Search for self brings stardom to Alanis Morissette<\/p>\n
By Dini S. Djalal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Ever since Billie Holiday let out a melancholy
\nwail, female singers and musicians have lamented the music
\nindustry's rampant sexism.<\/p>\n
The times are slowly changing. Bands such as Take That and
\nBoyzone are objectifying men rather than women. Not that female
\nobjectification is obsolete -- for every teenybopper boy pin-up,
\nplenty of half-naked starlets struggle to catch the limelight.<\/p>\n
But some aspiring pop stars are replacing their make-up
\nartists with bad attitudes, and great talent. The evolution from
\nMadonna to kd lang shows the strides women have made in getting
\nrespect for their skills and not their looks.<\/p>\n
It hasn't been easy, but survivors of the uphill battle are
\novercoming the obstacles. It's no coincidence that Maverick
\nRecords, the label that signed the platinum-selling Alanis
\nMorissette, is owned by reigning pop queen Madonna. The acclaimed
\nMe'Shell Ndegeocello, a shaven-haired, bisexual singer\/
\nsongwriter, is also on Maverick's roster.<\/p>\n
Considering recent buying trends, Maverick's gender-sensitive
\nsigning is not a gamble. Self-assured solo female artists are hot
\non the charts. Sheryl Crow, Bjork and Liz Phair are proving that
\na woman's place is not in the kitchen, but wielding a guitar
\nonstage.<\/p>\n
None sell better than Canada-born Alanis. Her critically-
\nacclaimed album, Jagged Little Pill, has sold 14 million copies
\nworldwide and won several music awards. Millions of female fans,
\nscreaming that she articulates their frustrations and
\ninsecurities, have also been won over.<\/p>\n
The fans are screaming worldwide, including in Jakarta. The
\nAlanis Morissette concert on Sunday at the Jakarta Convention
\nCenter was a sea of confident young girls rather than pogo-ing
\nboys sweating it out in the moshpit. Concert promoter Java
\nMusikindo said that it was the most successful concert it ever
\nheld, selling out weeks in advance.<\/p>\n
\"I like how she's really pretty but she doesn't dress up,\"
\nsaid 17-year-old Mia, referring to Alanis' stage outfit of a
\nsimple white shirt and black pants. \"I like her lyrics. Some of
\nthem are sad and not very confident, but that's how I feel too
\nsometimes,\" said 21-year-old Nanik.<\/p>\n
Angry<\/p>\n
It's debatable, however, if all her fans share her trauma of
\nboyfriends-gone-wrong, as she describes in the chart-topping You
\noughta know:<\/p>\n
Every time you speak her name\/ does she know how you told me
\nyou'd hold me until you died\/ but you're still alive\/ and I'm
\nhere to remind you\/ of the mess you left when you went away\/ it's
\nnot fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me.<\/p>\n
\"We may not have the exact same experiences,\" said Nanik, \"but
\nI can understand her anger.\"<\/p>\n
But Angry White Female is not what Alanis wants to be
\nremembered for. \"I was quite angry when I wrote the songs, but it
\nwas written for the sake of release,\" said Alanis. \"There are a
\nlot of positive things on the record. And in the future, I don't
\nknow if I'm going to write about solely negative things,\" Alanis
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Alanis adds that becoming a role model was not on the agenda
\nin her journey of self-discovery. \"Being a role model has come
\nabout by default, coming about from my self-esteem getting
\nhigher. But I don't feel like I'm doing it on their behalf. I'm
\njust continuing on my own path,\" said Alanis.<\/p>\n
It's a path that's meandered around many bends. Twenty-two
\nyear-old Alanis is a veteran entertainer, having been a TV star
\nin Canada in her early teens and a dance-pop diva by the time she
\nwas 16.<\/p>\n
Alanis does not regret her previous incarnation as a wiggling
\nlycra-clad Paula Abdul clone. \"In the 1980s, I thought that music
\nwas about entertainment. I wasn't fearless enough to write in a
\nvulnerable way,\" said Alanis.<\/p>\n
After moving to Los Angeles to try her luck there, her musical
\nstyle became less commercial. \"I lived alone for a few years and
\ncame to terms with what I really wanted to do. There was some
