UPDATE 2/27: Alanis Morissette has unveiled the official music video for “Reasons I Drink,” which you can view below.
Seven-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette has announced her upcoming ninth studio album Such Pretty Forks In The Road—her first album since 2012’s Havoc And Bright Lights due in stores May 1st—with the release of the LP’s first single “Reasons I Drink,” a punchy, piano-driven and self-aware pop declaration about addiction.
Co-written with musician/songwriter Michael Farrell (Macy Gray, Morrissey) and produced by Alex Hope (Troye Sivan, Tegan and Sara, Tove Lo), the song is presumably written from Morissette’s perspective about how her own addictive eating, drinking and shopping habits are unhealthy (albeit soothing) behaviors she enlists to help deal with a self-professed addiction to working (“These are the reasons I drink / The reasons I tell everybody I'm fine even though I am not / These are the reasons I overdo it / I have been working since I can remember, since I was single digits”).
Throughout the lyrics, there’s a growing roar from Morissette against the “torture” of being a “soldier” in a “sick industry,” and how having a drink or “buying a Lamborghini” can “give reprieve” and comfortably deflect the warning signs from within that something isn’t right (“Here we are / I feel such rapture and my comfort is so strong / One more sip / It feels so helpful in my need for some long overdue respite”).
In many of her songs, like “You Oughta Know,” “These Are The Thoughts” and “So Unsexy,” Morissette often examines her psyche and bravely pours her discoveries into urgent, candid lyrics. “Reasons I Drink” is the newest member of the club that picks up the baton from her 2002 Under Rug Swept track “Precious Illusions,” in which Morissette revealed to listeners her own ruminations on love addiction (“You'll rescue me, right? / In the exact same way they never did / I'll be happy, right? / When your healing powers kick in”).
Alanis Morissette’s ‘Such Pretty Forks In The Road’ arrives in stores May 1st
Addiction is a topic that Morissette has been personally exploring over the years not just in song, but also within long and revealing blog postings she writes on her website. “My mindset around addiction in general is the opposite of pathologizing the person who is addicted,” Morissette posted in 2015. “Addiction, for some period of time, does a really good job of reducing the unpleasant sensations in our body that can often be based on some combination of chemical imbalance, unpleasant and seemingly bottomless feelings, false and debilitating thoughts, traumatic experiences, and/or chronically stressful circumstances.”
On her website, Morissette lists her top three “primary addictions” as Work, Food and Love. But, it’s the “secondary addictions”—those that help provide relief from the primary ones—that, she feels, can really wreak havoc in your life, “What starts out as something that keeps a system and approach to life in PLACE becomes the very thing that makes it all fall apart,” Morissette wrote. “As an example, the cocktail after a ‘crazy day at work’ can turn into its own slippery slope. But I am quite aware of where the extremes start. After all, it is on the ends of the continuums where my biggest heartbreaks lie.”
In addition to announcing her new album, Morissette also revealed an upcoming 31-city North American tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her 1995 record-breaking album Jagged Little Pill. Tickets go on sale December 13th with pre-sales available a few days earlier and the tour kicks off June 2nd, 2020 in Portland, Oregon, with support from alt-rockers Garbage and singer-songwriter Liz Phair (both acts previously toured with Morissette in 1998.) The tour news comes on the heels of the Broadway premiere of her long-awaited Jagged Little Pill musical, which opens this Thursday night at New York City’s Broadhurst Theatre.
A new single, new album, new musical, new tour and a new baby (a son, Winter Mercy, was born in August)—reasons to drink indeed!
SEE Alanis Morissette on tour | Dates
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