Alanis Morissette’s Voices

Abstract

Combining the slick production of post-grunge rock with raw, feminist lyrics reminiscent of Riot Grrrl punk, Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album Jagged Little Pill introduced a new rock femininity that rippled throughout the late 1990s. As several commentators have discussed, though, Morissette’s pop-critical reception as the quintessential “angry white female” overlooks the broad range of social and emotional content presented throughout the album. This expressive range comes not only from Morissette’s lyrics but also—perhaps especially—from her versatile and idiosyncratic vocal delivery. In this article, I take a detailed look at how Morissette uses her voice across Jagged Little Pill to express aspects of her album persona. I begin by identifying Morissette’s primary palette of six vocal styles, which I term “speech-song,” “modal voice,” “belt,” “soft voice,” “sweet voice,” and “squeal.” Each of these styles has its own mode of delivery, which I demonstrate through a set of binary parameters, and its own timbral profile, which I demonstrate using spectral analysis. I show how Morissette strategically deploys her vocal palette throughout the album for expressive effect, synchronizing with not only her songs’ lyrics but also their form. In so doing, my analysis shows how voice can serve a fundamentally structural role, one at least as powerful as harmony or melody in shaping a song’s formal process.