Criminal

Fiona Apple recorded “Criminal” during the Tidal sessions in Los Angeles, with the song tracked at Ocean Way Recording. Andrew Slater produced the recording, Mark Endert recorded and mixed it, and the band included Patrick Warren, Matt Chamberlain, Dan Rothchild, Rob Laufer and Jon Brion. First issued on Tidal in 1996 and released as a single in 1997, it became Apple’s breakthrough hit and her only Billboard Hot 100 entry. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and its Mark Romanek video became one of the defining alternative-pop clips of the late 1990s. The track remains Fiona Apple’s most widely recognised early recording and a central statement of her confessional songwriting. Its combination of smoky piano, hip-hop-informed rhythm and sexual guilt helped shape the public image around Tidal and remained a reference point for later singer-songwriters.