"Eight Easy Steps" is a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

song written by

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...

for her sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

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 w ...

''. The album's opening track, it was released in 2004 as the ''So-Called Chaos'''s third (and final)

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. The song may be seen as discussing

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

, with the message that it is the "course of a lifetime", but the help that is actually "offered" in the song is tongue-in-cheek, with lines like "How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else" and "How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you." The song reached number nine on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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and number 27 on the Adult Top 40.

Music and structure

"Eight Easy Steps" is a song composed in the key of

A♭ major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat minor, ...

. It is written in common time and moves at a moderately fast 132 beats per minute. Its verses are set to a

Middle Eastern The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (European ...

beat.Klunk, Christine.
"Alanis Morissette: So-Called Chaos

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

. September 9, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. Morissette's

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

spans nearly an octave and a half, from A♭₃ to C₅.

Critical reception

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'' gave the song a negative review, finding it a "flaccid and innocuous" attempt to recreate the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

sound of her 1995 single " You Oughta Know".

disagreed, commenting that the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

's "one shining moment of Alanis Anger" was one of the album's few energetic moments. ''

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'' called the song "triumphant", and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' found the song's distortion effective, as well as its "

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

-like

metallic Metallic may be a reference to: *Metal *Metalloid, metal-like substance *Metallic bonding, type of chemical bonding *Metallicity, in astronomy the proportion of elements other than helium and hydrogen in an object *Metallic color, a color that g ...

rage".

Music video

The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by Liz Friedlander."For The Record: Quick News On Nicky Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nelly, Jessica Simpson, Coldplay, Mike Shinoda & More"

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. August 16, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. The video opens with a scene of Morissette performing with her

backing band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

. It then presents sequences from Morissette's previous music videos, television appearances like '' You Can't Do That on Television'', and home videos in reverse chronological order. The scenes are digitally edited to create the appearance that Morissette had sung "Eight Easy Steps" in them.Cohen, Jonathan.
"Alanis 'Steps' Back Into The Past In New Video"
''

''. August 13, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. It took Morissette over 16 hours, to recreate her facial expressions from the clips. Friedlander commented that "It was eerie to watch the footage of present day Alanis run side by side with the early footage…Her ability to match her old actions was uncanny." The video peaked at #11 on the

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Track listing

# "Eight Easy Steps" (Thick Dick Filter Mix) – 6:56 # "Eight Easy Steps" (Jez Colin & Flipper Dalton Remix) – 6:35 # "Eight Easy Steps" (The Orange Factory Remix) – 6:58 # "Eight Easy Steps" (Smitty & Gabriel D. Vine Remix) – 7:03 A second acoustic single was planned with more tracks from the Vancouver Sessions. However, it was scrapped before it was released.

Charts

Credits and personnel

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

: Alanis Morissette *

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

: Joel Shearer * Producers: Alanis Morissette, John Shanks,

Tim Thorney Tim Thorney (February 4, 1955 – June 15, 2021) was a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and record producer, working out of his studio Villa Sound near Collingwood, Ontario. History Thorney first came to prominence as a recording engineer and s ...

* Audio mixing: Chris Lord-Alge, Adam Schiff

References

{{authority control 2004 singles Alanis Morissette songs Music videos directed by Liz Friedlander Song recordings produced by John Shanks Songs written by Alanis Morissette 2004 songs Maverick Records singles