Alanis Morissette
Flavors of Entanglement

Finally, after ten years, this woman produces something decent. 

Alanis Morissette is definitely a fluctuating artist. Let's clarify a point right away. Some people think that Alanis is a non-mainstream artist, an artist not created at the drawing board. Rubbish. Alanis is as mainstream as Madonna, and her character was DEFINITELY crafted. The emerging figure of the angry, alternative woman with a decidedly rock soul had been missing for a while in the MTV generation scene of the time (back when it was far less TRASHY than today), and so around the mid-'90s, out comes this rather plain-looking girl, a bit awkward, but very (at least seemingly) bitter with the world, yet also with some shades of positivity. The Alanis hurricane erupts, selling something like TWENTY MILLION COPIES in the United States with the first two albums, scoops up countless Grammy Awards, and consecrates her in the Olympus of international music stars. Contrary to what often happens, in Morissette's first two albums, the public's success flows hand in hand with quality, in the sense that to this day, 'Jagged Little Pill' and 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie' represent the singer's creative peak. Songs like 'Ironic' and 'Thank U' have made it into pop-rock history for their fame and charm, and we cannot deny that in those years, Alanis managed to put a personal touch in her already pre-constructed character and create something decidedly valuable. From there on...oblivion. In subsequent years, the studio albums 'Under Rug Swept' and 'So Called Chaos' were released, albums with mediocre sales (always compared to the first two), but above all, significantly inferior to the previous ones. Except for rare exceptions, the diva of pop-rock's lyrics became dull and predictable, the sound increasingly more chart-pop, and the character therefore lost the credibility and huge following it garnered in the '90s.

2008 NEW CHAPTER: Flavors of Entanglement. After four years of absence (her absence was not missed given her previous works), Morissette's fifth studio album, exclusively produced by herself and Guy Sigsworth, a composer of alternative music (Bjork and others), was released. An album SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than the last ones but still with some flaws. The project as a whole seems homogeneous, the sounds appear more refined, the lyrics less obvious, and the productions undoubtedly more polished. Even experimentation (albeit minimal) is tackled for the first time by the singer in this album. It ranges from hints of Trip Hop (Moratorium) to almost dance-like atmospheres (Strait Jacket). And then a magical piece, one of those songs you know you'll always enjoy listening to again. It's 'Not as we,' an intense ballad of incredible beauty, reminiscent of great past pieces like 'That I would be good'. Certainly one of the best songs in the singer's repertoire. Also good is the evocative 'Torch', and excellent is the track that opens the album, 'Citizen of the Planet', a piece with strong rock overtones, a sort of return to the origins and one of the most successful tracks on this record. Unfortunately, as mentioned, there are flaws, and quite a few. First and foremost, annoying filler pieces like 'Tapes', 'In Praise of the Vulnerable Man', and 'Versions of Violence'. And secondly, the static nature of some passages which unfortunately often make the album redundant.

In conclusion...a good album that certainly offers some nice moments...finally, Alanis Morissette comes out of that terrible ARTISTIC SUICIDE that characterized her over the past ten years (except for the Unplugged and maybe the acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill), but she is still far from the good times of 'You Learn' and 'Head Over Feet'. And probably, at those levels, we will never see her again.