Fiona Apple Songs Ranked
Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. Apple is an eleven-time Grammy Award nominee and three-time winner whose five albums have all reached the top fifteen on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, stretching from 1997 to 2020. The youngest daughter of actor Brandon Maggart, Apple was born in New York City and was raised alternating between her mother’s home in New York and her father’s in Los Angeles. Classically trained on piano as a child, she began composing her own songs when she was eight years old. Her debut album, Tidal, containing songs written when she was 17, was released in 1996 and received a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Rock Performance for the single “Criminal”. She followed with When the Pawn… (1999), produced by Jon Brion, which was also critically and commercially successful and was certified Platinum. For her third album, Extraordinary Machine (2005), Apple again collaborated with Brion and began recording the album in 2002. However, Apple was reportedly unhappy with the production and opted not to release the record, leading fans to protest Epic Records, erroneously believing that the label was withholding its release. The album was eventually re-produced without Brion and released in October 2005. The album was certified Gold, and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, she released her fourth studio album, The Idler Wheel…, which received critical praise and was followed by a tour of the United States and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2013. Apple’s fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, was released in 2020 to widespread acclaim, earning two Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Performance for the lead single “Shameika”. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including three Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a Billboard Music Award. Here are all of Fiona Apple’s songs ranked
Don’t miss out on the music of Fiona Apple! Click and enjoy one of the most successful singer!
10. Cosmonauts (Fetch the Bolt Cutters, 2020)
“Fiona Apple has only ever made wonderful, eccentric, unique, beautifully performed and produced music. No duds anywhere. This is a wonderful album, excellently produced (such clarity of sound!), quirky insightful lyrics and a great performance (even the dogs). We devotees have only one complaint – we have to wait too long between albums!”
9. On the Bound (When the Pawn…, 1999)
“This song sounds frustrated to me. She’s annoyed with herself because she wants to move forward but inner-torment and confusion is preventing her from doing anything productive. I think the verse about her boyfriend, and the chorus is just playing with the listener, – she’s trying to convince herself that the one thing in her life that will keep her going is this guy. She thinks that if she’s got him, then everything will follow.”
8. Every Single Night (The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, 2012)
“Fiona Apple brought her songwriting skills to an even higher level with her fourth release. In addition, her vocal performances are more expressive than ever, capable to exactly deliver every single emotion and word, and the brilliant minimalistic production is better than her past baroque efforts (there are some good reminiscences of her great sophomore effort, though).”
7. The First Taste (Tidal, 1996)
“I think that the lyric “Full is not heavy as empty, not nearly my love.” is a reference to the strength of her emotions. Being “Full” or satisfied, content, happy, etc. isn’t quite as strong an emotion such as “Empty”, sad, hungry, alone.”
See more: Fiona Apple Albums Ranked
6. Shadowboxer (Tidal, 1996)
“The first lines of this song, always send shivers down my spine. I think it’s one of fiona’s masterpieces, she’s saying ”once my lover, now my friend. what a cruel thing to pretend”. it’s like when you break up with someone, and they call you ”a friend” and you think, how can I be a friend? thats just a way of saying I’m not you’re lover anymore. it’s very sad, but a great tune”
5. Limp (When the Pawn…, 1999)
“This song is really about manipulation and abuse in relationships. I especially like the part about provocation (you fondle my trigger..). Fiona really has a way of saying things and putting them into images. Really amazing song!”
4. Paper Bag (When the Pawn…, 1999)
“In reality, this song is about the pain and struggles of life after sexual assault and an eating disorder. She was raped at a young age and, like many girls and women who are sexually assaulted, developed an eating disorder. There are a lot of psychological complexities going on here – she has idealized this man and wants desperately for him to “save” her from her pain and her past, but ultimately she knows those two things, and how they have manifested into her adult life, are too much for him to handle. The line “hunger hurts but starving works when it costs too much to love” is not hyperbole or metaphor – literally for ED sufferers, starvation prevents emotion. She is running back to the familiarity and odd comfort of her eating disorder.”
See more: Sabrina Carpenter Albums Ranked
3. Sleep to Dream (Tidal, 1996)
“Love this song! Well, I love every Fiona song, but that’s beside the point, hehe. These lyrics are so powerful. She’s telling this guy that she’s independent, down to earth. She’s realized that he wasn’t treating her the right way and now it’s payback time.”
2. Fast as You Can (When the Pawn…, 1999)
“Fiona sees in herself what we all do sometimes. You know there are those fights you pick with the people you love…that detatched feeling. You fight and you scream and you say things just to hurt- just because it’s time for a fight.”
1. Criminal (Tidal, 1996)
“Fiona Apple at her early best; the lead cut off her album “Tidal”. This is a beautifully hypnotic, melodic song with a sexual quality and distinctive jazz overtones. The video was “controversial” to say the least; I say it was provocative.”