Master of Lyricism: Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple is a contemporary blues artist, who was wildly popular in the 90s and 2000s. But I think a lot of the time, Fiona's music and career are often misinterpreted and misused. For the majority of her career, Fiona had been classified as someone who produced "Alternative Pop". While she was fairly popular, I believe her to be a more contemporary blues or jazz artist, as her music puts a twist on jazz combined with melancholy tones and words that really speak to that genre. Starting her music career at a very young age, Fiona expressed herself as an outlet, she had grown up going through traumatizing experiences of sexual assault, and had a knack for poetry. She started making music at age eleven, when she took her piano, and would compose scores about chase scenes from National Geographic. Then she started to blend the lyrics and music, and she often talks about how writing comes very easily to her. 

"I hardly write anything down. By the time I write something down the song is already finished in my head" 

While she does come off angsty, Fiona expresses her sensitivity when she needs to, she uses music as a type of therapy. She often thinks of herself as awkward, and music seems to be her way of communicating with people. She also has stated multiple times that she will only make music if she feels like it, and she thinks that once you are done with creating something you should feel like you have nothing left to put in you. 

After releasing her first two albums, Fiona's goals changed. She stopped making music as a way to express herself and be understood, and instead used it as a way of tracking her emotional progress. She wanted to see herself change. Anyone can see this in listening to her albums, there is an evident change in how she presents herself, and how she embraces her own image. 

Fiona also tends to think out of box when it comes to everything pertaining to her art. Her percussive elements always go by interesting time signatures and can often be drums or odd sounds: like in 'Limp' where the sloshing of some liquid seems to act as a sort of drum. She also named her album: 

'When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king

What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight

And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring

There's no body to batter when your mind is your might

So when you go solo, you hold your own hand

And remember that depth is the greatest of heights

And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land

And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right'. 

Yes, that is the actual name of the album. Also, she seemed to embrace the image the media painted of her as a "crazy woman" as she released the album 'Fetch The Bolt Cutters". 

Shortly after the release of this album, Fiona unintentionally summoned a group of individuals who had grown up on her music. They shared their love for Fiona through social media platforms. On Tiktok the conversation reached other teenagers, who took an obsession to Fiona's flare for the dramatic in her lyrics. Through this platform, young users started using her music to fetishize female pain, often talking about sexual assault, abuse, and eating disorders as something that is painfully beautiful. Fiona became really upset about this use of her music and shortly removed her music from the platform. 

In all of this, Fiona seems to be a Pro-C creative. While she seemingly strings together philosophical masterpieces and is praised for them, she still has this huge streak of humbleness about her work. She sees herself as someone who was made for music, but never seems to think of this as the extraordinary gift people claim she has. Her musical prowess can be compared to many great artists, and often, a joke between fans is that her rendition of 'Across the Universe' by the Beatles is better than the first version.