Music News

Alanis Morissette opens up about abuse in the music industry and female rage

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ABC/Lou Rocco

ABC/Lou RoccoAlanis Morissette thinks the music industry is long overdue for its moment of reckoning when it comes to its treatment of women.

In a new interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times, she opens up about both the abuse she’s witnessed…and personally experienced.

“Almost every woman in the music industry has been assaulted, harassed, raped. It’s ubiquitous — more in music, even, than film. It’s just so normalized,” she says, noting that women who talk openly about abuse “face the threat of losing their job, reputation, or not being believed.”

While she herself won’t name names, she says, “My goal would be to take away the normalization. And the structures that allow it.”

Alanis also admits that in one form or another, she’s been “abused” since she was three years old, and it only continued as she entered the music business.

“Many things happened: sexual abuse, exploitation, financial undermining,” Alanis shares.

But while she and her music have decidedly softened over the years, she says her rage is still there.

“I live for it. Female rage gets such a bad rap, but it’s part of being human,” she says. “Not punching someone in the face, but anger channeled into activism or — heaven forbid — raising your voice, or saying no, or protecting your kids, or being a feminist.”

Alanis’ new album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, is due out soon. It was pushed back from its May 1 release to a yet-to-be-announced later date.

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