[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The Videography of Fiona Apple"
05.19.11
BY MIKEY MIGO
I’ve always been a fan of Fiona Apple, but I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know too much about her discography. I like her voice, her style, and her aloof attitude. She has an artistically dirty swagger that you’re just not going to find in today’s music world. There are female singers out there with good voices and there are female singers out there with the aforementioned swagger, but Apple had it all.
I don’t really know what happened with her. She had that really big debut album that sold like a billion albums. The main reason was the video for “Criminal”. That video was pretty amazing and very well done. MTV gave her “a moonman” in 97 for “Best New Artist”. Instead of graciously accepting the award, she took it upon herself to rant. I looked it up for everyone’s “benefit”. This is what she HAD to get out “This world is bullshit, and you shouldn't model your life on what you think that we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying”.
I think she was a really solid talent at a time. To be fair, she still could be. I hope so because today we’re going to take a look at her videography…
”Shadowboxer”
Album: ”Tidal”
Director: Jim Gable
Year: 1996
It’s a pretty simple black and white video. It’s her in the studio basically seducing a microphone, playing the piano, and looking like she doesn’t want anyone in the room to realize she farted. I’m a big fan of the song, but I don’t really remember the video. It’s well done. I have a soft spot for simplistic, gritty, and black and white videos. I appreciate the editing of this one more than anything. It’s good, but it’s not anything too groundbreaking. It’s just a very solid showcase of what would be to come for Apple fans. Rating: 7.0
”The First Taste”
Album: ”Tidal”
Director: Dewey Nicks
Year: 1997
For some reason this video was only released in France. It’s a pretty good video for a first impression. It does remind me of the Criminal video, but more colorful and less gritty. We get a lot of close ups of her seductively singing, her roaming through a party, and lots of people being lovey-dovey. The song just kind of drones on and the video doesn’t really grow anywhere from there. It’s not bad, but by 3 minutes in I’m ready for the next one. Rating: 6.5
”Sleep to Dream”
Album: ”Tidal”
Director: Stephane Sednaoui
Year: 1997
This video reminds me the Criminal video even more than the last one. It’s her being seductive in well designed casual areas. It’s a little hypnotizing and trippy. The random blur and glows are interesting. I am a big fan of the color use here. Everything else is stuff I’ve seen already with the past few videos and the next one. Rating: 7.0
”Criminal”
Album: ”Tidal”
Director: Mark Romanek
Year: 1997
The whole her laying around and sitting around thing was done a few times already at this point, but not nearly as great as this one. This is the video that made Fiona Apple famous and opened up a lot of eyes and ears to her art. Mark Romanek is easily one of my favorite music video directors of all time. But it’s cinematographer Harris Savides that deserves an assload of credit for this one. He captures Fiona Apple’s soul in this thing and she’s not shy in baring all of it. It’s seductive to the point where you almost feel as if you’re watching something you shouldn’t be. When she lowers herself in the bathtub it’s almost as if you need to look around and make sure no one else is in the room. My fandom of Fiona Apple might come and go, but the video is always going to strike a chord. Rating: 9.0
”Never is a Promise”
Album: ”Tidal”
Director: Stephane Sednaoui
Year: 1997
Boy did they crank out a lot of videos for this first album. In a twist, the video starts off with Fiona Apple walking towards us down a street at night. She gets to the camera and seems to start floating as she sings into the camera. Green screen? Maybe, but I want to believe they spent a lot of money to get this effect instead of the obvious route. I mean, they’re artists, dammit. All snarky jokes aside, it’s a really beautifully sung song. The video is all visual and dramatically acted emotion. It looks nice, but there really isn’t a narrative. I’m sure we could nitpick the “artistry” of it all, but a story at this point wouldn’t hurt. Rating: 7.0
”Across the Universe”
Album: Pleasantville Soundtrack
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Year: 1998
Outside of Criminal, I believe this is the Apple video I’ve seen the most. I’ve never been a big fan of the Beatles. I may be crazy, but I like this version of the song way better. I like this video. She has headphones on and seductively and calmly sings that nothing is going to change her world. Meanwhile complete and utter chaos goes on around her. It’s her singing seductively to the camera… again. Never the less, Paul Thomas Anderson kicks major ass with his direction of this video. He’s one of the best for a reason. This would be the first of a few Fiona Apple videos he directed. I guess they were together for awhile. I don’t know the gossip stuff. This video though? Good stuff. Rating: 8.0
