Alanis Morissette Has the Most Badass Response to Everyone Who Was 'Triggered' by Her Misuse of 'Ironic' in Her '90s Hit
- - Alanis Morissette Has the Most Badass Response to Everyone Who Was 'Triggered' by Her Misuse of 'Ironic' in Her '90s Hit
Jeremy HelligarDecember 22, 2025 at 2:05 AM
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Steve McNeil/Daily Record/Mirrorpix via Getty
Alanis Morissette performing in 1996. -
Alanis Morissette's 1995 third album Jagged Little Pill sold nearly 20 million copies
"Ironic" was the third U.S. single from the album
The song was nominated for the record of the year Grammy at the 1997 ceremony
If social media had existed back in 1996, pop and rock fans probably would have had a collective online meltdown over Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." As armchair critics of the time were fond of gleefully pointing out, the song, the third U.S. single from Morissette's blockbuster 1995 Jagged Little Pill album, didn't quite grasp the meaning of "irony." Wasn't that ironic?
The Canadian Grammy winner, however, didn't need access to Instagram or Facebook to know the grammar police wanted to lock her up.
Nearly 30 years later, the now–51-year-old singer-songwriter is totally unbothered by the fact that "rain on your wedding day" and "a free ride when you've already paid" are less examples of irony than just plain old bummers. On the fourth episode of the MGM+ Words + Music series that premieres Dec. 21, Morissette addresses the hullabaloo over the song that would have broken the internet if there had been an internet to break in 1996.
"When Glen [Ballard] and I wrote 'Ironic,' this was the first of the songs written for the whole record," she recalls. "And I wasn't writing wildly autobiographically quite yet, more sort of storytelling, getting to know Glen. And at one point, I didn't want the song in the record, because I thought that it was sort of, for lack of a better term, our warm up, you know. But I love the song. So it's not that I had any issues with it, but I just thought that was one of the last songs where I wasn't entirely talking about sort of that inside-out approach."
She was unprepared for the public shaming when "Ironic" followed "Hand in My Pocket" into heavy rotation on the radio. "People got really triggered by the malapropism, or whatever the word," Morissette says. "I am a linguist. I'm obsessed with linguistics. I also love making up words, and I also don't care."
Jessica Perez/MGM+
Alanis Morissette on 'Words + Music'
But, she continues, the uproar intrigued her. "Where I go when people are triggered by anything is I quickly go to what's at the epicenter of this — what is, what is everyone really up in arms about?" she explains. "Why is everyone laughing? And I think we're afraid to look stupid. So I think because who is a linguist and then misuses a word, you know, what kind of person does that is where I go."
"But I wasn't being precious about it," she adds. "And I think a lot of lyrics around the planet, many, many artists, most of us aren't being wildly precious about it. So I'm 90% grammar police, which is the real irony. And then 10% I really couldn't care less. So I think the 10% won over on that song. Yeah."
Morissette ended up having the last laugh, as the malapropism didn't halt her ascent. Jagged Little Pill, her third album, sold nearly 20 million copies and won four Grammys, including album of the year in 1996. The following year, "Ironic" received a record of the year Grammy nomination but lost to Eric Clapton's "Change the World."
AP Photo/Eric Draper
Alanis Morissette accepting her album of the year Grammy in 1996.
Words + Music is a spin-off of the Audible series of the same name, and it's co-produced by Gunpowder & Sky. Previous episodes featured John Legend, Sheryl Crow and Elvis Costello.
“Throughout the new Words + Music series, we’ve enabled musicians to bring their songs and stories to life in real time through compelling visuals, high-res art and tech-enhanced volume stages," says Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler. "There’s still nothing more human, powerful or emotional than a killer marriage of music, performance and imagery."
"Words + Music has more than achieved our goal of reimagining and revolutionizing [MTV's] Storytellers and Unplugged — with a touch of acid and a healthy dose of naturally occurring steroids," he adds.
The Alanis Morissette episode of Words + Music premieres Dec. 21 on MGM+.
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