"So Unsexy" is a pop rock

Pop rock

Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...

 song written by Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...

, and produced by her for her sixth album, Under Rug Swept

Under Rug Swept

Under Rug Swept is the fifth 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 on her own...

(2002).

Background and theme

According to Morissette, "So Unsexy" "basically speaks of the process of how loving myself can affect everything and change everything. Why when I don't take care of myself, or love myself or feel connected to my definition of God, everything's very painful and disjointed and disconnected and ... depressing, to be totally honest." Morissette said that when she wrote the song, she was trying to investigate "the underbelly of some of my insecurities and why little tiny things that are innocuous and inconsequential are translated in my own mind as to be taken so personally. And that has happened and still happens a lot, and while I think it's very human, it's exhausting. But as long as I have my own back, it's not as scary and it's not as horrifying."

Release

Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

wrote that "So Unsexy" "show[s] Morissette proudly wearing her affection for concise, pure-pop hook

Hook (music)

A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...

s". A separate review in the magazine of Under Rug Swept described it as "funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

y ... truly an every (wo)man's tale". The LA Weekly

LA Weekly

LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...

said that it "pleases, spilling a guitar wash over the hip-hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 beat of Biz Markie

Biz Markie

Marcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989...

's 'Nobody Beats the Biz'". At the 2003 Juno Awards, "So Unsexy" and "Hands Clean

Hands Clean

"Hands Clean" is a song by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette for her fifth studio album Under Rug Swept . It was released as the lead single of the album. The song was written and produced by Morissette herself...

", another song on Under Rug Swept, won Morissette the "Jack Richardson Producer of the Year" award.

"So Unsexy" was considered for commercial release as the album's third single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, but other songs were chosen as radio- and promo-only releases instead; the song was, however, promoted in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.((why?}}

Music video

The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the single, derived from the DVD release Feast on Scraps

Feast on Scraps

Feast on Scraps is an Alanis Morissette CD/DVD package released on December 10, 2002 . The DVD was filmed during a concert in Rotterdam, Netherlands and the CD contains unreleased studio tracks left off Morissette's album Under Rug Swept, which was released earlier that year...

, is a performance of the song at Ahoy in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

on August 13, 2002, during Morissette's Toward Our Union Mended Tour.