Alanis Morissette gets real about 'postpartum activity'

This year hasn't been an easy one for anyone (read: the pandemic), but Alanis Morissette has hit so many milestones, not to mention the 2021 Grammy nomination she received this week for her rock musical Jagged Little Pill for Best Musical Theater Album.The Canadian icon joined etalk's Traci Melchor to discuss the ups and downs of 2020 and learn more about what's bringing the "All I Really Want" singer joy during these times. Traci asked Alanis the fully-loaded question of 2020, "How are you doing today?" The singer replied, "I'm not doing too well, but I'm still smiling. I have postpartum—I call it 'postpartum activity,' so it's depression, anxiety, a lot of hormones stuff and a lot of neurobiological stuff." Alanis said that this is the third child she's had "postpartum activity" after, so she knows there's another side to it and "it's better than ever before" because she has the previous experiences in her back pocket to compare it with.

 

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Alanis says that the best part of the pandemic is the "searing intimacy" and becoming available for her family. "I love the planet; I love meeting humans, so I'm socially hungry," she added, about all of the virtual interviews she's been taking part in.The pair discussed the importance of being grateful for whatever the world is sending them. "Every single thing that's ever happened in my life, I actually truly believe that it was happening for some opening, for some expansion. This pandemic time is a real alchemical crunch for some of us," Alanis said. "We're being painted into these unusual corners that are really hot, and we're either going to come out of it really enlightened around certain parts of our internal world that maybe we didn't have time to even access."Additionally, the "Ironic" singer continued that for those who struggle with work addiction (and raised her hand), they need to be more careful than ever about overworking since there's no "overt transition times with children at home and working."[video_embed id='2036116']RELATED: Alanis Morissette is 'unschooling' her three kids[/video_embed]It's been a year of milestones for Alanis with Jagged Little Pill's 25th anniversary, and her musical of the same name making history with 15 Tony nominations. She said she has no idea how this all happened and how she got to this point in her career. "I really think that what was happening was I was giving myself permission alone in a room with Glen [Ballard] or one collaborator. But Jagged Little Pill was just Glen and I alone in a room," she said of the work she wrote when she was 19 years-old. "So to some degree, it didn't even feel that courageous to write it. When I'm writing it, I write it for myself and then when I share it, it's not mine anymore."She said writing the project alone is like writing in a diary and sharing it "continues on some narcissistic level to be about me, but ultimately I'm offering the songs to other people to interpret." The "Hand In My Pocket" singer said her greatest joy is when she hears other people's interpretations of the songs because often they are nothing near what her experience was, but "it doesn't even matter because the song is theirs."Alanis shared that music is the "epicentre" of her children's lives. She said that somedays her daughter Onyx will sing instead of talking and pretend they're in a musical. "Ever, my son, has perfect pitch, and he sings when he feels like it, and we record him sometimes if we're fortunate," she said. "My son Winter is playing around with his Mariah Carey range." Alanis added that music is "massive" in her family.The Canadian singer was clear that a lot of her time is spent "trying to hold it together" with her postpartum depression (she thinks that will shift when she stops breastfeeding), but when Traci asked Alanis what is bringing her joy right now, she had a whole laundry list of things to share. "Talking with you, framing a lot of photos, decorating, cleaning, homeschooling and a little bit of cooking but not really," she said. "I love art, doing crafts with my kids and swimming or just staring into their sweet eyes—that's everything."[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: Sweet pup gently begs for some of owner's lunch[/video_embed]