Flinch (song)

Morissette said she wrote "Flinch" immediately after an experience she had in Canada during which she nearly ran into the subject of the song, only eluding them by driving away. According to her, she was surprised that in spite of years after their last meeting (which was when she was "very, very young"), she was "responding to the situation as though I had been spending time with him two minutes earlier. I was kind of ashamed and a little embarrassed, but it was where I was at: just really being curious about how someone can have that much of an effect on me ... I do believe that I will be able to get to a point where hearing his name or even running into him or hearing from him won't trigger me as much as it did and still does. I don't know when that day will come but I'm singing about it hopefully coming."^[1]

[edit] Release and reception

Billboard described "Flinch" as one of the "expansive, introspective interludes [on the album] ... highly skilled, bravura turns – both in terms of lyrical content and performance."^[2] In a separate review of Under Rug Swept the song was named a "delicate ballad [that] recalls Joni Mitchell at her best".^[3] The LA Weekly called it "the most straight-ahead ballad at over six minutes", and that it "falls short of [Morissette's] majestic 'Uninvited'".^[4]

Morissette in the "Flinch" video

"Flinch" was released to radio and television as the second single from the album in Brazil; elsewhere, "Precious Illusions" served as the second single. It debuted on the Brasil Top 100 Singles chart in early June 2002 and peaked at number twenty-six in early August; it remained on the chart for fourteen weeks, until early September. Its longevity on the chart surpassed that of "Hands Clean", the first single, although it did not peak as high ("Hands Clean" reached the top five).^[5] The music video was a performance of the song Morissette did as part of a showcase for the television newsmagazine Fantástico, directed by Maura Mendonça Filho.

A live version of "Flinch" recorded at the Whisky a Go Go is available as a download on the website underrugswept.com, which can be accessed with a copy of the album.