"Irony" is a pop song by the Japanese duo and idol unit

ClariS Claris International Inc., formerly FileMaker Inc., is a computer software development company formed as a subsidiary company of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several programs that were ...

, written by Kz. It was released as the unit's debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on October 20, 2010 by

SME Records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. The song was used as the opening theme to the 2010

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

Oreimo short for is a Japanese light novel series written by Tsukasa Fushimi, with illustrations provided by Hiro Kanzaki. The story depicts high school student Kyosuke Kosaka who discovers that his standoffish younger sister Kirino is actu ...

''. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was produced for "Irony". The single peaked at No. 7 on Japan's weekly

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

singles chart.

Background

In preparation for the launch of ''LisAni!'', an anime music magazine published by Sony Magazines under

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

, the editors aimed to discover new singing talent to showcase in the magazine's debut issue. Kz was brought up early on as a potential candidate to compose a song for ''LisAni!'' due in part to his prior activity of uploading original music to the Niconico

video sharing An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

website. For this reason, ''LisAni!'' editors went to Niconico to discover a singer. After some searching for young singers on the website, music critic Akihiro Tomita who had been helping in the search came across covers sung by first-year junior high school students Clara and Alice, who were subsequently chosen to sing the song for the magazine. Tomita then approached Kz to compose the song for the girls' debut. Kz and ClariS would go on to collaborate on two songs for ''LisAni!'' in 2010: "Drop" with the magazine's debut issue released on April 24 and with the second issue released on July 24. During the production of the 2010

series ''

'', the anime's producer Atsuhiro Iwakami became aware of ClariS via ''LisAni!''. Iwakami took into account that ClariS' members were in junior high school, the same as Kirino Kosaka in ''Oreimo'', and that their voices were very beautiful, so he thought it would be interesting to have them sing the opening theme song for ''Oreimo'', which would later become "Irony".

Composition

"Irony" is a

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

song with

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

from a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. According to a book of

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

published by Shinko Music Entertainment, it is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and moves at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 134 beats per minute in the

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

throughout the song. The

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

starts with the synthesized music accompanying ClariS' vocals in the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

melody. A

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

is used to transition into the first

verse Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...

followed by the chorus. After another bridge, this pattern is repeated for the second verse and chorus featuring the same music with different lyrics. A

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

is used to transition into the third verse, followed by the chorus as the outro. An instrumental

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

is used to close the song. When writing the song, Kz aimed to give it a cheerful feeling with more of a "junior high school student" impression rather than a more mature sensation. For the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

, Kz attempted to write from a perspective slightly above that of normal junior high school students with a feeling of stretching oneself. According to Alice, the lyrics express the feeling typical of teen girls like her and Clara who want to be more honest with their feelings. Clara felt the lyrics fit well with Kirino Kosaka's feelings in ''Oreimo'', and both she and Alice were able to easily empathize with the words. The lyrics tell the story of a girl who wishes to grow closer to someone but has trouble conveying her feelings. The cover artwork features chocolate formed into "ClariS" and a

parfait Parfait (, also , ; meaning "perfect") is either of two types of dessert. In France, where the dish originated, parfait is made by boiling cream, egg, sugar and syrup to create a custard-like puree. The American version consists of layers d ...

topped with a cherry; the design was handled by Motohiro Yamazaki.

Release and reception

"Irony" was released in a regular edition and two limited editions on October 20, 2010 as a CD by SME Records in Japan. One of the limited edition versions was packaged with ''

'' artwork and also contained a short version of "Irony" instead of its instrumental version. The other limited edition version came bundled with a DVD containing the

for "Irony". The song peaked at No. 7 on Japan's weekly

singles chart and charted for 27 weeks. "Irony" debuted and peaked on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

at No. 55. In April 2013, "Irony" was certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ) for 100,000 full-track

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

digital

music download A music download (commonly referred to as a digital download) is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. Thi ...

s (''

Chaku Uta Full () is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed on October 1, 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp. (Daini-Denden Inc.), KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) Corp. (itself a former listed state-owned enterprise privatized in 1998), and IDO Corp. It h ...

'').

Music video

The

was shot in

Chiyoda, Tokyo is a special ward located in central Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Chiyoda City in English.Profile< ...

, Japan. It begins with outlined illustrations representing Clara in pink and Alice in blue which are seen throughout the video. A young girl and her mother are shown looking into an ice cream shop at a

, which then cuts to a shot of the girl dancing to the music alongside the illustrations of Clara and Alice. Other people are shown in the video in locales around Chiyoda, such as a high school boy and girl and an

office worker A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, ...

, who are later shown dancing with the girl. Near the end of the video, many more people join in to dance, and the outlined illustrations of Clara and Alice are filled out to no longer appear as outlines.

Track listing

Personnel

;ClariS *Clara – vocals *Alice – vocals ;Production *Takashi Koiwa – mixer *Hidekazu Sakai – mastering *Motohiro Yamazaki – design

Charts

References

{{authority control 2010 debut singles 2010 songs ClariS songs SME Records singles Anime songs Animated series theme songs