Fiona Apple’s Gravity

Original artwork by the author

“This world is bulls — t.” That’s what Fiona said of the music industry as she accepted MTV’s award for Best New Artist in 1997. She was 19 and I’d just graduated college. Her debut album, Tidal, was filled with sophisticated music the teenager had written. She was serious. I remember thinking that her honesty and passion would make things hard for her, as mine had for me. I couldn’t have known how right I was.