Olivia Rodrigo and Canada’s Alanis Morissette recently compared notes about the toxicity of social media.
“Putting out music in the age of social media can be really daunting, and I think people hold young women to an incredibly unrealistic standard,” Rodrigo said, during a conversation with Morissette for Rolling Stone.
“I don’t think anyone is meant to look at that stuff. I don’t think we as human beings are supposed to know what thousands of people think about what we wore or what we said or how we talk. Having that separation is really important — realizing that that’s not real life.”
Morissette told Rodrigo that she long ago stopped reading what people were saying about her. “It wasn’t really relevant to my personal growth and evolution,” she explained. “People ask me what I think of Instagram and everything, and I just think it’s like a storefront in New York at Christmastime. It’s presentational.”
Rodrigo, 18, and Morissette, 47, have plenty in common (besides seven vowels in their names). Both started as child actors (Rodrigo starred in the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark from 2016 to 2019; Morissette was in the cast of Ottawa-made You Can’t Do That On Television in 1986-87) and both released their debut albums as teenagers (Rodrigo was 18 when Sour came out earlier this year; Morissette was 16 when Alanis was released in 1991).
Both also had wildly successful breakthrough albums.
Morissette reflected on the reaction to the success of her third album Jagged Little Pill. “There was a lot of bullying and a lot of jealousy and a lot of people whom I’d adored my whole life being mean girls,” she told Rodrigo, who has faced criticism about originality since the release of Sour.
Rodrigo asked Morissette for advice on growing up in the industry.
“If I could have done anything differently, I would have had a few more friends around me, period,” the Ottawa native said. “Just a little bit more emotional support, someone where you could vent with them and process with them.
“It was lovely to journal about it, but if I could go back in time, I would have conjured a few really deeply loving, unconditionally caring people around me to just check in with me.”
The two artists later showed mutual respect on Twitter. “What an absolute honour. I have looked up to alanis’s honesty, vulnerability, and genius for years. meeting her and experiencing her grace and passion in person was an experience I’ll never forget,” Rodrigo wrote.
Morissette tweeted: “You are so intelligent and deeply kind and a brilliant soul. it was a pleasure chatting with you about it all. #imhereanytime.”