Such Pretty Forks In The Road

Whatever my Linkedin profile says about me, I am a music fan first and foremost. Consequently I am genuinely excited when I get to meet my musical heroes, because my life story is undoubtedly written in their lyrics.

Tonight I experienced one of those moments that I will treasure forever.

I just got off a Zoom call with talented singer and songwriter Alanis Morissette. Thank you Crush Music management, Kobalt Publishing and Epiphany Records for organizing this event.

I joined a group of entertainment content producers and music supervisors during a Q&A session with Alanis about her latest record “Such Pretty Forks In The Road”, which was released last week.

During our call, Alanis explained the writing process for the following songs:

• “Ablaze” ( Talks about her love for her children, a feeling often hard to articulate with words.)
• “Reasons I Drink” (She said this song is about the secret of what we do to keep it together. During our call she identified her main addictions as love, work and food)
• “Reckoning” (This song is about abuse. Alanis actually wrote a precursor titled “Predator” which will be included in her upcoming Broadway musical.)
• “Nemesis” (The lyrics talk about her difficulties as a hyper sensitive person to adapt to changes in life)

She talked candidly about the emotions she has poured into each song, and the personal stories that have inspired each beautiful verse. She didn’t hold back and gave us long detailed answers about each track, together with her personal views on topics such as meditation and motherhood. 

I had the chance to ask Alanis about the title chosen for the album, which is a line included in the third verse of the song “Smiling” and is about resilience.

Alanis also revealed she will be releasing a meditation record in the near future.

Alanis Morissette writes classic timeless songs ; their authenticity and intimacy makes them perfect as soundtracks. Recently you may have heard "Uninvited" covered by Bellsaint in the TV series "Little Fires Everywhere".

I have always loved the honesty of her lyrics, and how she has always portrayed women in all their complexity, something rare in the decade of the 90s.

As a personal anecdote, in 1995 I founded a university magazine (with my friend Paco) which was my first ever entrepreneurial project. The first music article I published happened to be about Alanis' iconic album “Jagged Little Pill”. 25 years later I am talking to her about music and how her life has changed. Astonishing! I am blessed and grateful to do a job I love!