"Hands Clean" | ||||
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Single by Alanis Morissette | ||||
from the album Under Rug Swept | ||||
B-side | "Sister Blister" | |||
Released | 8 January 2002 | |||
Recorded | 2001 | |||
Length |
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Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Alanis Morissette | |||
Producer(s) | Alanis Morissette | |||
Alanis Morissette singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Hands Clean" on YouTube |
"Hands Clean" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept (2002). It was written, composed, and produced by Morissette and released as the album's lead single in January 2002. It features a shuffling, largely acoustic-rock framework. Lyrically, "Hands Clean" caused controversy, since it is reportedly the singer's recollection of a forbidden sexual relationship she shared with a much older man when she was approximately 14 years of age.
The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom immediately chose the track as an album standout compared to some of her previous material. "Hands Clean" did well on the music charts, reaching number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Billboard Adult Top 40. It topped the charts in New Zealand and Canada, where it became her sixth and most recent number-one single. An accompanying music video was released in 2002 for the single.
Background and release
[edit]After Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie – the 1998 follow-up to her 1995 breakthrough Jagged Little Pill – Morissette joined MTV for an unplugged album, released in 1999.[1] Subsequently, she neither wrote nor composed for a few months, before developing a new album, through 2000 and 2001.[2] During that period, she acknowledged she had learned, "That men in positions of power were not to be entirely trusted with my body and soul just because they were older than me."[3]
According to Jennifer Vineyeard of MTV News, the new album's topic was "love, sex, cruelty – with the added vantage of years spent growing up and getting over the man who vexed her so."[4] Morissette wrote, composed, and produced Under Rug Swept by herself, claiming to have been inspired by events in her life, such as a break-up with her boyfriend and her contract renegotiation with Maverick.[2] "I started writing alone," she said, "and within the first week I'd written seven songs. So it was all really fast and accelerated, and I think 'Hands Clean' was maybe the tenth song that I wrote and I just wrote it with a guitar in a room."[4]
Of the 27 songs written for the album,[5] "Hands Clean" was picked to be the first single and was released on 8 January 2002.[6] Before its official release, the song debuted on German radio on 24 December 2001.[7]
Composition and lyrical content
[edit]"Hands Clean," written, composed, and produced entirely by Alanis Morissette, features a shuffling, largely acoustic-rock framework[8] and a "pure-pop" hook.[5] It is written in the key of G major, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. The introduction follows the chord progression of C–D–G/B–C that repeats throughout the song except for the bridge that is Em-C-G-D two times. Morissette's vocal range spans from the low-note of G4 to the high-note of G6.[9] The narrative voice of the song alternates; the verses are written from the presumed viewpoint of the other person in a relationship, an older man talking to a younger lover ("If it weren't for your maturity none of this would have happened/If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself" [...] "I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian/I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it"), whereas the chorus and bridge represent her own feelings ("We'll fast forward to a few years later/And no one knows except the both of us/And I have honoured your request for silence/And you've washed your hands clean of this").[8][10]
Lyrically, "Hands Clean" explores a past relationship and how its effects linger.[8] Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone went further, writing that the song is about "an apparently matter-of-fact reminiscence of underage sex with a music-business mentor, an affair 'under rug swept.'"[10] However, he commented that the song holds not a hint of Lolita guilt, forbidden passion, or resentment compared to her furious take on the same situation in "Right Through You" on Jagged Little Pill.[10] Website Jam! Music dug deeper, writing that it "tells the story of her attempts to come to grips with an intergenerational affair that started when she was as young as 14,"[11] a statement also made by other critics.[12] In an interview for Q Magazine, Morissette confessed, "The grudge I hold is against myself for having been quiet for so long [...] I've covered his ass for so many years. So now it's almost like ... I wanted to liberate myself from not beating myself up any longer. It's almost irrespective of his involvement now; it's more about me and my relationship with my own past."[11]
In a track-by-track commentary on her album, Morissette further commented about the track:
My intention in writing this song was to get to a place where I could be as truthful and as honest as I possibly could be about certain relationships in my past. It's definitely not with the intention of seeking any sort of revenge for the person who is at the heart of the song that I'm singing about, but it was in my silencing myself to protect somebody else that I was ultimately completely abandoning myself. And any time I speak untruths in my life, and often-times I feel by not speaking the truth, by being silent, there's an element of an untruth in that. Withholding the truth sometimes can feel just as horrible as a lie to me. So as I get older, I think I want more and more to introduce the bliss of speaking transparently and truthfully and as honestly as I possibly can, knowing that the truth in this case is my truth only.[13]
