Artist: Fiona Apple
Album: When The Pawn
This week’s Something Way Worse introduces new listeners to Fiona Apple. If you’ve listened to her before, congratulations, you’re ahead of the game. I’ve always been aware of Fiona Apple; her memorable name tends to stick in your mind. But I’ve never truly listened to her music until this year. When I first heard “Paper Bag” on a walk across campus, I was enamored. I don’t typically give myself time and space to sit and listen to an album, but once I listened to that first song, I felt the need to immerse myself in Apple’s music.
Her no-skip album, When The Pawn, captivated me with its lush instrumentation and piercing lyrics. Her haunting voice floats over classic and jazzy pianos and percussion. The lyrics do more than move you. They are relatable and human on a deep level, speaking to anyone who has ever hoped for a relationship. The nuances of the emotions experienced when a person falls in and out of love are all written and performed to perfection throughout this album.
Apple leaves no secrets with this album. She outlines the difficulty of maintaining a romantic relationship while handling her own emotional instability. She lays plain the conflict and forgiveness and hope wrapped up in a failing relationship. When The Pawn takes a compelling snapshot of Fiona’s self-image. It encapsulates how exhausting it can be to fight with someone or something you love, and how confusing it can be.
Destruction paves the way for this album’s jaunty melodies to shine. With hints of a Broadway-esque jaunt, Apple begs and pleads with the listener to understand. She knows that she can’t handle a relationship. She opens the album screaming for someone to give her comfort and companionship, but it’s clear that the object of her affection needs anything but her.
In “A Mistake” Apple outlines her appetite for self-destruction over funky percussion and psychedelic synths. In “Fast as You Can,” Apple reaffirms this destructive nature in a fast-paced song led by quick piano and her own foreboding lyrics. Apple, “Fast As You Can” notes, feels more at home with a love life full of conflict than she does in a calm, stable relationship. She will only meet the comfort of a healthy relationship with her own corrupting influence. By the end of the album, Apple sings “Get Gone,” a song who’s brushed-off percussion and bouncy piano highlight the confrontational choruses that solidify Apple’s position as independent. She meets the sudden end to “Get Gone” with a ballad, “I Know,” a somber conclusion to this whirlwind of emotions.
As an album, When The Pawn can connect locked in conflict with those they love – or even themselves. The confusion and hope and regret Apple evokes in this album reach dizzying emotional heights, making it a place of comfort for anyone who feels like they’re stuck losing battle. This album has been there for me on dark days and desperate times, and I am so glad I gave it a chance when I did.
Leave a Reply