Fiona Apple

Apple released Tidal at eighteen, in 1996, and its jazz-inflected piano ballads and adult subject matter set her apart from most of what was on radio at the time. The follow-up arrived with a ninety-word title, and she has released records at long intervals since, working closely with producers including Jon Brion and, more recently, recording largely at home.

Her arrangements often build from percussion rather than chords, with found objects, hand claps and stacked vocals in place of conventional drums. She sings low and hard, breaking phrasing to land on a word, and her lyrics are direct about anger, guilt and what other people have done to her. She rarely tours.