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‘So many people were exploitative’: Alanis Morissette reflects on early career

Alanis Morissette wishes she’d "had a few extra guardians" to protect her when she was younger.

The 46-year-old star says she was exploited by people in the music industry who should have been protecting her when she was just starting out but she isn’t sure her younger self would have taken any advice on board.

She told the Independent newspaper: "I would have had a few extra guardians around her.

"There were a lot of people with the title guardian around me that were often, at times, the very people who were not a guardian.

"I don’t know how I would have convinced 19-year-old Alanis on this one, but let’s get a couple more people around you who aren’t exploiting you and who aren’t using you.

"The thing is, a lot of people didn’t even realise they were doing it. I could barely fault anyone because so many people who were exploitative, who were using me, they didn’t even know they were doing it."

Alanis has been honest about her experiences in her music, including 2002 track ‘Hands Clean’, which explores the power dynamic between a young woman in a relationship with a much older man.

In the song, she sings: "Just make sure you don’t tell on me, especially to members of your family. We best keep this to ourselves and not tell any members of our inner posse."

And the star admitted that while she delves into personal subjects and ideas of "revenge" in her words, she doesn’t always feel the need to go further into certain issues.

She added: "But it’s all there, all the lyrics in all the stories are all there – I consider myself to be the queen of revenge fantasy, not the queen of actual revenge acting out."

Previously, Alanis claimed that not only was she "straight-up ignored" when she released ‘Hands Clean’, but she was also "vilified and shamed and victimised and victim-attacked" for speaking out.

She said: ""It – and I – were just straight-up ignored at best. Vilified and shamed and victimised and victim-attacked at worst.

"There were moments around the #MeToo era where people would say, why are people waiting so long to speak up? And I was like really?

"But then also I lovingly reminded a couple of them ‘Oh, but you do remember me saying something 15 years ago, right? Word for word about this and do you remember what happened during that time?’ "