If you’ve been watching Showtime’s Yellowjackets then you know the show’s industrial rager theme song, “No Return,” is already super intense. But the crackling, NIN-meets-My-Bloody-Valentine aural assault opening credits track created by Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think) and Anna Waronker (That Dog) goes in a different extreme direction in the hands of Alanis Morissette.
The singer was tasked with coming up with a new version of “No Return,” which debuted in the new fourth episode of season two, which dropped on Friday (April 14). “I love the original version [of ‘No Return’] It’s just the perfect song and the greatest performance for this show,” Morissette says in a two-minute behind-the-scenes video about her re-recording and the Wedren/Waronker original.
“So it was a little daunting to be asked to reinterpret it. The first time I saw Yellowjackets I was just moved. It was so primal and emotional and real,” she said of the intense series chronicling the aftermath of a plane crash that strands a girl’s soccer team in the Canadian wilderness. “Some overlapping themes between this show and my body of work is that intensity and that going for the jugular.”
Morissette does just that on her whirling dervish version, adding a an industrial gothic layer to the original while spiking it with her signature keening, mesmerizing vocals.
“What’s so wonderful about this show is that each character is allowed to be complex,” she said of the excellent cast of actors who portray the tormented teens and their even more traumatized adult versions. “Yellowjackets represents the gravitas and vulnerability and the animalistic power that women have.”
Morissette said she really resonates with the storyline about women navigating intense trauma and its effect on their lives as adults. “This show is so rich and sensual, it’s like one giant rock song. It’s such an honor to be considered in any way a musical fairy godmother to this show,” she said of the series that frequently taps into 1990s alt rock nostalgia via iconic songs from Portishead, Mazzy Star, Liz Phair, Belly, Lush and many more.
Earlier this season, Florence + the Machine recorded a dramatic interpretation of No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” for the second season’s trailer.
Watch Morissette talk about her process recording “No Return” and listen to her version below.
