Alanis Morissette has confessed she wasn’t a big fan of “Ironic,” the third single from her 1995 breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill.
Morissette and collaborator Glen Ballard co-wrote the song, which lists a number of situations that are not, in fact, ironic.
“You know, I didn’t even want that song on the record,” the Ottawa-born singer told Rolling Stone. “I remember a lot of people going, ‘Please, please, please.’ … But people wound up liking the melody, and I wasn’t that precious about it.
“I came to realize later that perhaps I should have been. Whoops!”
In 2015, Morissette sang a parody of “Ironic” on The Late Late Show with James Corden that included the lyrics: “It’s singing ‘Ironic’ / but there are no ironies.”
The song’s lack of ironies is cleverly pointed out in the Broadway musical, Jagged Little Pill.
Morissette was asked if she felt relief that the subject has been put to rest. “Yeah, until the next generation wants to kick my ass,” she replied. “Until the next onslaught of shaming.”
The singer recently premiered a 4K upgrade of the "Ironic" video as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of Jagged Little Pill.