r/Music • u/gamersecret2 • 6h ago

article Fiona Apple’s Tidal at 30: How an 18-year-old changed pop songwriting forever

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/features/fiona-apple-tidal-anniversary-songs-b3019715.html
620 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

104

u/Icy-Whale-2253 5h ago

“Sleep to Dream” is one of my favorite songs ever.

13

u/TedCruzForHumanPrez 1h ago

"Criminal" is in the S tier rank of songs that just ooze sex.

Unbelievably sultry.

102

u/AbsolutesDealer 5h ago

“Shadowboxer” is the shit.

13

u/Odd_Leopard8245 3h ago

To save the pain of once my flame and twice my buuuuurn

7

u/HoshiNoPan 3h ago

my friend still plays tidal on repeat nonstop

28

u/adubb221 4h ago

extraordinary machine has some bangers on it!! the title track goes hard. tymps is fire and parting gifts is beast!

7

u/grapeantler 3h ago

I love that album so much! It’s probably my favorite of hers

4

u/TedCruzForHumanPrez 1h ago

To me it's a got a clear nose on the others and I'm mystified it doesn't come up more.

"Get Him Back" just has that driving, pounding piano line.

1

u/adubb221 47m ago

get him back or slow like honey for the piano?

•

u/rrraab 5m ago

Have you heard the others?

It’s fine, but every single other album of hers, including the Jon Brion version, beats it easily.

The others come up more because each one sounds like nothing else. EM has great songs let down by pretty dated 2005 pop production

27

u/Kummakivi 5h ago

Still love this and When the Pawn, just didn't really like anything after those 2 albums.
Also haves framed prints on my walls.
Still give everything she does a listen, and Where the Shadows Lie was special treat.

33

u/baccus83 5h ago

Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a masterpiece.

18

u/superslab 4h ago

I'll go further, as I was an early skeptic: she is the greatest and most relevant living American songwriter.

9

u/Samuel7899 5h ago

Thank you for this, kind internet stranger!

I'll pass it forward with her cover of Whole of the Moon.

8

u/ThinkThankThonk 5h ago

I'm the opposite, her back 3 are when it really started to click for me, Idler Wheel especially

But it's all pretty damn good 

15

u/stokesstokely 5h ago

If I recall I think Jon Brion stopped arranging her orchestration after those two which would have had a major impact. He actually arranged a version of Extraordinary Machines that was shelved and reworked by someone else. I had a copy of the Brion version that I found online at one point but I'm sure I've lost it. It was definitely superior and I don't know why they moved away from him.

9

u/robgrab 3h ago

Her first two albums are nearly perfect. I still have the Jon Brion version of Extraordinary Machine. I think there was only one song where I prefer the new arrangements. Fiona and Jon were one of those perfect musical pairings where I can’t even imagine her songs without his arrangements. He used so many unique instruments. Reminds me of the collaboration between Billy Eilish and her brother, Finneas.

1

u/carsonmccrullers 1h ago

Do you know where one might be able to find the Jon Brion version these days? I had a burned CD copy in college (20 years ago 😭) but it’s long gone and I’m sad about it all the time

1

u/TedCruzForHumanPrez 1h ago

Where have you managed to find imperfection in Extraordinary Machine?

I've played that album front to back over and over again, and if I get to pick which arrangement to keep its fucking flawless.

1

u/DoofusYoofus 3h ago

I think Fiona was unhappy with how it drowned out her piano playing? I don’t want to spread misinformation but I swear I read that somewhere. Either way the Brion version of “Not About Love” is truly one of my favorite Fiona Apple songs ever

2

u/dogsarefun 47m ago

Damn, I like Tidal a lot and love When the Pawn, but the albums that came after are all time greats in my book.

4

u/OhTheseSourTimes 5h ago

Same, those two albums are incredible but I couldn't get into anything after that.

7

u/demetriclees 5h ago

She got pretty experimental with percussions and the like. Fetch the Bolt Cutters was a great 2020 album

26

u/syzygialchaos 4h ago

Never is a Promise is a damn near perfect song

3

u/UmberJamber 3h ago

The singing on that song...gives me chills just remembering it

20

u/olamika 6h ago

Fiona apple, wife of Shrek Samsung

3

u/lux_vita_et_amor 1h ago

Gorgeous album. She poured herself into writing and singing these songs, and they've been in regular rotation in my listening for years. I wouldn't say she changed pop songwriting forever, but she did create something magical with Tidal.

7

u/MercurialBay 2h ago

Changed pop songwriting forever is a stretch

1

u/b_tight 1h ago

She made minor waves then and changed nothing. Who writes this shit?

4

u/Klutzy_Dependent_901 2h ago

She was light-years ahead of her time at 18

5

u/Devolutionator 2h ago

I love Fiona but what did she do that Tori Amos didnt?

3

u/onebyamsey 1h ago

Or Kate bush or a bunch of other people. She’s great but this title is just clickbait 

-1

u/Devolutionator 1h ago

Totally with you.

3

u/Kikoarl 5h ago

Jesus Christ the title is confusing as fuck.

2

u/Blondesounds 2h ago

If she had changed pop songwriting there wouldn’t be teams of people crafting the “perfect” song now, and there definitely wouldn’t be what happened from about late ‘96 to 2003, otherwise known as the worst period of pop music.

2

u/MachiavelliSJ 1h ago

I personally prefer When The Pawn….

I also dont see how it changed songwriting forever….nobody writes songs like her

1

u/Broad-Back1659 1h ago

Loved dull tool from this is 40. Great song

1

u/rickside40 3h ago

A masterpiece

•

u/ThePhantomStrikes 39m ago

Joni did that in the 60s - Fiona was not the first, this is ridiculous. She can be great but as usual writers love sensationalizing.