Alanis Morissette
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

THE REVIEW

When Alanis Morissette released her first "Greatest hits," I was happy for days. Given that the "Greatest hits" generally marks the end of any artistic career's phase, I thought that the Canadian singer-songwriter had finally decided to come back in the future with new tracks capable of challenging conventions and stop writing the same old songs. Let's be clear: "So called chaos" was nice but already heard, and "Under rug swept" had everything to please her most faithful followers and secure a good spot on the charts, but it didn't match the depth and novelty of Alanis' first album, "Jagged little pill." And while awaiting her next work, I rediscover her second studio album, "Supposed former infatuation junkie."

The CD in question was released in 1998, three years after the aforementioned global debut and originates from a deep sense of inner discomfort. With "Jagged little pill," Alanis wanted to unleash the anger she had accumulated during an adolescence from which the appropriate time had been taken away (For those who don't know, Morissette was a pop-dance singer for nine years before converting to rock) and for this reason, the author herself called it "urgent". But despite the cries of liberation against unfair ex-boyfriends ("You oughta know"), conformity ("Hand in my pocket"), and sad ballads ("You learn", "Mary Jane"), the void was still there. She decides to go to India, where she engages in a spiritual quest that forms the foundation of "Supposed former infatuation junkie." Compared to the immediacy of her earlier works, the new songs change in structure and content. The songs unfold following an almost metric structure where the verses continuously repeat the same theme with a variation at the end, replicating the rhythmic pattern of a chant, an oriental prayer.

A great deal of attention is also given to the choice of words to highlight the meditative nature of the entire album (not that it's the Quran, though...) to which the selection of content connects, predominantly addressing intimate and personal themes. Since I am judging with hindsight, I add that on the musical front, "Supposed former infatuation junkie" is also Morissette's most experimental album, as she adopts in the composition of the next two albums the same guitar and voice-based sounds. Alanis highlights all these changes from the beginning with "Front row", where she declares that she has evolved since the times when "...I didn't cop to what I did..." even if she immediately tends to soften them with "Baba", where the anger that characterized "Jagged little pill" seems to resurface amid the oriental elements of the score and quick snapshots depicting the Indian rituality in the lyrics. The same goes for other tracks on the album that showcase an aggressive Alanis (such is the case with the sharp "Joining you") but who knows how to reflect on family relationships ("The Couch" is dedicated to her father and her difficult relationship with him, while "Heart of the house" is an ode to her mother seen as the sacred guardian of the home hearth. Strange that feminists haven't spoken up on this...), who has reached high levels of maturity ("That I would be good" expresses the importance of hitting rock bottom to then leverage one's potential for success and is moving for its essentiality bordering on the bare and for the final flute, while in "UR" attempts to find a solution to the classic conflict between the arrival of power, money, and the ability to stay true to oneself) who knows how to not lose sight of the joy of living (As suggested by the lively "So pure" which in the context appears as a discordant note together with "Can't not", vaguely boring) and who knows how to admit mistakes and bare oneself (respectively "One" and "Unsent"). And then there's the beautiful "Thank you", which certainly represents the most commercial aspect of the entire album, but in return achieves good results in the poetic lyrics.

In the end, "Supposed former infatuation junkie" is a fresh, original album that unfortunately loses ground at some points, which can be qualified as extremely boring. My personal taste and my unjustified attachment to this artist would encourage me to rate it a 4/5, but my objectivity ultimately prevailed.

Until next time.