Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

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Template:Album infobox Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie was singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette's fourth studio album. It was released on November 2 1998 by Maverick Records.

1 Album information
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Chart Trajectory
5 Chart trajectory

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Album information

After the massive success of Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette was considered one of the biggest music stars in the world. Many fans anxiously awaited a follow-up album. Alanis knew that if she composed an album along the same lines of her previous record, she'd be accused of playing it safe and pandering to mainstream tastes, despite surely extending her commercial success.

Throwing caution to the wind, Alanis decided to go in the entirely opposite direction, creating a record that was almost designed to shock and alienate her fans. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie was the result. A dark and wandering album, it featured many songs with no hooks or choruses, confounding people who heard it. Songs like "Front Row," "The Couch," and "I Was Hoping" challenged the traditional song formula. No one knew what to make of the album.

Its first single, Thank U, was released to radio in October of 1998. It's generally conceded that anticipation for a new album after three years would have allowed any of the songs on the album to chart considerably high in initial airplay, and many critics and listeners who had pigeonholed Alanis as an angry woman were surprised to hear the calm and serene feel of the song.

Released in November, the album debuted at #1 with the highest first-week sales for a female artist at the time, selling 469,054 copies in its first 7 days. It held at #1 for an additional week, before falling to eighth place in what is generally a busy shopping period due to the holidays. Over the next few weeks, sales for the album slowly declined, and then faltered drastically. After 28 weeks, the album had fallen off the Billboard 200, selling 2.6 million copies. Many artists would be considered a huge success with sales of that caliber, but when spoken of in the context of the enormous-selling Jagged Little Pill, Supposed was a sales disappointment.

The label tried rescuing the album with a second single Unsent. However, it peaked at #58 and got little attention. The third single So Pure failed to chart at all. Joining You became a modest hit on the Modern Rock Chart. None of this was able to salvage the album.

At the time of its release, fans were very discontented with the album, feeling almost betrayed by its huge departure from Jagged Little Pill. Critics were also disparaging in their reviews. However, the passing of time has brought larger appreciation for the record. Many Alanis fans now consider it to be her greatest and most personal record to date.

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Track listing

"Front Row" (Glen Ballard, Morissette) – 4:13
"Baba" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:29
"Thank U" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:18
"Are You Still Mad" (Morissette) – 4:04
"Sympathetic Character" (Morissette) – 5:13
"That I Would Be Good" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:16
"The Couch" (Ballard, Morissette) – 5:24
"Can't Not" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:35
"U R" (Ballard, Morissette) – 3:31
"I Was Hoping" (Ballard, Morissette) – 3:51
"One" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:40
"Would Not Come" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:05
"Unsent" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:10
"So Pure" (Ballard, Morissette) – 2:50
"Joining You" (Ballard, Morissette) – 4:24
"Heart of the House" (Morissette) – 3:46
"Your Congratulations" (Morissette) – 3:54

The Australian version of the album contains a demo (piano and vocals only) of "Uninvited" (from the City of Angels soundtrack) as a bonus track.

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Personnel

Glen Ballard - Synthesizer, Guitar, Piano, Programming, Producer, Engineer, String Arrangements
Benmont Tench - Organ, Chamberlin
David Campbell - String Arrangements, String Arrangements
Scott Campbell - Engineer
Gary Novak - Percussion, Drums
Alanis Morissette - Flute, Harmonica, Piano, Vocals, Producer, Photography
Joel Shearer - Guitar
Jolie Jones Levine - Production Coordination
Nick Lashley - Guitar
Chris Bellman - Mastering
Chris Fogel - Programming, Engineer, Mixing
Kevin Reagan - Art Direction, Design
Roger Sommers - Engineer, Second Engineer
Dash Mihok - Photography, Loop
Regina Thomas - Photography
Chris Chaney - Bass
Stefan Bucher - Design
Shad T. Scott - Programming
Heather Stanley - Photography