Alanis Morissette 'anger is a compliment'

Alanis Morissette takes being called an angry woman as a compliment.

Alanis Morissette takes being called angry as a compliment.

The 'You Outta Know' singer was seen to be a pent up young woman in the early part of her career because of her provocative lyrics, but says she directed her anger into her songs, rather than her personal life.

She said: "When someone says that I'm angry it's actually a compliment. I have not always been direct with my anger in my relationships, which is part of why I'd write about it in my songs because I had such fear around expressing anger as a woman.

"I thought I would be retaliated against or physically hit or vilified. Anger has been a really big deal for women: how can we express it without feeling that, as the physically weaker sex, we won't get killed. The alpha-woman was burned at the stake and had her head chopped off in days of old."

Alanis, 38, was a megastar in the early 90s with her 'Jagged Little Pill' album selling over 33 million copies, but she preferred her fame in the latter part of the decade, when it was not so intense, as she could use it to help others.

She added to The Guardian newspaper: "I think fame became exciting for me in the late 90s because I could actually use it as a means to an end. I could actually have it help me serve my vocationfulness (sic). I could offer comfort and upliftment and be a leader and take on that responsibility, rather than see it as this daunting thing (sic)."