It may be surprising to some to learn that an iconic singer-songwriter, who released one of the biggest-selling albums in the world and whose music became emblematic for a generation of young women, has been quietly enjoying life as a wife and mom in the East Bay suburbs for nearly a decade.
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But not anymore, it seems.
Acclaimed, Canadian-born musician Alanis Morissette recently closed a deal on her six-bedroom Lafayette estate for $9.6 million, just a week after she originally put it on the market on May 12 for $7.5 million, Realtor.com reported. That means that the 52-year-old “Jagged Little Pill” artist got $2.1 million over the asking price for her home in Lafayette’s tony Upper Happy Valley neighborhood — and nearly double the $4.97 million she paid for it in 2018.
The reason for Morissette’s giving up her Lafayette home is not known, though the singer of such 1990s classics as “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know” is in the midst of her “Butterfly With a Machete” world tour. She’s performing this summer in England, Ireland and Canada before returning to the United States, with four dates in Los Angeles in November.
During a 2019 interview with the New York Times, the Grammy winner revealed that she and her husband, the rapper Mario “Souleye” Treadway, had happily moved to Northern California with their two children after she was “finally” done living in Los Angeles for two decades. She said they wanted to be closer to her best friends, the redwoods and skiing at Lake Tahoe; she also reportedly has owned a home in Olympic Valley, near the Palisades Tahoe ski resort.
While in the East Bay, she said she gave birth her her third child. In a 2024 interview with AB7 News, she also raved about life in the Bay Area, away from Hollywood.
“I love the Bay Area,” she said. “Ever since I was 21, I remember having said to myself that I needed to live here.”
“So I took a break from Hollywood, had my third child up here,” she continued. “I’m just in love with the Bay Area. It’s a big, big piece of who I am.”
The news of Morissette’s Lafayette home sale comes as Center Rep, the resident theater company at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, is performing “Jagged Little Pill,” a musical that uses her award-winning album and music catalog to tell a “tale of suburban bliss not being all it seems.”
As for Morissette’s Lafayette home, it was originally built in 1947 on 0.69 acres in the contemporary, California indoor-outdoor style and was extensively updated to span 5,270 square feet, Realtor.com reported. The house features a large great room and gourmet kitchen, along with other luxury amenities such as a wine cellar and private gym. Outside, there is a pool and pool house, built-in kitchen, sports court, raised garden beds and a custom-built treehouse.
Realtor.com reported that the speedy and lucrative sale of Morissette’s home could be another sign of what economist Jiayi Xu said is the “reshaping” of the Bay Area housing market, largely due to the “direct translation of AI-generated wealth” into property investments. While it’s not clear whether the buyer of Morissette’s home has any connection to the AI industry, the fact that the home sold at such a high price indicates that new AI wealth continues to drive “unprecedented” sales of homes in the area, Xu told Realtor.com.
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