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Creativity Quote by Alanis Morissette

"It's when someone has an agenda of their own, for the record, that it doesn't work for me"

About this Quote

Morissette is drawing a bright line between collaboration and performance, and you can hear the veteran’s fatigue in the phrasing. “For the record” isn’t just studio slang; it’s a tell. It points to a particular kind of interaction in pop culture where the conversation isn’t happening to connect, but to be documented, clipped, and leveraged. The agenda isn’t creativity or truth-telling - it’s optics.

The intent is defensive without being closed off: she’s not rejecting direction, critique, or even conflict. She’s rejecting a power move. When someone arrives with a preloaded narrative, the room stops being a place where messy, human discovery can happen. It becomes a courtroom, a press junket, a brand meeting. “Doesn’t work for me” is deceptively soft, the kind of boundary you learn to set after years of being mythologized and mined. She’s not accusing anyone outright; she’s refusing the premise.

Subtext: authenticity, in her universe, isn’t a vibe, it’s a method. You can’t manufacture it while simultaneously managing how you’ll be perceived. That tension has followed Morissette since Jagged Little Pill turned confession into a commodity and made her personal life feel like public property. In an era of strategic vulnerability and curated candor, her line lands as a quiet rebuke: if you’re already thinking about the quote you want, you’re not listening.

Quote Details

TopicHonesty & Integrity
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Morissette, Alanis. (2026, February 19). It's when someone has an agenda of their own, for the record, that it doesn't work for me. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-when-someone-has-an-agenda-of-their-own-for-43332/

Chicago Style
Morissette, Alanis. "It's when someone has an agenda of their own, for the record, that it doesn't work for me." FixQuotes. February 19, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-when-someone-has-an-agenda-of-their-own-for-43332/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's when someone has an agenda of their own, for the record, that it doesn't work for me." FixQuotes, 19 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-when-someone-has-an-agenda-of-their-own-for-43332/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Alanis Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Musician from Canada.

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