Video Lunch: Melissa Etheridge - "Message to Myself"

Melissa Etheridge's upcoming album, The Awakening, will mark the first album the super-accomplished singer and gay-rights activist’s created in more than three years. Today’s featured video is the lead single from the LP (due September 25 through Island Records), “Message to Myself.”

Many factors contributed to Melissa’s creative process for The Awakening – including battling breast cancer, winning an Oscar for Best Original Song for Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and her commitment to her children and partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels. “There are very personal things on the album, including one of the greatest love songs I have ever written,” Melissa has said. “These songs are 100 percent truthful about me and how I am feeling.”

More on Melissa Etheridge's new album...after the jump!

Who doesn't love the TLM cameo in the video? There's so much love.

VNU Entertainment Wire called “Message to Myself” the “most accessible track since 1994's signature ‘Come to My Window’” and added, “It has hit smeared all over it.” The action of the “Message to Myself” video (all the inspirational-quote painting) is a little sugar-y, but I can’t help but love Melissa when Tammy Lynn Michaels comes in and kisses her. And Melissa's definitely standing by a really great message for this one.

Of course, Melissa Etheridge has been a fantastic advocate for LGBT rights for years – just recently, she sat on the panel for the LOGO Presidential Forum Debate on gay issues, and last year GLAAD presented her with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award.

Being a persistent activist, along with a devoted partner and mother, it’s not surprising Melissa’s schedule for writing and recording The Awakening was hectic. Melissa said, "I was recording ... in between rehearsing for the Oscars. So I would record for seven hours, go and rehearse for the Oscars, and then come back and record…When I won the Oscar, it was a huge honor. It was like a sign saying, ‘You're doing the right thing.'"

Some other tracks on the upcoming album include, "The Universe Listened," "Threesome," "An Unexpected Rain" and "I've Loved You Before."