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Alanis Morissette was born in Ontario, Canada in 1974. She began her entertainment career at an early age by learning piano at age six. She went on to act in Nickelodeon’s You Can’t Do That on television at age ten. When she was 14, she signed her first publishing deal where she released two albums including Alanis in 1991 and Now Is the Time in 1992. After high school, Morissette decided to further her entertainment career in Los Angeles. There she met songwriter and producer, Glen Ballard. Together they wrote Jagged Little Pill. 90’s alt-pop consumers who are familiar with the award-winning American-Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author, activist, record producer, actress, wife, and mother, often recall this album as it established “her as one of alternative rock’s foremost female vocalists of the 1990s.” The alternative-rock-pop singer released this album when she was just 21 years old but regardless of age still managed to earn seven total Grammy nominations and four wins including the first awards of her career for Album Of The Year, Best Rock Album, Best Female Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song for "You Oughta Know.” She also had her Grammy Awards stage debut this year in performing "You Oughta Know."
Over the next few years, Morissette played an acoustic tour, acted, and released albums including Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie in 1998, The Prayer Cycle in 1999, Under Rug Swept in 2002, Feast On Scraps in 2003, So-Called Chaos in 2004, Flavors of Entanglement in 2008, and Havoc and Bright Lights in 2012. In 2020, she celebrated the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill with the release of a four-CD Collector's Edition reissue of the album after writing music alongside Diablo Cody for the 2019 Broadway production of Jagged Little Pill. Today, Morissette opens up about multitasking while being a mother to three children in her newest 2020 ninth studio album Such Pretty Forks in the Road.
Janelle Monáe
From Kansas City, Kansas, to the Atlanta atmosphere and the Grammys, Janelle Monáe Robinson has expanded the definition of R&B in the last decade. The Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer seamlessly combines hip-hop and new-wave in her intricately woven album concepts.
Janelle Monáe creates art in its most immersive form. Her albums explore identity, liberation, and oppression in relation to race and sexuality. She carries that skill over to her roles in the award-winning Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and the Harriet Tubman and Gloria Steinem biopics Harriet, and The Glorias.
Janelle Monáe found her musical footing in Atlanta after graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. The southern scene connected her with her future partners in Wondaland Arts Society, a collective label. Her DIY album The Audition, caught the attention of BigBoi of OutKast in 2005. Sean “Diddy” Combs became a fan after her official debut, the 2007 EP The Chase, the first in a series based in the year 2719 with a character, Cindi Mayweather, as the focus.
Janelle Monáe signed to Diddy’s label Bad Boy in 2008. The second and third series pieces (termed suites of Metropolis) were released as the 2010 album ArchAndroid. This album offered Monáe’s first Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary R&B album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
Janelle Monáe launched into the pop scene with her feature on Fun.’s 2012 number one hit, “We Are Young.” Her following 2013 album The Electric Lady (the final suites of Metropolis installments) stayed rooted in R&B with guests such as Prince and Erykah Badu making appearances.
After moving the Wondaland label to Epic Records, Monáe pursued her Hidden Figures role in 2016 while recording a future album. That year on tour, she performed and released the anti-police brutality song “Hell You Talmbout.”
Her 2018 album Dirty Computer leaned more into pop and earned two Grammy nominations, one for Album of the Year. Since Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe has penned songs for television series and documentaries, continuing to test and prove success in the limitless world of music.
