Under Rug Swept is the fifth studio album and third internationally released album by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette. Released by Maverick Records in the United States on February 26, 2002 and in the United Kingdom a day earlier, it was the first album Morissette had written and produced all on her own. It debuted at number one on charts in 12 countries, including the United States and Canada, and produced the singles "Hands Clean" and "Precious Illusions". Sales, however, did not match those of Morissette's previous two studio albums.
We delight in Alanis Morissette's seeming inability to keep her mouth shut when it comes to spilling a dirty little secret. So it's comforting to know that despite the title of this 2002 release, she's not interested in forgiving and forgetting anytime soon. Filled with crunchy guitars, dissonant harmonies, dense lyrics and dreamy choruses, songs like "Hands Clean" and "21 Things I Want in a Lover" push Morissette's nakedly emotional lyrics to new levels of cathartic tension and release.