Between the last CD and the new one, Morissette broke up with longtime fiance, Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. Although she refuses to confirm whether the break-up informed the direction of Flavors, Morissette says her music has often been a place for emotional purging.
"I barely, if at all, needed to bring in my journal [into the recording studio] because I would just show up and write about what was going on," she says. "So it was all in that moment and not written in retrospect. ... There's something to be said for writing through art or performing on stage and getting it out of your body, so to speak. But it doesn't necessarily tie the bow on what's going on. So however many times I sing 'You Oughta Know' or however many times I sing super-emotive songs, there's some catharsis in it."
But these days, Morissette's fiery emotions as captured on Flavors don't come at you like a Mack truck the way they did on Jagged Little Pill. The caterwauling that made her famous has been tempered. And the dark, explorative lyrics are sometimes juxtaposed with buoyant music. For instance, the muscular rhythmic pulses of "Citizen of the Planet" and, especially, "Giggling Again for No Reason" lend themselves to club mixes.
"In my teen years, I used to make music that was more loop-oriented and there was a lot more dancing involved," Morissette says. "I love dance mixes. I love when songs are submitted and people come back with their own interpretation of it. I get giddy and dance around my house to them with friends."
The artist isn't always so tightly wound musically. From time to time, she reveals a sharp sense of humor. Last April, she released a tongue-in-cheek cover of the inane Black-Eyed Peas hit "My Humps," which Morissette sang accompanied only by piano. A hilarious SNL-style video, in which she dances provocatively and beats up guys who try to touch her "lady lumps," was soon posted on YouTube. It has since received nearly 15 million views. As she works out last-minute details of her tour, Morissette hasn't decided whether she will include it in the show.
"We're always open to thinking on our feet," she says. "So if it turns out that I'm bothering some that I love by not playing ["My Humps"], I'll pull it out once in a while."
Although the new songs may be at times bewildering with their mangled syntax and head-scratching metaphors, Morissette says the show should make them accessible.
The set list will be a "combination of wonderful self-indulgence that keeps me and everyone on stage really happy," she says, "and then [there will be] the songs that I want to make sure that I communicate with people, because it will be like a familiar kind of home to some people."
if you go
See Alanis Morissette at Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave., on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.. Tickets are $47-$57 and are available through Ticketmaster, 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com
