Shadowboxer: A Retrospective of Fiona Apple
Click below on the streaming service of your choice to listen to the playlist as your read along.
In 2020, when Fiona Apple released her fifth album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, critics fell over themselves praising it. Pitchfork rated it a perfect ten, the first time in ten years they’d bestowed such an accolade. The album went on to be placed at #1 or in the top ten of most major publications’ year-end lists. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and the single, “Shameika,” won for Best Rock Performance.
Already a fan of her work, I rushed to listen to the album, keen to hear what was garnering such lofty praise. Once hearing it – and indeed, it was a very good LP – I was still puzzled by the broader public reaction. It was very much a Fiona Apple album. I didn’t hear anything that was much different, in quality or style, than her prior albums. It seemed a natural evolution to what she’d been doing over her career, especially from the work of her prior LP. Was Fiona new to the reviewers? It was only her fifth release in twenty-five years, and first in eight years, so maybe everyone had just forgotten what she was about?
I think what happened was that in an environment of simplistic rhythms, melodies, and lyrics, manufactured beats, and auto-tuned vocals, Fetch the Bolt Cutters was a bolt of creative, talented lightning. By continuing to employ her unique approach and exceptional talent, Apple suddenly shone in a way that hadn’t happened with her prior releases. Sure, she had been commercially successful and critically appreciated before. However, this time it was to an unprecedented level – though, as a distinctive and fiercely independent artist, it was not her fate to return to commercial success. The modern music world simply doesn’t financially reward artists like Fiona Apple.
Fiona performing in 1996, the year of her debut LP, Tidal
Whether Fiona Apple has ever cared about what fans or critics think is debatable. What is clear is that she has been focused on charting her own path and it was up to others to come along for the ride. For those of us on board, it has been a rewarding journey. Her output is structured on a consistent foundation of quality and character. Musically, her sound has been mostly, and more so on her recent releases, rhythm based, structured around drum, bass, and piano. Her compositions are complex exercises in pop and jazz with hip hop flavouring. Her voice is outstanding – emotional, resonant, able to move from subtle nuances to forceful outbursts, and the way she creates melodic flourishes, flitting between or riding on top of her rhythms, gives her songs dramatic impact. Her songs demand your attention.
She was born and raised in Harlem in New York while also summering in Los Angeles. Her parents were artistic, with a mother who was a singer and a father who acted (they met while working together on Broadway). Dealing with mental health issues and a rape at age twelve, Fiona understandably struggled to find her way through adolescence. Music was a way to channel her energy to productive ends. Classically trained on piano she started writing music at age eight, such that by seventeen she had a demo tape of songs that found its way to Sony Music, who signed her. Her releases have issued via the subsidiaries, Columbia or Epic.
The debut album, Tidal, arrived in 1996 when Apple was nineteen years old. During a waning and mixed period for alternative rock, her mix of hip hop, jazz, and soulful vocals found an audience. After a couple of top forty singles (“Shadowboxer” and “Sleep to Dream”) on the alternative US charts, she scored a mainstream top forty hit with the third single, “Criminal.” It was one of the most distinctive hits of its time and created a minor sensation around Fiona. Tidal went on to a top twenty placement in the US and she won the Best New Artist reward at the 1997 MTV awards.
While always remaining active, Apple’s output has been sporadic. The release of her albums have ranged from four to eight years apart. She also has a penchant for irregular album titles. Her second LP, usually shortened to, When the Pawn…, was a 90-word poem by Apple (the full first line was, “When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king”). Her fourth LP was titled, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (from another poem of hers) and is generally known as The Idler Wheel. Her most recent, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, was lifted from a line by Gillian Anderson’s character in the TV show, The Fall.
She has also been known for impressive cover songs. A couple are included on this playlist. In 1998, she offered her take on The Beatles’, “Across the Universe,” for the film, Pleasantville. In 2013, as the soundtrack to a short, animated film for the chain restaurant, Chipotle, she offered a cover of, “Pure Imagination,” the beautiful song performed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (only on the YouTube playlist). In 2019, her version of The Waterboys, “The Whole of the Moon,” was featured in the TV show, The Affair. In 2021, a video of her recording it in studio made the rounds on social media (not on this playlist).
She has also seamlessly weaved her way through collaborators from varying backgrounds, whether it’s performing an exemplary performance of Elvis Costello’s track, “I Want You” (2006), or joining with Jeff Goldblum on his jazz album, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (2019). The strength and versatility of her voice is a magnificent contribution to any style of music.
Part of the critical adulation for her latest album was the direct and visceral nature of her lyrics. While this had always been a component of her art, the album’s themes of female empowerment fit with the #metoo nature of the times, and thus made it a cultural touchstone as much as an outstanding artistic achievement. While the Fetch the Bolt Cutters wasn’t too far of a departure musically, there was something heightened about the booming rhythms, sharp piano, and of course her dramatic vocals. It was as if she’d distilled her style and blasted it out more potently than ever before.
After the success of her debut LP, Apple would never again experience the same commercial success. While all her LPs have reached the top twenty in the US – the last three also cracking the top ten – sales have been a fraction of the first LP. She has not had another single reach mainstream charts, though “Fast As You Can,” from her second LP, reached the UK top forty. She did not tour to support Fetch the Bolt Cutters, so fans have not seen her on tour since 2013. She has often struggled to perform, with a history of cancelled tours or shortened shows. She boycotted the 2021 Grammy Awards in protest of Dr. Luke being nominated for Record of the Year (he had been accused by Kesha of sexual assault), and thus was not on hand to receive her rewards.
Fiona Apple is everything I appreciate about alternative music. She breaks boundaries, issues distinctive and affecting music, and has an abundance of talent that she continues to explore and mold into creative and rewarding results. Strong-willed, independent, and outspoken, she is everything a rock star should be and is a star in her own right.
The Playlist - song \ album (year)
“Sleep to Dream” \ Tidal (1996)
“Shadowboxer” \ Tidal (1996)
“Criminal” \ Tidal (1996)
“Slow Like Honey” \ Tidal (1996)
“Across the Universe” \ Pleasantville soundtrack (1998)
“On the Bound” \ When the Pawn… (1999)
“Paper Bag” \ When the Pawn… (1999)
“Fast As You Can” \ When the Pawn… (1999)
“The Way Things Are” \ When the Pawn… (1999)
“Get Him Back” \ Extraordinary Machine (2005)
“O’Sailer” \ Extraordinary Machine (2005)
“Window” \ Extraordinary Machine (2005)
“Every Single Night” \ The Idler Wheel… (2012)
“Left Alone” \ The Idler Wheel… (2012)
“Anything We Want” \ The Idler Wheel… (2012)
“Hot Knife” \ The Idler Wheel… (2012)
“Pure Imagination” \ non-album promo (2013) - YouTube playlist only
“Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me” \ I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (Jeff Goldblum LP) (2019)
“I Want You to Love Me” \ Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
“Shameika” \ Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
“Fetch the Bolt Cutters” \ Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
“Under the Table” \ Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
“Heavy Balloon” \ Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
