Daryl Tay.net

I don’ think I was ever a fan of Alanis Morissette. Sure I listened to Hands Over Feet and Ironic and Hand In My Pocket growing up just like everyone else, but I always felt her music was a little angsty and not for me.

Fast forward to early this year when Chloe and I were recording our radio show and I hear this haunting melody with vocals just filled with raw emotion and I look up and ask Chloe “Who’s this?” and my eyes widen when I realise it’s Alanis Morissette.

[At this point, you should really press play on the embedded YouTube video and let it stream while reading the rest of the post.]

After noticing that the song is pretty damn good, I then realised the title is pretty damn strange. What does “Not As We” stand for anyway? That’s when Chloe tells me it’s about breaking up and starting from scratch:

Day one, day one, start over again
Step one, step one
With not much making sense just yet
I’m faking it ’til I’m psuedo-making it
From scratch, begin again
But this time I as “I”
And not as “we”

I think the immediate parallel is definitely a relationship, but I also feel it really encompasses any kind of loss where you’d have to start over from the beginning, pretend you’re okay and yet just go on. Not as part of a group, or not with your pet, not with something – or someone – that meant a lot to you, or as she beautifully puts it, not as “we”.