\nconcern about how my music was going to be categorized, but I
\nsaid don't worry about it.\"<\/p>\n
Alanis adds that when she started believing in her true self,
\nsuccess came. \"Ironically when you don't seek approval, you get
\nthe approval that you don't seek, because you don't really care.\"<\/p>\n
As for the future of her career, Alanis says that she will
\nfollow what her heart tells her. \"Now I will be continually
\nmotivated by my own evolution,\" said Alanis. She describes her
\nnext album, due out next year, as also being a \"release\" but more
\ntrance-like.<\/p>\n
Alanis unveiled some of these new songs at the concert. True
\nto her word, Camp note began with a trip-hop beat which then
\naccelerated to blaring hard riffs. Warping on feedback, the
\nguitars droned on and on as Alanis tossed her long mane into a
\ntrance-like frenzy. The teenage audience didn't know what to make
\nof the headbanging spectacle, and some made their exit.<\/p>\n
What the kids wanted to hear are the chant-along hits, the
\nones they can flick their lighters to. These are Alanis'
\nspecialty. When she sang the infectious Hand in my pocket, her
\nbeautiful voice was barely heard over the audience caroling I'm
\nhigh but I'm grounded\/ I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed\/ I'm lost but
\nI'm hopeful.<\/p>\n
This is also an audience that religiously watches her videos,
\nmimicking her hand movements when she sings I've got one hand in
\nmy pocket, and the other one in a peace-sign. It was one of the
\nfew times Alanis stepped out of her self-absorbed performance,
\nand smiled at her fans.<\/p>\n
After baring her vulnerabilities in the song, Alanis says a
\npolite \"thank you\", contradicting the emotional honesty of the
\nmusic with her detached stage persona. Alanis may boast the gifts
\nof provocative penmanship and a soaring elastic voice, but her
\nrapport with the audience lacks intimacy or spontaneity. Just
\nbecause Alanis sings about intimate issues to her fans does not
\nmean she connects with them onstage.<\/p>\n
After several charged performances of combative songs, her
\nanger began to fail her. The audience was jumping up and down to
\nYou oughta know, but Alanis seemed tired running around the stage
\nspewing hostile bile. Again, she ends the vocal diatribe with a
\nquick \"thank you\", then praises the crowd for being \"a beautiful
\naudience\". Are we beautiful when we cheer on her character
\nassassination of old lovers?<\/p>\n
When she finished her finale, a hair-raising (or in Alanis'
\ncase, hair-tossing) version of Wake up, the crowd was so stunned
\nby her whipping mane that they forgot to clap when she left the
\nstage. In fact, everyone just stood there waiting for her to
\nreturn without little applause for her, or the band's,
\nperformance.<\/p>\n
Knowing the routine of concerts, of course Alanis returned,
\nlaunching into a lilting R.E.M.-like new song. When the melody
\nlifts, Alanis distorts her piercing cry into the nasal warble she
\nis now famous for. But her mannered singing eventually loses its
\nedge and vibrancy. Sinead O'Connor has also been accused of stale
\nvocal affectations, and Sinead shows more vocal versatility.<\/p>\n
But the audience, some of whom were content to sit on the
\nground without seeing the stage, didn't care if she whistled or
\ngrowled. They were happy just to sing with her. The self-
\nconsciously clever Ironic (It's a traffic jam when you're already
\nlate\/ it's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break) was greeted
\nwith choruses louder than Alanis' voice.<\/p>\n
When she raced across the stage for another crowd-pleaser, the
\ninstructive You learn, she seemed to be drunk on her triumph over
\ndespair. You grieve, you learn\/ you choke, you learn\/ you laugh,
\nyou learn\/ you choose, you learn, Alanis sings with the crowd, at
\nlast feeding on her own catharsis as well as the audience's.
\nScathing as the lyrics may be, these are still camp-fire songs
\nfor today's disillusioned but hopeful youth. Alanis is the sharp-
\ntongued earth mother leading the caustic sing-along.<\/p>",
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