”Fast as You Can”
Album: ”When The Pawn…”
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Year: 1999
I didn’t think I remembered this video, but I do. The song was one of her biggest hits. The video is shot with one of those really old hand cranked cameras so there are times when the mouth doesn’t match up to the song. It’s still a pretty cool effect. I like how it goes from black and white to color to blurry. Big fan of the blur being wipes away as she cleans the glass. I read this video was a bit more improvised and she comes off way looser. She seems at ease with Paul Thomas Anderson running the show. She’s seductive, but in a way more approachable way. The little quirks and the playfulness of the video makes it stand out among her clips thus far. Rating: 7.5
”Limp”
Album: ”When The Pawn…”
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Year: 2000
In this one she does look at the camera, but I don’t think she actually sings towards it at all. Finally, the video DOES have somewhat of a narrative. She wakes up, gets ready, gets dressed, wanders around, and goes to work putting together a puzzle. She lays around watching herself on TV and being what seems to be weirded out. This is one of the weird cases where I think the video is much more interesting than the song. Fiona just looks way livelier and the video is that well done. The song isn’t bad, but I’m not going to even remember the chorus come an hour from now. I will remember how the video looked though. Rating: 7.5
”Paper Bag”
Album: ”When The Pawn…”
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Year: 2000
In the last of the Fiona Apple/Paul Thomas Anderson video collaborations we find ourselves in a darkly lit diner. She’s dressed up and sings to the camera as kids dance behind her. The lighting changes and she’s not in a bright red dress. She walks off and stands as little boys in suits and fedoras dance around behind her. It’s a little wird, but it looks really good. I really don’t know what else to say around it. It’s all location, direction, and setting. It’s very well done on an artistic stance, but it did nothing to put the song into my head. Rating: 6.5
”Parting Gift”
Album: ”Extraordinary Machine”
Director: Spencer Maggart
Year: 2005
A live performance video. She plays the piano as she soulfully sings. The camera angles are really simple and stationary. I would assume the idea here to have a “stripped down” video. If so, mission accomplished. She seems uncomfortable when she’s not closing her eyes to sing. I have nothing else really to say about this video. It’s not bad or anything, but it really just feels like filler. Rating: 5.0
”O’ Sailor”
Album: ”Extraordinary Machine”
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Year: 2005
It’s already creepy within like ten seconds. We see old school looking pirate-like sailors on a boat and then we cut to Fiona Apple singing to the camera in a weird artsy location. She wanders down a hallway as she sulkingly sings the track. It’s not a bad song. I don’t think I’ve heard it before. They use a lot of fog, creepy poses, and over exaggerated dancing. Rating: 6.0
”Not About Love”
Album: ”Extraordinary Machine”
Director: Michael Blieden
Year: 2006
We see more candid stuff. It’s like it’s her just hanging out in her place. Then out of nowhere it’s ZACH GALIFIANAKIS! He lays in bed with her as she holds up a paper with the lyrics to the song on it. He reads/sings it in bed with her. Apparently with a little reading it’s HIS house, which is awesome. He’s got Fiona Apple in his bed. Good for him. From there they go out onto the street. He continues to lip-sync. They get shots of him in water being goofy. They play around together for awhile and before you know it the video is done. It’s really enjoyable to see her smiling, laughing, and having a good time. Most of these videos are her looking distant and sulky-soulful. It’s well shot and anything with Zach gets extra points in my book. Rating: 7.5
VERDICT
I’m not a huge fan of Fiona Apple. Watching these twelve videos opened my eyes to more of her music than any other prior experience. Her biggest hits are her biggest hits for a reason. “Criminal”, “Across the Universe”, and “Fast As You Can” are stand outs for sure. These videos really all depend on direction and editing because she doesn’t seem to go out of her way to really open up. My main issue is that there seems to be an ongoing theme in these videos of her looking bored, pissy, or annoyed. Other times she’s being overly seductive. She sings to the camera a whole lot and lies around a lot. She’s seductive in presence and voice, but these videos are too much of the same thing. I was kind of hoping for more variety and more of a stretch. I’m not upset I spent the afternoon with these videos because she has a great voice and I do generally enjoy her, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit underwhelmed by her videos.
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