The ROTTEN Issue: 30 Years of Jagged Little Pill

WORDS BY ALLIE HOFFERT, ART BY LUCERO DUNSCOMBE

In June 1995, Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette released Jagged Little Pill. Through layers of alternative rock and grunge-pop, Morissette addressed tumultuous relationships, power dynamics, religious insecurity. Jagged Little Pill's raw lyricism and infectious melodies made the album a massive hit, with four Grammy wins and 18 million copies sold by 1996. 30 years on, Jagged Little Pill has become an alt-rock classic, with tracks like "You Oughta Know" and "Head Over Feet" becoming some of the most iconic songs of the 1990s.

In her new book "Alanis: 30 Years of Jagged Little Pill," Chicago-based music journalist Selena Fragassi investigates the production history of Jagged Little Pill. The book also delves into Alanis Morrissette's life, career and impacts on the music industry. Through an interview with EMMIE ahead of the Wisconsin Book Festival, Fragassi shared her writing process, the legacy of Jagged Little Pill and her thoughts on Alanis' impact today.

Fragassi describes Jagged Little Pill as a "best friend," an album she's returned to at key moments in her life. "I wanted to know the story behind it," she says, "why it made such an impact, how it was made, who Alanis really was before Jagged Little Pill, the origins of her story and her family life."

Fragassi spent close to a year researching, gathering notes and writing for "Alanis." Her sources include previous interviews from Alanis Morissette's life, direct interviews with Morissette's first manager and publicist and words from other music journalists. Fragassi says she especially tried to include the perspective of female journalists. "When this album was coming out, a lot of the critique was given by male music journalists," Fragassi explains. "I've always written about women in music, and I've always wanted to give a space to talk about women artists, because up until recently, they weren't given the same space as male artists [ ... ] even now, it's not a hundred percent equitable."

When Jagged Little Pill was initially released, Morrissette was "misjudged as being the 'angry young woman,’" says Fragassi, referencing the November 1995 cover of Rolling Stone. "People listen to 'You Oughta Know,' which is very vitriolic, [ ... ] but did they spend time with the rest of the album?" she asks. "There's so many emotions. She talks about her own vulnerability and insecurities on a song like 'Perfect.' She talks about being in love on 'Head Over Feet.' There's a whole dynamic of emotion on the album."

"While she wasn't the only person doing this music back in the 90's, I think she opened the floodgates,” Fragassi says on Morissette's legacy, citing Olivia Rodrigo and Meg Myers as artists following in Morissette's footsteps. "The playing field has leveled,” she says about the modern response to female confessional-style singer-songwriters. "As time has gone on, there isn't that same kind of one-dimensional scrutiny put on them."

Fragassi cites Morissette's emotional relatability and range as one of the key factors behind Jagged Little Pill's success and continued legacy 30 years on. "It's weird, because Alanis wrote this when she was literally 19 and 20 years old [ ... ] to have this emotional intelligence was remarkable. She gets to very universal topics that people can come in at many different life stages [ ... ] there's all these different ways to keep coming back to this album, and I think that's part of its legacy."

"When Jagged Little Pill came out, the timing was really perfect," says Fragassi about the album's impact. "You had an album like Nevermind by Nirvana a few years prior - the whole zeitgeist changed because of that album. What Jagged Little Pill did was bring forth a lot of feminist narratives."

The openness Morrissette displayed on Jagged Little Pill was "unheard of at the time, on a commercial scale,” says Fragassi. "There were a lot of underground artists doing it, so Alanis opened up the floodgates for all these artists that came through. I don't know that we would have a Taylor Swift or a Billie Eilish if Alanis hadn't done it first and made so much money [ ... ] for a lot of labels, the bottom line is the bottom line." Fragassi explains. "Everyone was hunting for the new Alanis [after Jagged Little Pill], and so it kept spiraling."

"I don't know that [Jagged Little Pill], the way it is, could have come out in 2025,” Fragassi says, describing Morissette's struggle for artistic self-determination: "Her label at the time gave her push back. They were trying to get her to re-record her takes. She said, ‘Absolutely not, that's me at my most emotional in that moment, I'm not going to manufacture it by doing it again.’ I don't know that many major labels would agree with that nowadays."

"I hope people understand what Alanis gave to this album," Fragassi says on her intended takeaway from "Alanis: 30 Years of Jagged Little Pill.” "It took her a lot to make this album, to get people to care, to find the right producing partner, to get a label to give her the time of day. She was so passionate about her work."

"Anybody who's creative," Fragassi says, "take a cue from Alanis and don't give up. Do what you love, and see the course with it."