“Fidelity” by Regina Spektor

"Fidelity" was the second single from Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope in 2006, and she wrote it while watching High Fidelity, the film based on Nick Hornby's book. It's a playful, plinking thing, all hiccuping vocal curlicues and a melody that lodges itself in your head for days.

David Kahne produced, engineered and mixed it, with Spektor co-producing and Shawn Pelton on percussion, and they keep things light and airy around her voice. It was a slow burner: out as a single in September, the song didn't reach the charts until December, but it became her first and only Billboard Hot 100 entry and remains her most successful track.

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