
Jagged Little Pill – but that doesn’t mean you wipe out all
traces to your past. (Then again, she’s done this before – how many
people know this is actually her fourth album? She had two
dance-oriented records released in Canada – and I’m shocked that
someone didn’t release those in the U.S. to capitalize on her
superstardom.)
Oh, it’s not that I have anything against Morissette; there were
many songs on
Jagged Little Pill that I really liked. But Morissette has
made a turn for the worse with
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie – and I suspect that I’m
not the only person that’s going to call Morissette on the carpet
for making a move that could equal popularity suicide.