Fiona Apple is largely out of the public eye these days, but the singer-songwriter gave a rare update in a new video, expressing her thoughts on the state of the world.
“It’s the middle of the night and I was just writing and I couldn’t sleep,” Apple says in the video. “And I just all the sudden got overtaken with this urge to reach out. You haven’t seen me in a while, because this kind of thing, I’m just really, really uncomfortable with it nowadays.”
The video was uploaded by Zelda Hallman, Apple’s roommate and best friend. “She’s been trying to find a truthful way to speak to the enormity of what’s happening in the world, from the horror in Gaza and Sudan, to the cruelty being aimed at trans kids, to the assault on women’s bodily autonomy, to the abuse and terror being inflicted on immigrants and their families, to the erosion of voting rights and civil liberties, to the disappearance of Indigenous and Black children,” Hallman wrote in the caption, “so often met with silence, and to so much more suffering and injustice than can be named or addressed in a single statement.”
Apple continued in the video: “I wonder if you’re wondering if I’m even trying to write about what’s going on in the world right now. And I just wanted to tell you that I am. I’m trying. I’m really struggling with it. If you’re writing about yourself, it’s one thing. Nobody can tell you that you’re saying it wrong, nobody can get let down. You’re the authority. But when it concerns what’s happening to other people … it just becomes so important.”
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She went on to talk about the “endless barrage of horrors” in the world, and her attempt at capturing it in a song. “Maybe I’m letting perfect get in the way of good,” she said. “It’s hard to focus, and when you do focus, I just keep second and third and 10th and millionth guessing myself, if I’m the one to say it, or if I’m saying it right. I just didn’t want you to think that I was turning a blind eye or that I didn’t see what was going on or that I didn’t care. I fucking care. I know not everybody’s expecting something from me, but I’m expecting something from me.”
Last year, Apple dropped “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home),” her first new song since her now-classic 2020 album Fetch the Bolt Cutters. The single was inspired by Apple’s experience serving as a court watcher, particularly for women impacted by pretrial detention. She also contributed a cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” to a Bridge School benefit album celebrating his music, and guested on the Waterboys’ “Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend.”
