Alanis Morissette’s New Single ‘Smiling’ Might Make You Sad, Isn’t That Ironic?

What it all comes down to is that singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette has both written and sung a new single for your listening enjoyment. “Smiling” will appear on her new album Such Pretty Forks in the Road, and it does that fun indie thing of having a name like “Smiling” and being in a very minor doomy-gloomy key. Ironic, don’t you think? If the song sounds familiar, it’s because Morissette first wrote it for her jukebox musical Jagged Little Pill. In the show, the song is sung by the mother of the dysfunctional family at the musical’s core, as she “moves through her day backwards.” In the context of the show, it’s about the character’s addiction to painkillers. In the context of a single, there’s a lot to decode in the accompanying YouTube artwork; ask your friend who does tarot-card reading to walk you through it. Such Pretty Forks in the Road comes out May 1.