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Alanis Morissette is one of those artists whose works can't be judged on anything but a case-by-case basis, due to the fact that she puts the entirety of her emotions, personal triumphs and failures into each one. In the trail of studio albums leading up to Havoc and Bright Lights, her eighth, she's gone from a reformed Canadian pop princess to an angry young alt-rocker (covering up her past recording career like an O.G. Lana Del Rey) to an introspective woman struggling to make it through emotional upheavals (like a broken engagement to Ryan Reynolds). Here, married and now a mother, Morissette is at arguably her most joyous and protective of her newfound happiness — check the first single, "Guardian," and the gratitude for being rescued from the bowels of stardom on "Empathy." Sometimes it gets too cheerful, like the made-for-wedding-dances sap of "'Til You," and there's a discernible lack of angst in the feminist ode "Woman Down," which could do with some bite, with lyrics like "Calling all lady haters/Why must you vilify us?" Then again, it's probably tough to get all mad with what feels like a perpetual smiley face on Alanis this time around — don't you think?
