This Is Our Jam: Fiona Apple, “Every Single Night”

Following a string of intimate live performances and the announcement of a new album with a 24-word-long title (The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do), Fiona Apple has now officially released her first piece of new music since 2005. That this a huge event for Apple fans is an understatement, but after hearing “Every Single Night,” it’s clear that recorded, as well as live, Fiona Apple is functioning as an artist in her highest form.

“Every Single Night” is a spare yet tempestuous track from a woman as resilient as she is tortured, “That’s where the pain comes in / Like a second skeleton” sings Apple. The chorus, “Every single night’s a fight / With my brain,” with “brain” drawn out to literally ten syllables, sounds as if Apple is trying to exorcise herself from herself. This is Apple raw, unmitigated, and deconstructing herself right here in front of us. When Apple sings “I just want to feel everything,” we see that it's her mantra, and the heart of “Every Single Night” becomes defiance, not sadness. It may be a burden to feel this much, but Fiona Apple shoulders it like no one else.