Michelle's Review

Alanis Morrisette review by M Vigue



Alanis Morrisette is one of today’s most unique artists as evidenced in her album
Jagged Little Pill. With her voice, lyrics, and many different rhythms and instruments, this album is full of different tones and attitudes. This album is also full of expression and explores different situations that she has either been a part of, has seen, or has made up.
Beginning with her voice, Alanis Morrisette’s is like no other. Most artists strive to have a perfect sounding voice but she does just the opposite. Unlike others her voice cracks on the high and low notes. She also hardly ever has a quiet song. On the album there is a hidden track “Forgive Me Love.” She sings this song acapella which means no instruments, beats, or anything to back up her voice except the lyrics. This song is beautiful in it’s own way despite the sad lyrics. The sound and tone of her voice make it that way.
Next are the instruments and rhythms she uses in her songs on this album. The choice of instruments for the album are not common ones, but rather very unexpected. She plays the guitar which seems pretty normal but then you hear harmonica and the flute. Blended together these instruments, just like a symphony, help make an awesome song. But she doesn’t use all the instruments in every song, she switches it up so each song is different. Her choice of instruments gives this album a great amount of variety and style.
Lastly is the choice of lyrics. Usually in most songs no one uses correct punctuation or they use way too much but Alanis doesn’t seem to care how the song is written. She uses slang and idioms in place of the correct word in order to make the sound different. There is a huge difference of the use of words; sometimes using the wrong words make the song even better just by the way it comes out of the artist’s mouth. For example: in the song “You Oughta Know” (note the title) it has grammatical mistakes in every verse and chorus but the beat, the rhythm, the instruments, and the tone of her voice make up for it. A second example would be in “Hand in My Pocket” where just like the other song has a few misspellings but it’s backed up by everything else.
If you’re looking for a change in genre, beat, or anything else along those lines, I would recommend you give this album a listen. This kind of music can put you in a relaxed mood or just be something fun to listen to just to get you going. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this album a 10 because of the variety and because it’s never the same thing twice.
To see "Hand In My Pocket" click here