Alanis Morissette

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Ironic

Alanis Morissette is a professional musician who hails from Canada. In addition to her career as a singer, she is a record producer, guitarist, and actor. Her skills and experience in these artistic platforms are responsible for her tangible and intangible accomplishments. In addition to recording eight albums since the inception of her music career, Morissette has won various awards and titles. She has also benefited from the popularity and monetary incentives that accompany such progresses. Some of the chief recognitions associated with this artist include sixteen Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards. Additionally, she has received a nomination on two occasions for the Golden Globe Awards. Most of her songs bear a rock influence, an aspect that has led to her recognition as the queen of the alternative rock genre. This category suits the theme of anguish, which is evident in a larger percentage of her compositions.

One of her famous songs is Ironic. This pop rock composition is a component of her third album, Jagged Little Pill released in 1995.  She is responsible for writing down the lyrics with the help of Glen Ballard. As indicated by the title, the lyrics aim at highlighting the perceived paradox. However, there have been debates on the suitability of this title and the alleged inclusion of irony. Critics of these title and the embedded assertions use the lingual meaning of irony to evaluate the lyrics as a way of highlighting the non-paradoxical nature of the song. For this reason, Morissette has clarified that the integration of verbal, situational, and dramatic forms of irony was not a major criterion used while composing the lyrics. An evaluation of the song’s lyrics highlights the concerns raised by the critics. The lyrics of Ironic do not concur with the basic elements of paradox.

As illustrated by some of the analysts including Jon Pareles, all forms of irony use a metaphorical concept that portrays the intended message in a notably different manner from the expressions used. Based on this argument, these evaluators argue that most sections of the song’s lyrics have straightforward ideas that are in accordance with the message conveyed to the audience. For example, the line ‘a traffic jam when you’re already late’ highlights the aggravation of an undesired situation as opposed to the concept of paradox. This debate has become do intense over the years that some of the analysts have produced clips aimed at disapproving on these lyrics. For instance, in 2009, CollegeHumor released a video clip termed as Actually Ironic, which emphasized on the lyrics that would be suitable for Morissette’s original song title. The song written by two sisters and released via YouTube contained such phrases as ‘we fixed it for you, Alanis’.

In conclusion, the lyrics compiled by Alanis Morissette in Ironic have attracted opinions from various critics with most of these evaluators arguing against the perceived ironic nature of the song. This is evident through the analysis of such individuals as Ed Byrne who asserts that the only aspect that justifies the existence of paradox in this composition is the fact that the lyrics are from an artist who knows little about this stylistic technique. These examples form the logic behind the thesis used to discuss this paper. The lyrics of Ironic show minimal elements of irony or other related metaphorical features.