HBO’s Music Box series has received lots of praise from viewers and music fans alike for its fascinating and thought-provoking music documentaries unafraid of touching on unusual or unexpected corners of the music world. In fact, the first in the series Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage looked at Woodstock ’99, an event as forgotten as it is mocked.
The trailer for the next in the series has dropped and is getting a lot of music fans very excited. This documentary, called Jagged, takes a look at Alanis Morissette, specifically the creation and release of her third studio album, 1995’s Jagged Little Pill. The album has sold over 33 million copies worldwide and led Morissette to become the first Canadian artist to achieve double diamond sales status. It was nominated for nine Grammy awards and won five of them, including Album of the Year. Since then, the album has often been called one of the best in history, with Rolling Stone ranking it number 69 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
What set Jagged Little Pill apart at the time was its angst. It was much rawer and more emotionally honest than Morissette’s previous work. The album fused post-grunge and pop-rock sounds with grounded lyrics to create an album that resonated with millions of people. In an era where mainstream rock acts were expected to be performed by men and mainstream pop music was expected to be saccharine, Morissette blazed a trail that opened the door for many future performers.
The documentary is directed by Alison Klayman, who has worked on popular documentaries like Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and 2019’s The Brink. It features never-before-seen archival footage of the album’s creation and its promotional tour. It also includes a brand new in-depth interview with Morissette as she discusses the album’s creation, the struggles she had promoting it, and how its success affected her.
The Music Box series is produced by Bill Simmons, the man behind the popular wrestling documentary Andre the Giant and the child actor documentary Showbiz Kids. It will be broadcasting new episodes each Thursday, with future episodes focusing on the rapper DMX, instrumentalist Kenny G, disco pioneer Robert Stigwood, and Juice WRLD.
Jagged will debut on HBO on Thursday, Nov. 18. Once it has finished broadcasting, it will be available to stream at any time on HBO Max.