'Criminal' by Fiona Apple and The Feminine Dilemma

On the most feminine song ever written.

In the 90's, music videos were very important. Music was very important. It isn’t as important anymore. Music doesn’t impact culture the way it used to, nor does it have much substance.

During the peak of music video culture, your TV channel choices were MTV, VH1, and BET. MTV was a blend of music videos, shows about music, and reality TV shows; BET was for black people; and VH1 was strictly music videos for a time. When a new album was about to be released, usually the hit single would be released and paired with a music video. There was a lot of pressure for the music video to capture the nature of the song and mirror it. This isn’t easy; the best music video producers were well-known at the time. A music video and the song itself are two different art forms. The music video for ‘Criminal’ by Fiona Apple captures the nature of the song perfectly.

‘Criminal’ is still relevant 26 years later. Written by an 18-year-old from NYC who was raped at 12 years old, it was decades ahead of its time. The song and lyrics are hers; there wasn’t a songwriting team behind it like there is for artists now.

The ‘Criminal’ Music Video

The music video is categorically sexy. It’s dark, it’s messy, it feels like a manifesto. The heroin chic is captured here, and you may need to know a little bit about Fiona to understand why. She has been diagnosed with OCD, depression and complex PTSD. She was likely heavily medicated at the time. The aura of the video is a girl who is strung out and highly reflective while everyone else is asleep. It’s as if she froze time to tell you about her dilemma.

The setting of the music video takes place at night. No sunlight, dim lighting. The things you’re not supposed to do happen at night. Most of it is filmed in a basement, the place underneath the home your parents made for you, where you invite friends to sleep over and do things you aren’t supposed to do.

She’s singing to the viewer among a group of people who are sleeping or passed out. There are shoes on the floor, the pillows are stained. Everything is a mess. She’s taking pictures of other women lying on the floor while she’s sitting in a chair above them. It feels like a post-orgy confession.

A man opens up a closet to find Fiona Apple sitting alone on the floor. She looks confused and scared. She assumed no one was going to open the door but is relieved that someone finally did. To quote LindyMan, "Women sure love sitting or lying on the floor. I never met a guy who loved the floor."

Next, she’s sitting on a countertop in lingerie with post-sex hair, then slowly rips off her clothes in angst. She’s tired of wearing clothes. As she’s taking off her clothes, the video shows off her heroine chic. Her frail body reveals how delicate and breakable a skinny woman is—the ultimate prey.

After she’s found in the closet by this man, the tone of the video shifts. She’s then in a bath tub in between a man’s legs. She’s nude. She looks confused, vulnerable and tortured; she knows something bad just happened.

Then she’s lying across this man’s thigh. She’s wrapping her arms around his leg, worshiping him. He’s petting her back and stroking her hair. Sex slave, daddy-daughter dynamic. She’s been willingly captured by him and she’s proud of it. There’s a real "That’s right, fuck you.” in her eyes.

In the second half of the video, the music begins to build. She doesn’t look as confused and afraid anymore. She’s stretching her body out as a form of release. Her posture appears unleashed; her body is freed.

Then there are photos of her with other women and videos of her on TV clearly doing something sexual as a willing participant. This man likely told her to do this. She’s been unchained, but under this man’s guidance.

Then she’s singing while lying on top of him while he’s asleep. Nestling her head against his shoulder. She’s not only comfortable in her new setting; she worships the man who took her there.

The lyrics of the song reveal that she just cheated on her first boyfriend with a superior man.

The ‘Criminal’ Lyrics

The tone of the song is quite different. It’s jazzy, thumping and seductive. Impressive that it was written 18 year old girl. She claims to have written it in 45 minutes.

The way the lyrics begin grips any man as soon as he hears it.

I’ve been a bad, bad girl (🥵)
I’ve been careless with a delicate man
And it’s a sad, sad world
When a girl can break a boy just because she can

At point in the music video where she sings that line, notice her mischievous smirk.

Women despise weak men more than can possibly be fathomed. They want them all to die. They would genocide them with the press of a button if they could. They have zero remorse for them. She knows she did something bad to her insufficient boyfriend and thinks it’s funny.