[[quoteright:292:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fiona_Apple_4545_9770.jpg]]

->''"This world is [[PrecisionFStrike bullshit]]."''
-->-- From her 1997 MTV Video Music Award acceptance speech

Fiona Apple [=McAfee=]-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist.

Apple gained worldwide acclaim for her 1996 debut album, ''Tidal'', which was an overall debut album success. At the age of nineteen she received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

After ''Tidal'', Apple's next albums were also critical and commercial successes, though in the latter area not as much as her first. Over the years the singer has maintained a unique sound with mixes of jazz, rock and soul.

!Albums
* ''Tidal'' (1996)
* ''When The Pawn...'' (1999) [[labelnote:Full Title]]When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king / What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight / And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring / There's no body to batter when your mind is your might / So when you go solo, you hold your own hand / And remember that depth is the greatest of heights / And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land / And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right[[/labelnote]]
* ''Extraordinary Machine'' (2005)
* ''The Idler Wheel...'' (2012) [[labelnote:Full Title]]The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do[[/labelnote]]
* ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters'' (2020)
----
!!The idler wheel is wiser than the driver of the screw and whipping cords will serve you more than tropes could ever do:
* {{ACappella}}: At the end of "Hot Knife," all the instruments drop out and it's just the vocals.
* AllTheOtherReindeer: "Shameika" was written about Fiona's childhood experience with bullying and being excluded by the other girls.
* AwardBaitSong: A quite unorthodox one, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7nekCeeRyg Dull Tool]] was written for Creator/JuddApatow's This Is 40 and is therefore eligible for a 2012 Oscar-nomination.
* BigApplesauce: She was born and raised in New York City although she's lived in Los Angeles since the late 90's.
* CarefulWithThatAxe: ''The Idler Wheel'' has Fiona's most vicious vocals to date, but everything before pales in comparison to the demented howl she lets out on "Regret":
%% ** She also does this in "Parting Gift" on ''Extraordinary Machine''.
%% ** As well as "Rack of His" and "Cosmonauts" on ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters''.
* CoverVersion: Music/BuddyHolly's "Everyday", Cy Coleman's "Why Try To Change Me Now" and "I Walk A Little Faster", "Sally's Song" from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', Music/ElvisCostello's "I Want You", and the most well known one, Music/TheBeatles "Across The Universe". She also does a range of jazz-standards when performing live. On the other hand, her own song "Criminal" is very popular with others.
* DestructiveRomance: "Werewolf" could be the theme-song:
-->''But you were such a super guy, 'til the second you get a wiff of me\\
We're like a wishing well and a bolt of electricity\\
But we can still support each other, all we gotta do is avoid each other\\
Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor [[{{Tonality}} key]]...''
* DissonantSerenity: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhMEKiIb86I music video]] for Fiona's cover version of "Across The Universe" shows her [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation with headphones on]], singing serenely within a rampaging crowd of hooligans.
* DomesticAbuse:
** Heavily implied on "Newspaper," about a woman seeing her former abuser abuse someone else.
--> ''I saw him walk over you, talk over you, be mean to you\\
And it makes me feel close to you''
** Played straight on "For Her."
* FaceOnTheCover: All of her albums except for ''Extraordinary Machine.''
* HeroesLoveDogs: Fiona ''really'' loves dogs, especially pitbulls, and has owned a few over the years. She even included some of her dog Mercy's barks in "Fetch The Bolt Cutters".
* HopeSpot: "Paper Bag." Fiona is having a crappy day and spots a white dove in the sky, thinking this is a sign of better things to come she gets incredibly optimistic. But alas:
--> ''But as it came down near, so did a weary tear; I thought it was a bird but it was just a paper bag...''
* IntercourseWithYou: "Hot Knife". Fiona has found someone that makes her feel many things, including excited and ''feisty''...
* LoopedLyrics: Common on ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters''. A special shout out to "On I Go" which repeats the below lines ''fourteen'' times, with nine of those at the start.
--> ''On I go, not toward or away\\
Up until now it was day, next day\\
Up until now in a rush to prove\\
But now I only move to move''
* OneManSong: "Jonathan."
* OneWomanSong: "Shameika" was written as a tribute to a friendly classmate of hers.
* PoesLaw: Not everyone realized that the video for Criminal was satire and lambasted her for promoting the very thing she criticized elsewhere. The digs at her weight were especially unfortunate since Fiona was at the time severely anorexic.
* PrecisionFStrike: "Under the Table", "Relay" and "On I Go" from her 2020 album, ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters'', contain at least one.
* QuestionableConsent: “For Her” is about a friend of hers who was manipulated into a relationship with an older, married executive while she was an intern at film production company. It took said friend a long time to come to grips with the fact that she was assaulted because she couldn’t tell him no due to the power imbalance.
* RapeAsBackstory: "Sullen Girl" was about her assault at 12 outside her home.
* {{Rotoscoping}}: The music video for "Shameika" is hundreds of hand painted frames of Fiona's mouth as she sings.
* {{Scatting}}: The ending of "I Want You to Love Me" has her breaking out into dolphin-like vocals.
* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: The main theme of ''Fetch The Bolt Cutters'' is knowing when a relationship isn't worth staying in anymore and finding freedom from abuse.
* SelfDeprecation: The gist of her work concerns her own personal issues, often in a cheery fashion ("Better Version of Me", "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)").
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Has acknowledged a fondness for obscure and exotic words. From "Left Alone:"
-->''You made your major overtures, when you were a sure and orotund mutt\\
And I was still a dewy petal, rather than a moribund slut''
** And "Not About Love":
-->''Conversation once colored by esteem, became duologue as a diagram of a play for blood\\
Took a vacation, my palate got clean\\
Now I could taste your agenda, while you're spitting your cud''
* SingerSongwriter
* SolemnEndingTheme: "Where the Shadows Lie" for ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''.
* SophisticatedAsHell: This rather poetic putdown from Regret:
-->''I ran out of [[DovesMeanPeace white dove feathers]] to soak up the hot piss that comes through your mouth''
* SplitScreen: Used to draw attention to the differing vocal parts in "Hot Knife"'s music video.
* StageName: Averted. Her full name is Fiona Apple [=McAfee=] Maggart.
* StealthPun: Fiona has admitted in interviews that titling her first album Tidal is one. In most UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents, "tidal" and "title" are homophones.
* TarotMotifs: Lyrics in "Newspaper" describe [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_%28tarot_card%29#/media/File:RWS_Tarot_08_Strength.jpg The Strength]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hermit_(tarot_card)#/media/File:RWS_Tarot_09_Hermit.jpg The Hermit]] cards.
--> ''And you're wearing time like a flowery crown, sitting that, sitting that big cat down\\
And I'm alone on the summit now, trying not to let my light go out''
* VocalDissonance: Her petite frame and youthful appearance are a very striking contrast to her exceptionally deep and sultry voice, particularly in her early career.
* WhamLine: "For Her" offers quite a contrasting and jarring example.
-->''[[Film/SinginInTheRain Well, good morning. Good morning]]\\
[[spoiler:You raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in]]''