Havoc and Bright Lights - Alanis Morissette
User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 29 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 29
  3. Negative: 5 out of 29

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  1. Mangaeyes
    Feb 18, 2013
    4
    For me, the best moments on 'Havoc and Bright Lights' come in the forms of "Guardian", "Woman Down", "Edge of Evolution" and "Receive", each one blurring commercial pop-rock with more electro-influenced sounds. However these four decent songs are positioned at the beginning and end of the album leaving a very bland, VERY Adult-Contemporary chunk of filler in the middle. In a desperate attempt to perk up 'Havoc and Bright Lights' Morissette suffocates these songs in slick, slimey production thanks to Joe Chiccarelli (Elton John, U2, Tori Amos) and Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Britney Spears, Björk). This results in the painfully contrived "Lens" and "Celebrity", the dreary mess "'Til You" and the cringeworthy "Win and Win". It just all feels a bit too forced and a little bit lazy, lacking the spontaneous honesty that Morissette presented so well with her previous albums.… Expand
  2. AloudSound
    Sep 1, 2012
    8
    "With its more radio-friendly beats, experimental trance, complex lyrical content and softer tone music, its truly good enough to say that its a great welcome back to Mrs. Morissette"
  3. BarkingPumpkin
    Oct 31, 2012
    4
    I basically agree with Sputnikmusic's take on this effort. To its credit the production is pretty good, but it really seems like Alanis is just going through the motions on this one -- we've heard the same shlocky-pop from other pop artists over the past couple decades. The track Lens is OK. This whole effort is for the diehard fan only.
  4. doc2be
    Aug 31, 2012
    8
    Excellent album. Such introspective and thoughtful lyrics and music. Such an underrated artist which is disappointing given the wonderful music. Definitely not mainstream pop music which makes it unpalatable to the Pitbull lovers and radio I suppose. Recommended if you love music.
  5. vladsch
    Apr 27, 2013
    2
    Alanis proved through the years to be as talented as a musician as she is a good partner in love something we can conclude embarrassingly through her excessive private life exposure in her songwritting where everybody else is always the problem, never her. Though her first solely self produced album Under Rug Swept had quite good hooks for her then assumed radio-lite-pop rock orientation, so far in the last 10 years she just released rubish and lazy work. Havoc and Bright Lights I love how the titles of her songs and albums are so pseudo intellectualized is however the worst of all. Some may think she just succeeded during her lifetime career thanks to her producers who polished her talents specially Glen Ballard however she already proved to do fine by herself and Mrs. Morissette problem here is actually lazyness to cope with her own work. If the title for her works are pompous and promising, you always happen to find out is just a fancy wrap for a cotton candy tasting like water. She should just embrace her now motherhood and save us from the baby lullabies. Better follow Kate Bush example and stay home baking cakes and taking care of your son. Your husband can pay the bills, you don't need to embarrass yourself anymore Alanis.… Expand
  6. vane1902
    Aug 28, 2012
    10
    I love the album is cool super coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool, i love alanis morisettte is coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool and i love you
  7. JotaBrasil
    Oct 19, 2012
    6
    Houve um tempo que a Alanis Morissette era extremamente relevante para o mundo musical. Jagged Little Pill já foi "O" disco feminino da história. Isso foi à 17 anos atrás e hoje Alanis ainda está na ativa, mas sem o mesmo brilho de antes. Ela não perdeu apenas em vendagem, mas em qualidade. Ao longo dos anos seu trabalho foi perdendo cada vez mais qualidade e ela foi se transformando em uma cópia de si mesma. Em 2008 ela lançou Flavors of Entanglement o que eu considero o seu fundo do poço. Depois de um hiato de quatro anos a canadense resolveu sair da toca e vai lançar seu oitavo álbum de estúdio intitulado Havoc and Bright Lights e tenho duas noticias uma boa e uma ruim. A ruim é que o álbum é fraco. A boa é que é superior ao anterior.

