Olivia Rodrigo will be in Toronto next month to help induct Alanis Morissette into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF).
In May, Rodrigo brought Morissette out on stage during a concert in Los Angeles to perform the latter’s 1995 hit “You Oughta Know" together.
Last October, the pair had a conversation for Rolling Stone in which Rodrigo sought Morissette’s advice.
“If I could have done anything differently,” Morissette said, “I would have had a few more friends around me, period. Just a little bit more emotional support, someone where you could vent with them and process with them.
“I would have conjured a few really deeply loving, unconditionally caring people around me to just check in with me.”
Rodrigo later tweeted: “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, 19, and Morissette, 48, 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).
Morissette’s fellow Ontario natives Alessia Cara and JP Saxe will perform as part of the tribute to her at the Sept. 24 gala at Toronto’s Massey Hall.
The CSHF announced Morissette’s induction in May, describing her, in a release, as “a tour de force who blazed her own trail amongst the male-dominated alternative rock landscape of the ‘90s.”
Born in Ottawa, she released two pop albums in Canada before her global breakthrough Jagged Little Pill came out in 1995. Written with Glen Ballard, it went on to become one of the top-selling albums of all time.
Also being inducted this year are Bryan Adams and Jim Valance, David Foster and Daniel Lavoie.
Previously announced performers include Chad Kroeger and Ryan Peake of Nickelback, Corey Hart, Deborah Cox, Serena Ryder, Jessie Reyez, Charlotte Cardin and Chicago’s Neil Donell.
Previous CSHF inductees include Paul Anka, Leonard Cohen, Burton Cummings, Dan Hill, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Robbie Robertson and Neil Young.