Alanis Morissette was one of the most unlikely stars of the mid-'90s. A former child actress turned dance-pop diva, Morissette transformed herself into a confessional alternative singer/songwriter, in the vein of Liz Phair and Tori Amos. However, she added enough pop sensibility, slight hip-hop flourishes, and marketing savvy to that formula to become a superstar with her third album, Jagged Little Pill, in 1996.

"Ironic" is part of this album. The events described in the song (rain on your wedding day, a traffic jam when you're already late, 10000 spoons when all you need is a knife etc.), are not examples of irony. Irony is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. The one actual, ironic statement in this song is, "As the plane crashed down he thought 'well, isn't this nice'..." Sarcasm is an example of irony, and this thought, clearly, was a sarcastic one.

The London Times June 14, 2008 asked Morissette if she has worked out the meaning of irony yet. She replied: "Yes, I've now learnt the definition of irony - but the dictionary now says that it's a coincidence and bad luck, too - not that I don't deserve a little slap on the wrist for my malapropism. I always tell people that I'm the smartest stupid person you'll ever meet."

At the end of the song, Alanis says life has a funny funny way of helping us out - in spite of all of the bad stuff that we have to go through. The bad stuff helps us get to where we are going, and that is ironic.

Glen Ballard produced this and wrote it with Alanis. He has also worked with Dave Matthews and has a history of radio-friendly production. Morissette moved from Canada to Los Angeles to write and record with him. This was the first album Morissette released in America, but as a teenager, she released 2 dance albums in Canada. Her stage name at the time was simply "Alanis."

"Ironic"was nominated for Grammys in the categories Record Of The Year and Best Short Form Music Video. In 1996, "Ironic" won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Editing, and Best New Artist In A Video.

"Ironic" is one of 5 hits on the album, which has sold over 16 million copies. The others are "You Oughta Know," "Hand In My Pocket," "Head Over Feet" and "You Learn."