In 2019 and 2020, Fiona Apple came out of hiding for the first time in many years. In 2019, she gave her first interview in seven years, all to talk about how much she loves Jennifer Lopez and how thrilled she was to give the rights to her song “Criminal” for Jennifer Lopez’s introductory dance in Hustlers. Then, in 2020, just about six weeks into the pandemic, Fiona dropped her first album in eight years – Fetch the Bolt Cutters, which was an instant classic. I’m still listening to a lot of those songs too! Well, five years later, and Fiona has new music. One new song to be exact: “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)”. She made a song about spending two years as a court-watcher, and seeing how many women of color were locked in pretrial detention simply because they couldn’t afford bail. Here’s the song:

The photos and video clips are real women who were locked away before their trials. The video was produced by Zealous and Special Operations Studio, and Fiona released a statement along with the video:

In a statement, Apple explained: “I was a court watcher for over two years. In that time, I took notes on thousands of bond hearings. Time and time again, I listened as people were taken away and put in jail, for no other reason than that they couldn’t afford to buy their way free. It was particularly hard to hear mothers and caretakers get taken away from the people who depend on them. For the past five years, I have been volunteering with the Free Black Mamas DMV bailout, and I have been lucky to be able to witness the stories of women who fought for and won their freedom with the tireless and loving support of the leadership. I hope that this song, and the images shared with me, can help to show what is at stake when someone is kept in pretrial detention. I give this song in friendship and respect to all who have experienced the pain of pretrial detention and to the women of the group’s leadership who have taught me so much and whom I truly love.”

[From Variety]

Fiona has always been a real one. She’s been doing this work for years, and as she says, she was a court-watcher for two years and she’s seen the way the bail system has failed so many low-income women. She’s involved with Life After Release, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and Out for Justice, and most of her work is in association with Free Black Mamas DMV, which works in D.C., Maryland, Virginia. Please check out some of those links for more info!

Photos courtesy of John Atashian/Avalon.