One of the greatest albums of the 90’s, Jagged Little Pill produced six successful singles including You Oughta Know, Ironic, and Hand in My Pocket.
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Then- 21 year old Alanis Morissette made a near flawless angst-rock platter in 1995. From the hello-it's-me phone rage of You Oughta Know to the sisterly You Learn, and of course the ironically ironic Ironic — it's just Alanis speaking her piece about the perils of being a girl in a fickle-as-fuck world, singing like an acoustic guitar. Jagged Little Pill is like a Nineties version of Carole King's Tapestry: a woman using her plain soft-rock voice to sift through the emotional wreckage of her youth, with enough heart and songcraft to make countless listeners feel the earth move.
Jagged Little Pill debuted internationally in June 13, 1995. The project and its unique sound wouldn’t have happened if Alanis didn’t move to Los Angeles from Canada and didn’t meet Glen Ballard. Alanis and Glen had an instant connection, and began co-writing and experimenting with sounds.
The experimentation resulted in an alternative rock album that took influence from post-grunge and pop rock, and featured guitars, keyboards, drum machines, and harmonica. The album's lyrics touched upon themes of aggression and broken relationships, while Glen introduced a pop sensibility to Alanis' bitter angst.
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21 years ago today, Jagged Little Pill went to number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It became the biggest selling album ever by a female artist with sales over 30 million, until Shania Twain caught up two years later when her album Come On Over almost reached 40.
Jagged Little Pill also received acclaim from music critics all over and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, of which Alanis won five, including Album of the Year, making her the youngest artist (at 21 years old) in history to win the honor—a record she held for 14 years, until Taylor Swift (20 years old) won the Album of the Year in 2010 for Fearless.
Alanis’ success with Jagged Little Pill was credited with leading to the introduction of female singers such as Shakira, Meredith Brooks, and in the early 2000s, Pink, Michelle Branch, and fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne.
Katy Perry cites Jagged Little Pill as a significant musical inspiration, and opted to work with Alanis’ frequent collaborator Glen Ballard as a result. Katy stated, "Jagged Little Pill was the most perfect female record ever made. There's a song for anyone on that record; I relate to all those songs. They're still so timeless”.
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