Critical reception
[edit]While choosing the song as a highlight from Under Rug Swept, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic compared its lyrics to her earlier hit "You Oughta Know," also noting that "this would all seem calculated, an attempt to regain her chart status, if Morissette wasn't so unabashedly earnest, seemingly unembarrassed by her confessions."[14] Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club praised the track for being "a breezy new single" and "infectious enough to surpass the direst moment of 'Under Rug Swept.'"[15] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song "could even be seen as a sequel to 'You Oughta Know,'"[16] while Nikki Tranter of Popmatters compared the lyrical content on the song to her previous songs "Plastic" and "Jealous," from her first album, Alanis.[17] Larry Flick of Billboard Magazine noted that the track show[s] Morissette proudly wearing her affection for concise, pure-pop hooks,"[5] while Mark Blake of Q called it "one of the album's peaks."[18] Kitty Empire of NME wrote a mixed review to the track, although calling it "a tolerable enough tune, mind, for those who think their chocolate craving says something poignant about their inner selves."[19]
Chart performance
[edit]"Hands Clean" was a commercial success in many territories, reaching the top 10 in over six countries while also reaching the top-twenty in seven others. In the United States, the song debuted at number 65 on the week of 2 February 2002, becoming that week's "Hot Shot Debut",[20] and moved up to number 49 the following week.[21] The song cracked the top 40 in its third week, climbing to number 39,[22] and peaked five weeks later at number 23 due to an increase in radio play.[23][24] On other Billboard component charts, the song managed to reach number 19 on the Mainstream Top 40 and number three on the Adult Top 40.[25][26] In Canada, "Hands Clean" became her sixth number-one single.[27] In the United Kingdom, the song managed to debut at number twelve, becoming her most successful single since "Thank U" (1998) as well as her latest top-twenty single on the UK charts.[28]
In Australia, "Hands Clean" debuted and peaked at number nine, on 8 February 2002. It became her highest-charting single there since "Ironic" in 1996 and her last to reach the top 10.[29] It received a gold certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipping over 35,000 units.[30] In New Zealand, the song experienced more success, debuting at number 48 but peaking at number one ten weeks later. It became Morissette's most successful single and first number-one hit.[31] The song also experienced commercial success in several European countries, including Italy, where it reached number three,[32] Norway, peaking at number seven,[33] and Switzerland, reaching number five.[34]
Music video
[edit]Background and synopsis
[edit]Francis Lawrence directed the music video for "Hands Clean."[35] It was televised and broadcast in January 2002 for the single's worldwide release.[6]
The video begins with Alanis sitting in a sushi bar when she spies a man (played by Chris Sarandon)[35] as he enters. She has a flashback to a time when she spurned his unwanted advances, and it had an effect on her. We see Alanis's memories played out on a television screen, and the process begins, recorded for public viewing and re-viewing. We see her writing about the relationship, guitar in hand, creating a song which she then records and takes to a record producer (played by Ian Gomez),[35] who presses it as a CD. She is soon posing for the CD sleeve photograph and shooting a video, which is played all over the world, just as the CD is being flown across oceans, in order to be put on display at hip record stores, where it is snapped up by many eager hands, including a girl in a beanie (played by Masiela Lusha).[36][37] The singer is seen performing the song on the radio (radio DJ is played by Dean Haglund). At the video's conclusion, set a year after its beginning, Morissette again sees her former suitor enter the same sushi bar. Through her song, and the process of it becoming a hit and then a memory, she has come to terms with her past relationship. On seeing this person who had a profound effect on her this second time, she is able to move on: before departing the restaurant, she picks up a napkin and wipes her hands clean.
Track listings
[edit]
Canadian CD single[38]
UK and European CD1[39]
UK and European CD2, Australian CD1[40][41]
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Australian CD2, European maxi-single[42][29]
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Personnel
[edit]Credits are lifted from the Canadian CD single liner notes.[38]
- Alanis Morissette – vocals, electric guitar
- Nick Lashley – guitar
- Joel Shearer – guitar
- Gary Novak – drums
- Tim Thorney – acoustic guitar
- Chris Bruce – bass
- Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
- Mark Stephens – piano
Charts
[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
|
Certifications
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA)[30] | Gold | 35,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Release history
[edit]Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref(s). |
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United States | 8 January 2002 | Radio | Maverick | [6] |
Australia | 28 January 2002 | CD |
|
[72] |
United Kingdom | 18 February 2002 |
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Maverick | [73][74] |
References
[edit]- ^ "Alanis Morissette | Biography | Allmusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ a b Sullivan, Kate (March 2002). "Well-Rounded Little Pill". Spin. 18 (3): 88. ISSN 0886-3032.
