Where is Fiona Apple and what hath the world done with her?  On October 6, 2005, I celebrated  her in print in my Fiona Apple Turnover article:

The enchanting Fiona Apple has turned over a tricksy new musical leaf with the release of her latest album, Extraordinary Machine. The machine is she and extraordinary she is! Fiona’s music on this new album is no longer solely glum and gloomy like her previous public efforts. She now presents us with a sexy curiosity and a jaunting, lilting, melodic sense that is bright and blossoming in a dull Pop music world.

If you don’t remember Fiona Apple in performance, I share her live rendition of Extraordinary Machine — where even Matt Lauer wonders, way back in 2005, where she’s been.

I expected Fiona Apple to takeover the new world of music.

It didn’t happen.

Adele is the new Fiona — and while the world isn’t hurting for the removal of Ms. Apple from our public purview — We Who Remember Her want to know the why and the wherefore of Fiona’s disappearance.

Last week, I was excited to see a link on the Fender blog to a new Fiona Apple cover of a Buddy Holly’s Everyday — but those en passant mentions aren’t enough for me — I want more Fiona and I want her now.  I want a new album.  I want her on tour and on television.  I want to enjoy the necessary maturation of a fine and everlasting talent.

Even if Fiona Apple never releases another song, her magic voice and mastery in performance will stay with us forever — but we cannot but hope to wonder how such an obvious talent got led so far astray from us. Was her disappearance by choice? Or was Fiona forced from her music by demons we may not ever comprehend?

Fiona Apple — if you’re out there — give us proof of life so we can at least stop worrying about your welfare!  Hello out there!

15 Comments

    1. She’s already on a six-year break, Gordon! I thought she was supposed to have a whole new album drop in the Spring of 2011 — but it didn’t happen — and there are no reports of any pending album that I can find.

  2. It is now summer and there is no sign of this new album. I am distraught. I thought six years was more than enough to wait for her fourth album…it is very cruel to promise us new music and not deliver. What happened? I can’t find any updates on this release since September 2010…everyone reports the good news and no one investigates when it falls through.

    1. I’m with you on the wondering, Brandy. Why all this speculation about a new album unless one has already been recorded. Is Fiona in another fight with her record label or is something else going on here? We need answers!

    1. Adele has already advanced past Fiona’s promising talent and replaced her on the charts in less than half the time it took Fiona to get there. Adele is a powerhouse brand with real musical talent — and she’s fun to be around! — and I’d bet in 10 years we’ll have much more music from Adele than Fiona, and in a performance career, production matters.

      1. LMAO. No. 1. Higher on the charts /= better 2. Quantity /= quality. 3. Your fixation on “brand” is very telling – Adele has been VERY “branded” commercially and now is tailored to mass-appeal to a demographic that is attracted to faux-soul singers like Adele. THAT’s why she’s higher on the charts. 4. Fiona came first and helped pave the way for people like Adele – she’s FAR more influencial and original. Adele is just riding the new, “hip” trend of British artists that are making in big in the states – started by Amy Winehouse and Duffy. 5. At least Fiona isn’t blowing out her vocal chords. Adele’s style of singing is VERY unhealthy and unsustainable. No wonder she had to cancel a YEAR’s worth of concerts to get vocal rest. Can we have some real arguments here?

  4. Fiona is still working on her new album. She is producing it with Charley Drayton and possibly others. Less than a month ago, drummer Matt Chamberlain reported on his website that he had been recording with her. And Michelle Branch tweeted that she heard some of the new songs and that they were “amazing.” It’ll come soon… (oh and as for the adele comparison.. she may put out more music than fiona but that does not make her better. i like adele just fine but she does not have the songwriting skills fiona has. to say that adele is more talented than fiona is just laughable).

    1. Agreed. Adele’s songwriting skills are mediocre at best and she lacks true innovation. Everything’s she’s done can be attributed very directly to one of her contemporaries. She might be selling more and making more music, but you can argue that Britney Spears has more commercial success and a larger discography than her more talented peers. It also accentuates the fact that Fiona spends more time with a dedication to polishing her songs and furnishing her craft to create GREAT albums rather than rapidly churning out quick hits.

  5. Fiona will make music when SHE wants to. Art doesn’t have a deadline. This is why pop music is dead these days – mass commercialization kills the creative process. I, for one, am glad that Fiona refuses to compromise her artistic integrity to the music industry’s “standard” of success – making a plethora of formulaic, dull melodies. For those of you who keep whining about not getting any new releases, listen to Fiona’s “Please, Please, Please.” You’ll understand. If you don’t, well, I guess you really don’t understand Fiona as an artist then.

    1. C’mon, we know it’s you Fiona. Come clean. Hurry up and get that album finished and get some vids up on youtube!

  7. Hey, Fiona, please come back. I love YOU !!! I have been missing your voice for long time.

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