Alanis Morissette spent the mid-’90s taking down an ex-boyfriend and in the process changed music forever. As the queen of alt-rock in that decade, she redefined the break-up song as a form of both revenge and therapy.
In her breakthrough hit “You Oughta Know”, she blasted an ex who claimed he’d hold her until he died. Yet he was still drawing breath while now dating someone new. Morissette had something to say about it and the world was listening.
The fallout from her chart reign saw Morissette branded “angry” for years. And she rejected fame almost as quickly as she received it, a smart survival mechanism.
Now, at 50, the Canadian-born musician is a happily married mother of three defiantly following her own path – her last album was of ambient meditation music. She calmly talks about stillness, empathy and ego-removal following countless hours of therapy and shares her experiences of post-partum depression to lift stigmas and help others.
Morissette had just turned 21 in 1995 when “You Oughta Know” seized our attention. The women charting at the time were Celine Dion, Toni Braxton and Mariah
