Ironic (song)

Ironic (song)

"Ironic" is a song recorded by Canadian-American singer Alanis Morissette for her third studio album Jagged Little Pill (1995). It was written by Morissette and Glen Ballard, and was produced by him. Maverick and Warner Bros. Records released it as the album's fourth single on February 27, 1996 in CD, maxi and cassette formats. "Ironic" is a pop rock song written in the key of B major, and includes a moderate tempo of eighty-two beats per minute. Although the lyrics present several situations which are said to be "ironic", it has been noted by some commentators, including comedians and satirists, that these situations were not truly ironic, earning critiques and parodies as well as corrections to make the situations actually "ironic".

The track topped the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart for six weeks, and reached the top five in Australia, New Zealand and Norway. In the United States, the song reached number four on April 13, 1996, and currently is her highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100. "Ironic" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received two Grammy Award nominations in 1997, one of them Record of the Year. French director Stéphane Sednaoui filmed the music video. In it, Morissette drives through a winter landscape, and she plays multiple roles as her passengers. MTV nominated the music video for six MTV Video Music Awards in 1996, winning three of them. The music video was listed on VH1's "Greatest Music Videos" list and was parodied by Allison Rheaume and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

In 2004, Morissette changed the lyrics of "Ironic" to denote her support for same-sex marriage at the fifteenth GLAAD Media Awards. This version was included on her albums iTunes Originals (2004) and Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (2005), and was performed at the House of Blues in 2005, along with Canadian singer Avril Lavigne. "Ironic" was included on the set list of her tour Jagged Little Pill World Tour (1995), and some of her compilation albums MTV Unplugged (1999), The Collection (2005), among others. The song was covered by American band Four Year Strong in 2009 for their cover album Explains It All.