During a very rare interview given last fall, Fiona Apple revealed her intentions to release a new album in 2020. Now that the calendar year has turned, the singer-songwriter has returned with an update, letting fans know the effort is indeed almost finished.
In a new interview with Vulture, Apple talked about the upcoming follow-up to 2012’s The Idler Wheel…, saying, “It’s really up to me. It’ll be done soon. It’s just I have to do artwork and stuff, and I’ve been dragging my feet a little bit. I don’t know. Sometime in a few months, I guess.” She added that she has a title in mind, but isn’t ready to share it, as she’s still building the “colors” and aesthetics surrounding the project.
Apple’s also not sure if she’ll tour behind the release. “It’s so scary for me, all that stuff,” she commented. “I’m pushing it out of my mind. In the next two weeks, I have to have a meeting with the band about what our plans are and what’s going to work. They’re all in other bands, so they have other schedules.”
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Further discussing how she planned to get word out on the record — or more so how she planned not to — she brought up Justin Bieber’s recent ploy to cheat his way to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. “The climate of art and the music industry is so ridiculous,” she remarked. She continued,
“I feel terrible that anybody would want to be No. 1 as badly as Justin Bieber wants to be No. 1. He was upfront about gaming the system, and I think a lot of people do that, and I just want to be like, ‘Why? Why is it so important?’ And I’m not gonna be, like, getting influencers to promote my shit. That’s not gonna happen. So I feel like I’m stepping back into a business where, like — I’m not in this business. I don’t have the tools to play this game, and I don’t want to buy the tools to play this game, either. That’s what it feels like it’s become: a game. A video game, basically. Checking their scores.”
There are some other young pop stars Apple is on board with though, like our Rookie of the Year, King Princess. Apple touched on her recent collaboration with KP on a cover of Apple’s track “I Know” and her love for the 20-year-old performer. “My son Mikaela (King Princess) donated her royalties from her cover of ‘I Know’ to While They Wait Fund!” she said. “It was used in some show called Dare Me, I think… I’m so proud of her…”
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Speaking of royalties, Apple has made good on her word to donate two-years worth of streaming royalties from “Criminal” to assist detained migrants. Scott Hechinger from While They Wait has confirmed that the songwriter recently donated $90,000 dollars.
The same track was also used in Hustlers, during a pole-dancing scene. As she told Variety, Apple finally got around to seeing it, and enjoyed the movie. “It was so beautiful,” she said. “And obviously the dance was amazing. [Laughs.] I totally forgot that my song was playing during it.”
Read the full interview over at Vulture, and keep an eye out for details on Apple’s upcoming new album. On another note, where’s that Lil Nas X collaboration?