Experimenting with an Eastern quality in the opening song, “Eight Easy Steps”, Morissette uses tongue-in-cheek lyrics to paint a picture of all the doubts and fears she once had, leaving the impression that she’s finally come to a point where she’s ready to move on. Her take charge attitude and bluntness hasn’t disappeared with the more optimistic lyrics, shown in “Doth I Protest Too Much”, an ode to being secure enough to avoid becoming despondent in a failing relationship.

Morissette doesn’t sacrifice her intellect either in her fourth studio album, once more filling her songs with smart lyrics that might have some listeners running for a dictionary in order to figure out what she’s talking about. Her lyrics are pure poetry that don’t necessarily need all the guitars and drums to make them beautiful. The title track paints a picture of a world where people are able to have true freedom, where everyone governs themselves and authority figures aren’t needed. Perhaps a little too optimistic, she brings up questions about whether it’d be possible to live in a world of “so-called chaos” where everyone got along because no one happened to rule another.

Once again creating an album that feels like her own personal therapy, songs like “Not All Me” and “This Grudge” help create this new forgiving Morissette, who’s forgiving enough to herself but perhaps also to others who’ve wronged her in the past. Then there’s the first single, “Everything”, an ode to someone who’s willing to see everything that she might be and love her just the same, something that everyone should be able to relate to in some way.

Despite having a change in the tone of her lyrics, the music itself seems familiar enough that it could easily fit in with the songs on any of her previous albums. Perhaps feeling it best to change one aspect of the music at a time, sometimes the songs on So-Called Chaos might even sound like other Morissette songs, especially those on her last album, though the new usage of slight Eastern nuances in a few songs hints to a more experimental sound that could have developed into something more.

Overall, So-Called Chaos sounds like an Alanis Morissette CD, a plus for any die-hard fans of hers, and despite being a good album overall, it seems she’s content in treading over familiar musical territory rather than trying something new.