Spiritual trip to India softens singer

Monday, February 22, 1999

Spiritual trip to India softens singer

MUSIC: Morissette finds bliss in herself, records moodier
follow-up CD

By Steve Morse

The Boston Globe

When Alanis Morissette went on a spiritual search in India two
years ago, she planned to visit Mother Teresa in Calcutta.

"I actually called her the night before she died," said
Morissette. "I don’t know why. I just had this desire to call her
and connect with her and her sisters for some reason. I called and
they offered to put her on the line, but she wasn’t feeling well
and I said, ‘No, let her rest.’ She died the next day."

Rather than regret the lack of contact, Morissette, who is far
better known as the rock singer who sold 28 million copies of her
album, "Jagged Little Pill," still went to Calcutta and spent a day
helping the sick and infirm at a healing center run by Mother
Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

"It was one of the most intense days of my life. It was very
beautiful. There have been about 15 intense days in my life – and
that was definitely one of them," said Morissette, who went with
her mother, two aunts and two friends.

Morissette came back from India and wrote and recorded her
follow-up disc, "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie," which she’s
backing with a tour headed to the FleetCenter Monday. The first
single from the record, "Thank U," distilled some of her spiritual
learning: "Thank you India/ Thank you frailty/ Thank you
consequence/ How ’bout no longer being masochistic/ How ’bout
remembering your divinity/ How ’bout not equating death with
stopping."

As for not seeing Mother Teresa in the flesh, she said, "I feel
like I have seen her anyway, so it’s all good."

Clearly, this is a long way from the Morissette of the "Jagged
Little Pill" days, back when she primal-screamed parts of her
vocals, snapped at ex-boyfriends and was labeled the latest Angry
Young Woman. She’s still only 24, but seems much more grown up and,
by her own words, much calmer.

"I love the space that I’m in right now," said Morissette, a
native of Ottawa. "It’s the ultimate, because I have the privilege
of being able to share what I express. Some of it is also due to
the fact that I have a lot more experience now, having toured for
‘Jagged Little Pill’ and gotten a little older with a little more
perspective on what it means to be in the physical crazy realm.
Those kinds of things have resulted in my feeling calmer in
general, and happier. I’ve been laughing so much more now than I
ever have."

She’s also feeling much more balanced. Before this recent phone
interview from Cleveland, she meditated and did some yoga. She also
has a massage therapist with her on the road. "It’s important to be
able to feel centered in the environments that I’m often in," she
notes.

And, though she’s known as one of the most earnest, most serious
new acts of the ’90s, she also unplugs by playing a lot of
basketball. She was practicing her three-point shot just the day
before, she said, and added, "We have a basketball hoop that we’re
getting to bring on the road with us."

Life is good for Morissette, who learned something else from her
trip to India – that no matter where you go, you can’t expect to
find nirvana outside of yourself, no matter how exotic or spiritual
the country you’re visiting may be. That’s why she penned another
song on the new record, "Would Not Come," which says: "I’d go
traveling and still it would not come/ I would starve myself and
still it would not come/ I’d renunciate and still it would not
come."

"After chasing (bliss) for as long as I have, or as long as I
did, I realized that it’s really inside of myself," she said. "The
highest, most blissful moments I have are when I am sitting
still."

With such thinking, no wonder she’s not susceptible to gurus or
cults. In the new song "Baba," she parodies the need for gurus:
"How soon will I be holy/ How much will this cost guru?/ I’ve
watched you smile as the students bow to kiss your feet."

"It’s about putting gurus up on a pedestal to the point where
people are no longer listening to their own inner voice," said
Morissette. The song is not about a specific guru or cult, but "I
think it makes it quite clear that cults wouldn’t get very far with
me."

By changing from the simpler, girl-boy subject matter of "Jagged
Little Pill" to the more complex spiritual issues of the new album,
Morissette knows that she has lost some of her listeners
(especially younger ones). The new album, which has moodier, less
accessible music overall, is not the commercial blockbuster of her
previous CD. Indeed, it slipped to No. 38 last week, though it may
spike back up because several more singles will be released from
it.

"I’ve seen a change," she admitted. "A lot of older people are
gravitating toward this record. But I’m really not interested in
who kind of loves it or hates it or is inspired by it or repulsed
by it. I just need to express exactly where I’m at during this
particular moment; and that’s all I’m really concerned about."

She’s feeling so free and unconstricted these days that she even
posed nude in a fetal position for a picture on the CD itself, and
made a video for "Thank U" that showed her romping nude on the
streets of Los Angeles.

"The idea came from feeling a lack of self-consciousness and a
lack of restriction," she said. "It’s a symbol of my wanting to
communicate that – of feeling really comfortable with my body and
accepting it and treating it really well and feeling beautiful
without hiding."

Between her two albums, Morissette competed in three triathlons
as a way of paying more attention to her body. Such physical
activity also helped hone her balance. "I always thought that if I
were to develop other parts of myself, I would have to compromise
the cerebral, intellectual part. But I’ve come to realize that it
never really goes away, and that you can have both."

With her new confidence, she’s exploring other career goals as
well. While she has codirected videos in the past, she stepped up
to be the sole director of her new video for the song "Unsent,"
which comes out Monday. (It’s about love letters never sent to
boyfriends, a theme that appeared on Carly Simon’s 1995 album
"Letters Never Sent," though Morissette said she hasn’t heard that
CD).

And she would like to direct a feature-length film. "I’ve just
been offered a script to potentially direct, and I’d love to write
one as well," she said.

She’d also love to try more acting. She has completed one role
as – get ready – God in the film "Dogma," a comedy written and
directed by Kevin Smith, who did "Chasing Amy" and "Clerks." It was
"very funny" to be cast as a female God, whom she describes as
"everything – happy, angry, young, true, wise, crazy."

Meanwhile, she’s continuing to exhibit a strong social
consciousness. She’ll join a Tibetan Freedom Festival date in
Europe this summer (no details yet) and she recently performed at
an Amnesty International benefit in Paris with Bruce Springsteen,
Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour.

"It was also up among my 15 most amazing experiences," she said.
"I felt totally supported. There was such an atmosphere of love,
not an atmosphere of competition or fear or a lack-of-communication
vibe that I’ve felt at some other festivals. Any time I can delve
into an environment like I felt at the Amnesty benefit, I’ll do
it."Maverick Recording Company

Alanis Morissette bares it all in "Supposed Former Infatuation
Junkie."

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