Alanis Morissette To Pen Advice Column For ‘The Guardian’

Alanis Morissette has decided to branch out of the music industry and try her hand as an advice columnist for The Guardian.

Alanis Morissette Advice Column

Morissette will start doling out advice for The Guardian Weekend magazine starting Jan. 16. The singer-songwriter is taking over for Breakfast Club actress Molly Ringwald, who submitted her last column for the magazine back in September. In Morissette’s column, she’ll will be taking on the role of therapist for readers.

“I’m definitely a therapy girl. I think that’s quite obvious. I don’t want to say everyone should [have therapy], but do I think everyone might benefit from it? Yes,” Morissette told The Guardian. “But I’m aware that a lot of people have great resistance to it.”

Morissette believes that she’s uniquely qualified to offer advice because it’s something she’s had a significant amount of practice at. “Parents, brothers, even extended family members, that was the role I took on, because I suppose I had this combination of intuition and empathy,” said Morissette. “I cut my teeth, basically, listening for a living.”

Since October, Morissette has been releasing podcasts on her personal website in which she offers relationship advice in addition to talking about health and spirituality.

“I was getting bored with just one form,” Morissette explained. “Songs are my favorite, let’s be honest. But there’s a limitation: it’s just three or four minutes. In a podcast, or in a column, there’s an intimacy and vulnerability on my part and the questioner’s part. We’re going for it, and there’s no hiding.”

Questions for Morissette’s column can be submitted by email to ask.alanis@theguardian.com.