Hummers: The new Alanis video

Only Alanis Morissette could take the mantra "Think Globally, Act Locally" and turn it into dating advice. From her new album, Flavors of Entanglement, in stores June 10th, here's the video for the first single, "Underneath":

"Underneath" continues Alanis' long-held fascination with blending Indian beats and surf rock guitar chords. And, as usual, she's singing about self-recrimination by way of loopy, precocious lyrics like "So why spend time unwrapping our bandages when we've the ultimate key to the cause right here all underneath?"  There may not be any new reasons to listen to Alanis, but the old ones were pretty good to begin with.

When I was in high school and obsessed with being gay (yeah, yeah, I know) I told my friend Jill that I thought "You Oughta Know" would be such a powerful song if it were sung by a gay guy to a dude on the down low and she looked at me and said, "I think it's a pretty powerful song the way it is," which, of course, is absolutely true. I'm always really disdainful of gay men who try to turn women into well, themselves (I'm looking at you, Darren Star) and one of the reasons I've loved Alanis so much over the years is that she exudes femininity -- not the plastic, vinyl, hoop earings and a tube top kind, but you know, the real thing.

-- JAPHY GRANT

Ed. note: Check out Sex and the City writer Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica Parker talking to Michael Musto about just this question -- are gay men and women interchangeable? -- over at Out.com as today's Hot List pick.