Less than a week after leaving the stage at a Japan fashion event, singer/songwriter Fiona Apple has issued a pointed response to the public and, more importantly, the media.
Music media informed us last week that the notoriously moody Apple had walked off the stage during her set at a Louis Vuitton party in Tokyo. Annoyed by the audience’s failure to quiet down for her performance, it was reported that she muttered some obscenities and stormed off. However, according to her recently issued statement, she did in fact finish her set, and she had some choice words for the music journalists who covered the story:
If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, if you could tweet to the twits who call themselves journalists(example Chris Martins of sit-and-Spin Magazine) that I FINISHED MY SET!!! I did my job, and they should do theirs too–They all miss the fact that there is a difference between the back-of-the-room-chatter that is simply annoying,–and the operatic drunken blather, or the heckling that is really just INTERRUPTING that makes it impossible for us to do our jobs. I hope your readers are already hip to the fact that they are consistently lied to… no apologies. -Fiona.
The Roots’ Questlove, whom media-shy Apple recruited to share her statement for her, also had some thoughts on the matter:
There’s a portion of my book that deals with the struggle of embracing “bad” music that’s effective vs “good” music that’s boring. this can also be applied to being an “artiste” vs being a celebrity. celebrity is basking in the cult of personality. its when your life surpasses your art. true artists create without monetary motivation and pretty much move on their own time. yet i dont find fault with either side–everyone needs a hero. everyone needs creative people to marvel at too. i often find myself in the dead center of this struggle. i got true “artist” pals that frankly are f****ps, i know marginally “gifted” people that are geniuses in using their limited resources to maximize their power….and honestly? i’m fascinated. but on the other side i’ve seen gifted geniuses make lightening in a bottle an effortless marvel and i’ve scratched my heads figuring out how so and so ascended so fast to their success. sometimes when the two are mixed (put an “artist” in front of a celeb crazy environment and well?………
this week i saw two colleagues dance with the devil with less than desirable results. one of them (Fiona–who is gun-shy at social media-ing) emailed and requested i release her statement concerning her so called “meltdown” last week
Yet another case of sensational journalism, apparently. Apple is currently gearing up for a short October tour with guitarist and frequent collaborator Blake Mills, who opened for her in 2012. They will bring their intimate performance to just twelve venues, including Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall. In the meantime, check out her latest music video for her critically acclaimed song “Hot Knife.”