Rileggendo questo articolo del 2002 a proposito di "hands clean"(citato da GoodDebate), forse Alanis si riferisce proprio alla relazione con quell' uomo più grande di lei. Lei era innamorata di lui ma non al punto di fare sesso. Probabilmente quello ne ha approfittato e lei non si è opposta per non "rischiare" di rimanere "fuori" dal business della musica e perchè era piccola e sola in una città dove non conosceva nessuno.
Anche se nell'intervista dice che non lo definirebbe "stupro".
Oddio :-(
ma forse ho capito male
Alanis Morissette Reveals Her Trials as a Teenage Star
Published: February 14, 2002
After some 15 years in the music business, the singer Alanis Morissette worked for the first time without a producer or co-writers on her new album, ''Under Rug Swept.'' It is appropriate, then, that on the first single from this artistically liberated album, ''Hands Clean'' (currently in the Billboard top 40), Ms. Morissette looks back on a relationship with one of her early musical collaborators, who remains unnamed in the song.
She sings, from his point of view:
''If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself/ If it weren't for my attention you wouldn't have been successful.'' And later, ''Ooh, don't go telling everybody/ And overlook this supposed crime.''
Though it has not ignited any noticeable controversy or attention, ''Hands Clean'' may be one of the most provocative singles on the radio. Some listeners, in fact, are interpreting it as a song about statutory rape or sexual exploitation.
'
'It could be categorized as that,'' Ms. Morissette said, speaking by telephone on Monday. ''But at the same time, I'm not one to really categorize. I'm the kind of person that will say 'a person that I've been spending time with in a romantic way' rather than saying 'my boyfriend.' So I'll say 'someone that I was romantically linked to at a time when I was emotionally not necessarily prepared for it,' as opposed to qualifying it as like 'statutory rape.' ''
Before Ms. Morissette came to dominate rock radio in the mid-90's with her first international hit, the wonderfully vindictive ''You Oughta Know,'' she was an Ottawa child actor and teenage dance-pop diva whose first album, in 1991, on MCA, went platinum in Canada. But at the same time, like many young women in the music business, she found the advances of those in positions of power over her career hard to resist. '
'I just feel like there was this illusion that I had to pick between this complex kind of relationship with older men and younger women in the industry, or no music being expressed,'' she said. ''This was compounded by the fact that I was in a city that didn't have the hugest artistic community, so I felt like I didn't have very many options. I wasn't ready to move, because I was 14 or 15.'' (Under Canadian law, sexual contact with those under 14 is illegal; such contact with teenagers between 14 and 18 is illegal in cases in which a relationship of trust or authority exists.)Two years later, however, she decided to leave Ottawa for a bigger city, Toronto. ''I remember my twin brother turning to me one day and saying: 'You're so unhappy. Just go,' '' she said. ''And I remember pointing to a record of mine. It was leaning up against the wall in the corner of my room, and I just pointed to the record and said, 'But I don't want to let go of that.' And he said: 'You don't have to. Just go.' And that was a really sweet moment.''
Ms. Morissette, who is now 27, added that in retrospect she has no regrets about the experience because it made her who she is today. She also now realizes that perhaps there was a third option that she didn't see at the time, which was simply to ''go for it and be passionate and express yourself, and work with people who have your back.''
Fred Croshal, the general manager of Maverick Records, which releases Ms. Morissette's new album on Feb. 26, said that the label had no qualms about selecting ''Hands Clean'' as the album's first single. ''We didn't take it for any more than that it's a beautiful melodic song,'' he said. As for the subject matter, he doesn't see it as directly referring to any act that could be construed as illegal. ''I just view it as a relationship with an older man,'' he said.
Since her 1995 album, ''Jagged Little Pill,'' Ms. Morissette has earned a reputation as one of pop's most revealing and direct singers. Often, her songs (and videos) are so raw, digging deep into private experiences, personal emotions and psychological remedies, that they can be uncomfortable to listen to. It seems surprising that when she has already chronicled so much emotionally turbulent ground it has taken her more than a decade to get to this issue.
'I've been wanting to face the truth about it with my own self for a long time,'' she said. ''And I believe that there is a distinct difference between privacy and secrecy. For a long time, I lobbed them both into the same category. Then I realized that secrecy is actually to the detriment of my own peace of mind and self, and that I could still sustain my belief in privacy and be authentic and transparent at the same time. It was a pretty revelatory moment, and there's been a liberating force that's come from it. And certainly that song was written for the sake of my own healing, and not for the sake of seeking any sort of revenge. I also do know that I have a little ways to go, particularly with that subject.''
She paused, and then added with a self-mocking laugh, ''I have a ways to go in every other department, too -- that's pretty obvious.''
''Under Rug Swept,'' its title taken from a lyric in ''Hands Clean,'' covers other ground as well, showing Ms. Morissette maturing as a singer, songwriter and human being, particularly on the raw, compelling piano ballad ''That Particular Time.'' The other songs include odes to new love (''Surrendering''); composites of ex-boyfriends (''Narcissus''); personal battles between insecurity and self-confidence (''So Unsexy''); and messages of salvation through community (''Utopia''). Despite this variety of topics, one general lesson seems to tie all the songs together: if individuals let go of fear, insecurity and ego defenses, they can begin to move through life with love, respect and sharing -- first with themselves, then with another person and finally with the community and world they are a part of.
''I think my own growth is a means to the end of being of service to other people,'' she said. ''If you think of it that way, it makes so much sense, because oftentimes people have said, 'What's with the self-absorption?' But I see that as Step 1 in a two-step process. The second step would be me being of value to other people's lives and being able to share compassion in very tangible ways. And I can't skip over Step 1 to get to Step 2, because then I'm giving from the empty cup so to speak, and not giving from a cup that's spilling over.''
thenytimes.com
AlanisMorissette.it - Forum
AlanisMorissette.it - Forum