    Havoc and Bright Lights é um álbum essencialmente pop. Tem pitadas de eletrônico e rock que com uma produção fraca transforma tudo em um som bem genérico. O excesso de produção em cima das canções deixou tudo muito clean, asséptico e sem gosto ou textura. Sem saber onde se agarrar, Alanis se transforma em cópias de Avril Lavigne e Amy Lee. Quando ela decide ser ela mesma a coisa muda de figura, a canção cresce e ganha certa personalidade. Seu lado mais pungente sempre foi o de compositora. Aqui não há um trabalho genial, mas é muito interessante. Falando sobre sua relação com a fama e outras relações mais intimas, Alanis ainda tem uma cerne ainda revigorante. De longe a melhor canção é Lens, uma balada sobre um amor amargo que tem uma pegada "old Alanis". Outros momentos bonzinhos são a estranhamente pop Woman Down, a clichê e grandiosa Celebrity e a delicada com inspiração oriental Win and Win. Do lado ruim tem a chata Spiral que mais parece com uma música que a Avril faria e mais sem graça Receive. Não é uma obra de arte, mas mostra que Alanis ainda guarda algo lá no fundo.    … Expand
  8. nick4bty
    Aug 28, 2012
    10
    This album couldn't better paint Alanis' life at the moment. There are so many fantastic moments in this album that it almost takes the knife out of the four-year-wait-cake. We are served a full album filled with sonically-brilliant moments and true pieces of pop art. As an artist, Alanis never fails to express herself in beautiful ways. Listening to the music offers music ingenuity, but reading the lyrics and truly understanding each song and what it stands for is how you can get the most out of this album. Everything about it clicks. 17 years since Jagged Little Pill, and still on top of her game. Havoc and Bright Lights is easily one of her best works to date.… Expand
  9. RobbieCope
    Nov 13, 2012
    5
    Not bad for adult contemporary. Very, very adult contemporary. The one song that sounds sorta angry is mostly sorta silly instead. Again, not bad, but feels a bit forced. She's obviously a happy woman. And she's writing music that could easily be clipped and used for inspirational-sounding infomercials. Obviously, nothing ground breaking here. Or even terribly interesting. Or terribly offensive. Or innovative. But not unpleasant.… Expand
  10. BasaureH
    Mar 27, 2013
    4
    I can listen to it over and over, but it just doesn't hear/feel like Alanis. Most of us understand that she's no longer the woman she was ten years ago, and maybe she's grown up a lot and now she's a woman singing, but I missed the irony in the lyrics, the depth of the emotion and the simplicity of the album tone. It just feels all very charged and overblown.
  11. Foxmodem
    Aug 28, 2012
    10
    this is easily one of Alanis Morissette's finest albums, proving that you don't have to be miserable or depressed to be inspired to create art. It's already trite to compare her albums to Jagged Little Pill, so I will just compare this to her previous "happy" album, So-Called Chaos. While SCC struggled to find words, rhythm, and coherence to describe that so-called happiness, the songs of Havoc and Bright Lights show clarity and genuine joy both in lyrics and melody. Lots of potential radio hits here: Receive, Empathy, Spiral, Win and Win, Woman Down. If there's an album that should propel her back to the charts and awards shows this would be it.… Expand
  12. federicobenny
    Aug 30, 2012
    9
    Not the masterpiece I've been waiting for, but still a good album with a fresh (for Alanis' music), well made and well produced sound, which makes "Havoc and Bright Lights" a good "sequel" of "Flavors of Entanglement".
  13. rquinteroa25
    Oct 5, 2012
    9
    This review contains spoilers. Havoc and Bright lights is full of spiritual point of view and meditation about how to watch our life inside each person and not out of the person. I really love this album, based upon the lyrics. Some songs have good music, but others have been so soft if we compare it to what Alanis has recorded before. It is an album that is connected to the person and the environment where the person is. We can't love it if we pretend to listen to it as a normal-simple-common person.… Collapse
  14. MissEighties
    Dec 16, 2012
    7
    My expectations for this album were quite low because I'm a fan of "Jagged Little Pill" and that's about it. Turns out that "Havoc and Bright Lights" is one of the best she did. Not a fan of her smooth songs but loving the Alternative-Angry-Rock-like-Alanis-can-do "Numb" and "Celebrity". An album I played more often then I would've thought since it's been released, it has to be good otherwise I wouldn't listen to it. One of her best!… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 17
  3. Negative: 3 out of 17
  1. Uncut
    Sep 14, 2012
    40
    Mostly, though, Morrisette succumbs to her dual predilections for quasi-spirituality and stultifying sappiness. [Oct 2012, p.84]
  2. American Songwriter
    Sep 5, 2012
    70
    Morissette's poetic discourse of intimately describing her feelings still abounds, but is elegantly emoted here with cool restraint.
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  3. PopMatters
    Aug 30, 2012
    50
    While it may be a difficult task to get through all 12 psycho-babble-filled tune on havoc, it's not entirely a wash or without merit. Ultimately, if you're not into hearing someone use their artistic expression to vent their frustrations and contemplate fairly uneducated meanderings on the current social state, or you're not struggling with your own identity lacking the mental capacity to understand your surroundings, you need not apply.
    Read full review
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