“Criminal” by Fiona Apple

"Criminal" was the third single lifted from Tidal, Fiona Apple's 1996 debut album, and she wrote every word and note of it herself. It's a confession, by her own account: the guilt that follows when sexuality gets you what you want far too easily.

The music matches the mood, slow and smoky and a little dangerous. Patrick Warren's piano prowls, Matt Chamberlain's drums lurch in slow motion, Dan Rothchild's bass and Rob Laufer's guitar thicken the murk, and Jon Brion drifts chamberlin through the gaps. Andrew Slater produced, with Mark Endert recording and mixing, and Apple sings low and husky, half apology and half dare.

It became her biggest single, peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, still her only appearance there, and reaching number four on Modern Rock Tracks. It won the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards and picked up a Best Rock Song nomination too, and VH1 later placed it at 55 among the greatest songs of the '90s.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.