Career Retrospective: Fiona Apple

{image id=1278945 align=center size=large caption="Cover art from Fiona Apple's "The Idler Wheel..."}

“This world is bullshit,” 20-year-old Fiona Apple famously said about the music industry in her acceptance speech at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. In the two and a half decades since she released her debut album, Apple has become a pop music legend despite rejecting celebrity culture and avoiding the spotlight.

In 1996, Apple skyrocketed to fame with “Tidal,” a nuanced record that paired sweeping instrumentals and percussion with searing, poetic lyrics. Apple, who was still in high school, caught the attention of the music industry with tracks like “Criminal” and “Shadowboxer” that spoke to deep pain, sadness, and anger — at mistreatment, at betrayal, at cyclical relationships. Then and now, the striking honesty of Apple’s lyrics can be traced back to her childhood practice of writing letters to her parents when they wouldn’t listen to her. “If I was making an argument, everybody thought I was... trying to manipulate them, so I could never have my side of the arguments heard," Apple told the Washington Post in 1999. "I'd go back into my room and I would write a letter and an hour later, I'd come out and read it — 'This is how I feel' — and I'd go back into my room.”

Apple’s well-reviewed sophomore album, “When the Pawn...,” again showcased her powerful ability to sing how she felt, even when it wasn’t pretty. “Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh, it kills — cause I know I’m a mess he don’t want to clean up,” she croons on “Paper Bag,” a wrenching ode to longing overlaid with catchy drums.

Apple has distinguished herself not just through her soul-baring lyricism but through her innovative use of percussion, which has become more and more prominent in her records over the course of her career. Where “Tidal” was awash in symphonic instrumentals, Apple’s third and fourth studio albums, the bright “Extraordinary Machine” and agonized “The Idler Wheel...,” combined punchy piano riffs and fast percussion to riveting effect. In the bizarre but intoxicating “Hot Knife,” Apple pulled poetry from a few simple phrases, artfully layering stripped-down vocals.

“Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” Apple’s long-awaited latest album, displays her hallmark strengths but, in an interesting turn, moves away from the raw anguish and slow-burn rage which characterized much of her previous discography, showing new closure and serenity. On this record, Apple looks back at her painful past from a distance, even sympathetically commiserating with her manipulative ex’s new partner on standout song “Newspaper.”

Ultimately, Apple’s career has defied the precepts of pop stardom — she’s openly rejected oversexualization and celebrity idolization and tried to stay out of the spotlight, leading to scorn from the media. The turmoil of Apple’s lyrics mirror her private struggles with the intense, scathing public scrutiny she faced in the wake of her early breakout. Media outlets first pigeonholed her as a waifish, unhinged girl genius, then as a crazy eccentric, attacking her for mental instability and flakiness. When she retreated from public view, she became known as a recluse and took yearslong breaks from touring or releasing music.

Through this, Apple has maintained a devoted and impressively multigenerational fan base, one which raised a social media storm when her most recent album was released. The flurry of tweets and memes illustrate that Apple’s unfiltered self-expression strikes a nerve with listeners, especially with women drawn to her message of feminist defiance.

Ultimately, as her latest release shows, Apple has remained a singular, commanding artistic voice. She continues to deliver unexpected, provocative music.