Five minutes after its release, my best friend texted me, “Listen to the new Fiona Apple album.” Two days later my father texted me, “Check out Fiona Apple’s new album.” His good friend thought I’d like it and recommended we listen to the album in its entirety. My dad grabbed a small portable speaker and we sat in the living room as the sun was setting. The room was dark as the flames from the fireplace offered a soft glimmer of light. My dad sat on a chair and I sat on the couch. I closed my eyes and pressed track one, “I Want You To Love Me.”
I usually like to know everything about an artist before I listen to their work. But recently, a friend of mine introduced me to a different way of consuming art. He will not watch a movie trailer or read the synopsis on a book cover. Instead, he commits to the art form with zero expectations. I found it peculiar at first, but the more time we spent together, the more I began to embrace not knowing. I decided to approach this album the same way. The only knowledge I had of Fiona Apple was that she once dated Andy Samberg. But I later found out I was wrong and I somehow confused Apple with Samberg’s wife and talented harpist Joanna Newsom.
“I Want You To Love Me” begins with what sounds like an obscure assortment of percussive instruments which flows into beautiful melodic piano. My breath began to deepen as I rested my head on the back of the couch cushion as Apple began to sing with conviction and depth. Her tone is unlike any artist I have heard in the past six months: it emits struggle, perseverance and within it I found commonality.
Her storytelling in “Under The Table,” sounds like we, the listener, are a wallflower in Apple’s brain as she conveys her defiance to some prior lover, “Kick me under the table all you want. I won’t shut up.” In many ways the album speaks to the #MeToo movement by promoting female autonomy and encouraging women to speak up.
The album’s title “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” was inspired from a scene in the British drama series, “The Fall.” The scene portrays a sex-crime investigator yelling “Fetch the Bolt Cutter” after finding the locked door to a room where a girl was tortured. One could conclude that the bolt cutter conveys hope and liberation as the tortured girl in the room will finally be freed. Apple seems to be responding to the long struggle yet recent progress of the women's movement as women have begun to share their stories as they continue to vouch for equality in the workplace opening the door to a more tolerable society.
Today’s emerging artists appear to have a care-free attitude that is charged with vocation: addressing contemporary issues from mental health to politics. Today’s generation appears to be more fearless than ever and it is icons like Fiona Apple who have fetched the bolt cutter and opened the door reminding us it is ok to be defiant, authentic and opinionated.