`JAGGED' EDGES OF FAME : MORISSETTE CONFRONTS THE LITTLE ANNOYANCES THAT COME WITH SUCCESS.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

Just because you've sold 13 million copies of anything doesn't mean you're going to be loved.

Just ask Alanis Morissette, who knows there are plenty of people out there who predict she'll never be able to match the incredible success she's had in the past year.

Despite the pressure she's under to make a second album as appealing as the Grammy Award-winning ``Jagged Little Pill,'' Morissette - who turned 22 two weeks ago - is surprisingly confident as she prepares for a world tour that will take her to the end of the year, when she returns to the studio with co-writer Glen Ballard.

``We already know without saying it that we're not going to try and re-create (`Jagged Little Pill'),'' Morissette said. ``We both think we only just scratched the surface of what we want to do together musically.''

But will the fans be waiting?

Morissette realizes some expect her to fail. She's heard the questions about popmeister Ballard (often dubbed her personal Svengali), the ringing refrain of ``one-hit wonder'' and all the talk about a backlash from alternative-rock types who doubt her credibility.

``For me, I never saw the point in signing with a big label and climbing aboard the corporate treadmill,'' said 25-year-old Ani DiFranco, the indie punk-folk singer who could be considered the anti-Alanis. ``I want my career based in the community, not within a gigantic system based on greed and fame and mass appeal.''

Meanwhile, there seems to be no end to the hits coming off ``Jagged,'' which recently leapfrogged back into the top five on the Billboard 200 a year after its release.

``You Oughta Know'' has given way to ``Ironic,'' ``Hand in My Pocket'' and ``You Learn,'' and there could be more.

Morissette, a Los Angeles resident for the past 2-1/2 years, is set to perform at the huge Prince's Trust concert June 29 in London's Hyde Park along with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and the Who. Saturday, she kicks off four sold-out dates at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

Life on the road is simply about surviving day to day, the Canadian-born singer said. Yet, in a phone call from San Francisco this week, Morissette appeared extremely relaxed.

``My personal life is going well,'' she said. ``It's difficult on the road to do anything except be a leader, a partner or a boss. It's about survival rather than thriving. But things are getting much better, and I'm more communicative these days. I'm in that gray area between the passive-aggressive approach I've taken all my life. But I think it's impossible not to repress some things.''

Q: What kind of pressure are you under to follow the success of ``Jagged Little Pill?''

A: ``There are two distinct worlds I inhabit. One is the entertainment world, where I'm growing as a lyricist and a communicator and a performer. Then, there's the business side. The latter world, I can't control. I don't even think about it for more than the time I need to because I know it's not under my control. All I can promise is, I will write from wherever I am at the time. And if that results in my losing thousands of people who bought my first album, so be it.''

Q: Did you have any idea the album would take off the way it did? It's sold 13 million copies worldwide at last count.

A: ``When it was finished, I thought it would appeal to the people who would understand what I was after. I just really appreciated the entire process. It was amazing working with Ballard. I've worked with over 100 collaborators, and it was a very unfulfilling process for whatever reason. But I always held out that I'd eventually find someone on my own wavelength.''

Q: Having never seen you in concert, how do you fill an entire evening with just one album's worth of material?

A: ``I've got five or six new songs written. Two with Glen, some with the band, and one I'm writing alone. We used to cover Radiohead's `Fake Plastic Trees.' The plan is, I'll come off the road in December, then go back into the studio with Glen in January. I'd like to write the next record in the same concentrated amount of time. The first one was done in something like a little more than two months.''

Q: What recent experiences will you draw upon when it's time to write new material?

A: ``I'm inspired by conversations with people first and foremost. Connecting with someone on a cerebral level is the best thing in the world. It's next to godliness for me. It's important to me that people be open to vulnerability and honesty, and I've noticed there are a lot more spiritual, open-minded, cerebral, people that I'm meeting.''

Q: Was ``You Oughta Know'' totally misread as an angry shout out?

A: ``That song is more vulnerable than upset and angry. Anger is an extension of hurt, to me. It's a cowardly way of dealing with pain. When I sing the song now, I think back to the original emotion. The acoustic version with strings at the Grammys (which becomes available June 25 as the B side of the `You Learn' CD single) was my way of carrying it back to its first emotion, feeling hurt and confused. So, when I see the Angry Young Woman label, it's completely missing the point of what the song is about.''

Q: Speaking of that, did it bother you to be used as the figurehead for the latest chapter in the Women in Rock series?

A: ``It's just the media spin. It's the people I'm singing to and the spirit that's getting the real message across. Those short, snappy cliches just end up selling someone short by making them appear to be one-dimensional. It's shorthand, a quick one-line summary of a person. I understand the need to sensationalize, but people need the patience to delve deeper than that. And a lot of journalists do go beyond it. But others feel compelled to characterize me in that way.''

Q: Well, I almost hate to ask, but are you angry lately?

A: ``Yes, I'm angry sometimes. Anger is a part of me, like it is with everybody. It's one part along with the other parts.''

Q: Does it bother you to be spotted in public?

A: ``I'm sometimes recognized on the streets. I can go some days where nobody looks twice. It depends on the molecules in the air that day. I know my face isn't that well-known as some artists.''

Q: Describe your audience.

A: ``I see everybody, every shape and form. Some nights it will be predominantly young women. In Amsterdam, I was surprised to see something like 98 percent males.''

Q: Is there any emotion, feeling or thought you won't deal with in a song?

A: ``If it writes itself in a song, I don't question it. I'm empowered by my vulnerability and not apologetic at all for it.''

Q: Are you much of a student of pop music?

A: ``I've never thought about formulas. It's to my chagrin that I'm so ignorant about all the music that's out there. I have so few CDs. When I was writing with Glen, he would comment about all these albums he thought I knew. And I hadn't heard of any of them.''

Q: How's life at Maverick (the label owned by Madonna)?

A: ``They've given me 100 percent freedom. It took time for them to believe I was self-sufficient creatively and decisionwise. We've earned a mutual respect that only comes in time. I've had some good and bad experiences in that regard with labels in the past. But I have no complaints today.''

Q: How do you fill time on the road? Are you reading anything?

A: `` `Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' (by Tom Robbins), books on psychology and autobiographies. With `Cowgirls,' I can relate to some of it. With that writer, there's something profound every 20 pages.''

Q: Do you feel any responsibility, now that you have power in the music business, to call attention to any new or little-known acts you particularly like?

A: ``I've sung the praises of several different artists who I thought would connect with my fans. I've taken a few bands I really like on the road. I do whatever I can, really. I don't believe I've got a magic wand I can wave and make things happen. But for people like Radiohead, Bjork, Tori Amos and P.J. Harvey, for whatever reason, there are people I connect with that they don't connect with. Maybe my music is a little more literal than theirs.''

THE FACTS Who: Alanis Morissette, with Imperial Drag.

Where: Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tickets: Sold out, try brokers.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) ISN'T IT IRONIC?

After winningfour Grammys and selling 13 million albums, Alanis Morissette isn't so angry anymore

(2) Though she says ``You Oughta Know'' isn't an angry song, Alanis Morissette says, ``Yes, I'm angry sometimes. Anger is a part of me, like it is with everybody. It's one part along with the other parts.''

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service