HBO released the official trailer for Jagged, the new documentary on singer Alanis Morissette, exploring her beginnings as a young Canadian pop star and the rocky path she faced navigating the male-dominated music industry. The documentary takes viewers to 1995, when a 21-year-old Alanis Morissette burst onto the music scene with the first single off her ground-breaking album, “Jagged Little Pill.”
Directed by Alison Klayman (“The Brink,” “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”), the documentary premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and debuts Thursday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. It continues the MUSIC BOX documentary series created by Bill Simmons, which launched in July with “Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage.”
In a candid, deeply personal new interview, Alanis talks about the years before “Jagged Little Pill” shot her to international fame, when record producers and label heads tried to mold her and control her image, when she was dropped by her first record label MCA, and how she dealt with traumatic experiences growing up in the industry. Other participants lending their first-hand insight are: Glen Ballard, songwriter/producer; Guy Oseary, Maverick Records; Lisa Worden, KROQ music director; Hanif Abdurraqib, writer/cultural critic; Lorraine Ali, L.A. music journalist; Shirley Manson, lead singer Garbage; Kevin Smith, director; and members of Morissette’s band Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney.
Jagged explores what Morissette faced when her music was described as “too angry” despite the album being filled with hope, empathy and love. She talks openly about how her feminism and expressions of female empowerment threatened and disrupted the patriarchal music business and how she attributes her present-day happiness to years of self-exploration.
Watch the official trailer for Jagged.