- ^ Blake, Mark (October 2001). "I believed if I had sex I would be damned in hell forever". Q. p. 48.
- ^ a b Vineyeard, Jennifer. "Alanis Morissette: The Silence is Over". MTV News. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ a b c "Alanis Excels on Her Own". Billboard. 8 February 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ a b c "Alanis Excels on Her Own". Billboard. 19 January 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (28 December 2001). "Alanis' Jagged Edge Returns on New Single, 'Hands Clean'". MTV. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ a b c "'Under Rug Swept:' A Track Listing". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 3. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 8 February 2002. p. 89. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ "Alanis Morissette "Hands Clean" Guitar Tab – Download & Print". MusicNotes.com. 21 May 2002. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ a b c Pareles, Jon (8 February 2002). "Alanis Morissette: Under Rug Swept: Music Reviews: Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. RealNetworks, Inc. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Alanis comes clean on teen affair". Jam! Canoe. 7 December 2004. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Alanis Morissette – Under Rug Swept – Plugged In". Plugged In (publication). Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ "Alanis Morissette talks about songs from 'UNDER RUG SWEPT'". MSO. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (8 February 2002). "Under Rug Swept – Alanis Morissette | Allmusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Thompson, Stephen (8 February 2002). "Alanis Morissette: Under Rug Swept: Music Review: The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Browne, David (8 February 2002). "Under Rug Swept | Music Reviews and News". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Tranter, Nikki (14 May 2002). "Alanis Morissette: Under Rug Swept: PopMatters". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Blake, Mark. "Q4music.com – Alanis Morissette: Under Rug Swept". Q. Archived from the original on 1 November 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ Empire, Kitty (12 September 2005). "NME Reviews – Morissette, Alanis : Hands Clean | NME.COM". NME. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ "The Hot 100 Week of February 2, 2002". Billboard. 2 February 2002. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
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- ^ "Grammy Surge Pushes 'O Brother' To The Top". Billboard. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette Chart History (Canadian Digital Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b c "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2002 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean". VG-lista. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ a b c "Hands Clean by Alanis Morissette". Song Facts. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ "Masiela Lusha Interview". Naluda Magazine. 2 August 2017.
- ^ "Seven Questions with Masiela Lusha of George Lopez; Celebrity Week on Millionaire Nov. 4-8, 2013". Sitcoms Online. 31 October 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ a b Hands Clean (Canadian CD single liner notes). Alanis Morissette. Maverick Records. 2002. CD 16708.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Hands Clean (UK & European CD1 liner notes). Alanis Morissette. Maverick Records. 2002. w574cd1, 9362 42431 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Hands Clean (UK & European CD2 liner notes). Alanis Morissette. Maverick Records. 2002. w574cd2, 9362 42432 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Hands Clean (Australian CD1 liner notes). Alanis Morissette. Maverick Records, Reprise Records. 2002. 9362424322.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Hands Clean (Australian CD2 liner notes). Alanis Morissette. Maverick Records, Reprise Records. 2002. 9362424332.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ "Alanis Morissette – Hands Clean" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ "Canadian Top 20 in 2002" (PDF). Cross Canada Countdown. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20, no. 11. 9 March 2002. p. 15. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
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- ^ "Archiva Romanian Top 100". Archived from the original on 17 December 2004. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
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- ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002". Jam!. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002 (Part 2)". Jam!. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004.
- ^ "Top 100 top played radio tracks in Canada in 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on 12 August 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ "Top of the Music – Mix e Singoli" (PDF) (in Italian). FIMI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 2002". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
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- ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 2002". Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "The Year in Music 2002: Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 52. 28 December 2002. p. YE-97. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ "Most-Played Mainstream Top 40 Songs of 2002". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 51. 20 December 2002. p. 12.
- ^ "The 2002 Allstars: Most-Played Triple-A Songs". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 51. 20 December 2002. p. 52.
- ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 28th January 2002" (PDF). ARIA. 28 January 2002. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
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