So-Called Chaos

So-Called Chaos is the sixth studio album (fourth released internationally) by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released on May 18, 2004, through Maverick Records. It was preceded by the single "Everything" on April 13, which went on to become Morissette's lowest peaking song on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 76. The album was met with mixed reviews from critics upon release, with some calling it her most accessible record since Jagged Little Pill (1995) while others criticized the project's confusing messages and felt the singer had lost what made her a cultural icon of the '90s.

With 115,000 copies sold in its opening week, So-Called Chaos debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and became Morissette's first international studio album not to reach the top of that chart. It failed to surpass predecessor Under Rug Swept (2002), which debuted at number-one with 215,000 first week sales. Two subsequent singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", were released in July and October respectively, but neither managed to help improve album sales and both songs failed to enter the Hot 100.

Background and release
It had been two years since Morissette released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept. In that time she had met her then fiancé Ryan Reynolds, inspiring many of the songs she wrote for So-Called Chaos. The album found her in a more contented and relaxed state than her previous output, and her songs were brighter and happier than her more volatile works like "You Oughta Know" and "Uninvited". One reporter asked if the song "This Grudge" was based on the same person as "You Oughta Know", and Morissette replied, "Different person, same era."

The first single, "Everything", was released to US radio in the spring of 2004, and was met with mixed reaction. US Adult Top 40 radio stations gave the song good airplay, but mainstream and top 40 stations were colder in their reception, and consequently it became Morissette's lowest peaking single on the Billboard Hot 100. "Everything" was included on the Totally Hits 2004, Vol. 2 compilation, and in 2006 it was featured in the film Clerks II.

Critical reception
Some reviews of So-Called Chaos were positive, with many critics calling it her most accessible and mainstream record since her debut Jagged Little Pill (1995). Still, others thought she had "sold out" for the sake of sales and radio play; Rolling Stone magazine, for example, said the album "attempts to reverse the sliding record sales following [Jagged Little Pill]."

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the Canadian albums chart with first week sales of 11,200, and at number five on the US Billboard 200, selling 115,000 copies in its first week in the US and 287,000 that same week worldwide. In the United States, So-Called Chaos became Morissette's first album to miss the number-one spot. It spent a week in the US top ten before falling down the chart. As of March 2012, the album has sold 474,000 copies in the US. The second single outside the US was "Out Is Through", which had a poor showing in the UK. The second US single was "Eight Easy Steps", which, despite being accompanied by an elaborate music video, failed to chart on the Hot 100 or cause a significant increase in sales of the album, which had already fallen off the Billboard 200. "Excuses" was released as a radio single in Brazil, where it peaked outside the top 40.

Personnel

 * Alanis Morissette – vocals, producer, piano, keyboards, art direction
 * Eric Avery – bass guitar
 * Kenny Aronoff – drums
 * Paul Bushnell – bass
 * Scott Gordon – programming, engineer, drum programming
 * Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
 * Tim Thorney – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, producer
 * Joel Shearer – acoustic guitar, bouzouki, guitar, electric guitar
 * Paul Livingstone – sitar
 * John Shanks – guitar, bass, keyboards, producer
 * Zac Rae – piano, keyboards, vibraphone
 * David Levita – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
 * Jeff Rothschild – programming, engineer
 * Jason Orme – electric guitar
 * Blair Sinta – drums, programming
 * Technical
 * Mark Valentine – engineer
 * Bill Lane, Kevin Mills, Errin Familia, Rich Tosi, Jason Wormer – assistant engineer
 * Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
 * Stephen Marcussen – mastering
 * Frank Maddocks – art direction, design
 * Shari Sutcliffe – project coordinator
 * Sheryl Nields – photography

Other charts
1 Remixes