Olivia Rodrigo will induct alternative rock icon Alanis Morissette into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame at the September 24 ceremony at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The event will be hosted by singer-songwriter Marie-Mai, and will also celebrate Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, David Foster, and Daniel Lavoie as inductees. The ceremony, broadcast by SiriusXM, will also feature tribute performances by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Ryan Peake, Alessia Cara, and Ruby Waters, among others.
In a statement to Exclaim!, Rodrigo mused on Morissette’s impact on her career. “I remember hearing Alanis for the first time when I was about 13,” she said. “I was in the car with my parents when Jagged Little Pill came on. I heard ‘Perfect,’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God…. You can write songs like that?’ I just looked at music and songwriting in a completely different way.”
It won’t be the first time that Rodrigo and Morissette’s angsty pop-rock agendas have aligned. The two interviewed one another for Rolling Stone’s “Musicians on Musicians” cover story last October. Rodrigo also surprised fans at her LA show at The Greek Theater this past May by bringing out Morissette to duet “You Oughta Know.” As a young prodigy influenced heavily by those who climbed the charts before she was even born, Rodrigo has gone to great lengths to pay tribute to her foremothers of rock. She brought out Avril Lavigne at the same hall the induction will take place in this past April to sing “Complicated.” She also introduced Natalie Imbruglia at her London show for a duet of “Torn,” and at Glastonbury Rodrigo brought out Lilly Allen for a rendition of the singer’s hit “Fuck You,” as a protest against the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade.
In addition to being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Morissette is continuing her world tour which will pick up next month in Louisville, Kentucky. Jagged, the new documentary about her career, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall — a film which Morissette found distastefully and inaccurate saying that it “includes implications and facts that are simply not true.” As Morissette accepts this new honor, we all look forward to her getting to tell her story on her own terms. Rodrigo’s involvement is sure to be a charming addition to the ceremony giving one of contemporary music’s most influential women her due flowers.
