Jagged Little Pill

Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian-American singer Alanis Morissette, released by Maverick on June 13, 1995. Recorded in Hollywood at Westlake with production by Glen Ballard, it was Morissette's first album to be released worldwide. It marks a significant stylistic departure from the dance-pop sound of her first two efforts, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). She began work on the album after moving from her hometown Ottawa to Los Angeles, where she met Ballard. The pair had an instant connection and began co-writing and experimenting with sounds. The experimentation resulted in an alternative rock album that takes influence from post-grunge and pop rock, and features guitars, bass, keyboards, drum machines, and harmonica. The lyrics touch upon themes of aggression and unsuccessful relationships, while Ballard introduced a pop sensibility to Morissette's angst. The title of the album is taken from a line in the first verse of the song "You Learn".

Jagged Little Pill received positive reviews from critics, who praised its music and Morissette's lyrics and vocals. It received nine Grammy Award nominations, of which it won five: Album of the Year, making her the youngest artist to win the award at the time; Best Rock Album; Best Female Rock Vocal Performance ("You Oughta Know"); Best Rock Song ("You Oughta Know"); and Best Long Form Music Video. It was certified ten times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), seventeen times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and double diamond by Music Canada, making Morissette the first Canadian artist to achieve double diamond. With combined sales of over 33 million copies worldwide, Jagged Little Pill is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been included on several all-time lists, such as those of Apple Music, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone.

The album has been re-released twice: on October 30, 2015, in a two-disc deluxe edition and a four-disc collector's edition commemorating its 20th anniversary; and on June 26, 2020, in a 25th anniversary deluxe edition. An acoustic re-recording of the album was released on June 13, 2005, to mark its 10th anniversary. It inspired a musical stage production, which premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 5, 2018; it transferred to Broadway the following year, and was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. A world tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill began in early 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1991, MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut studio album Alanis, which went Platinum in Canada. Her second album Now Is the Time sold a little more than half the copies of her first album. With her two-album deal complete, Morissette was left without a recording contract. In 1993, Morissette's publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to manager Scott Welch. Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular voice", her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living with her parents in Ottawa. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people.

After graduating from high school, Morissette made the move. Her publisher funded part of her development and when she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio.

Morissette co-wrote the album solely with Ballard, who also produced the album. The demo recording sessions started in 1994 at Ballard's home studio, and included only Morissette and Ballard as the producer, who recorded the songs as they were being written. Ballard provided the rough tracks, playing the guitars, keyboards, and programming drum machines, and Morissette played harmonica. The duo sought to write and record one song a day, in twelve- or sixteen-hour shifts, with minimal overdubbing later. All of Morissette's singing on the album respects that rule, each recorded in one or two takes. The tracks that were redone later in a professional studio used the original demo vocals.

Ballard met Morissette in 1994 when his publishing company matched them up. According to Ballard, the connection was "instant", and within 30 minutes of meeting each other they had begun experimenting with different sounds in Ballard's home studio in San Fernando Valley, California. Ballard also declared to Rolling Stone that, "I just connected with her as a person, and, almost parenthetically, it was like 'Wow, you're 19?' She was so intelligent and ready to take a chance on doing something that might have no commercial application. Although there was some question about what she wanted to do musically, she knew what she didn't want to do, which was anything that wasn't authentic and from her heart." The first track the pair wrote was "The Bottom Line", which was not included on the album's initial release, but was included on the album's 2015 re-release. The song was written in one hour, immediately after they met.

The album's most successful single "Ironic" was the third track to be written for the album. In an interview with Christopher Walsh of Billboard, Ballard explained how he and Morissette met, and how "Ironic" was written. He commented: "I'm telling you, within 15 minutes we were at it — just writing. 'Ironic' was the third song we wrote. Oh God, we were just having fun. I thought 'I don't know what this is — what genre it is — who knows? It's just good'."