Tidal (album)

Tidal
Studio album by
Fiona Apple
ReleasedJuly 23, 1996
Recorded1995–1996
Studios
  • Sony (Los Angeles)
  • Ocean Way (Hollywood)
  • 4th Street, Los Angeles
Genres
Length51:31
Labels
ProducerAndrew Slater
Fiona Apple chronology
Tidal
(1996)		 When the Pawn...
(1999)
Singles from Tidal
  1. "Shadowboxer"
    Released: July 1, 1996
  2. "Sleep to Dream"
    Released: February 25, 1997
  3. "Criminal"
    Released: June 2, 1997

Tidal is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, released on July 23, 1996, by The WORK Group. Tidal produced three singles: "Shadowboxer", "Sleep to Dream", and "Criminal". The last was the album's most popular single, winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1998. In 2017, Tidal got its first vinyl run as a "Vinyl Me Please" exclusive "Record of the Month".

Background

In 1995, Los Angeles music producer Andy Slater signed Apple under the Work Group, a Sony Music label. Upon meeting her, he thought a prank was being pulled on him after seeing how, Apple, a visibly young woman, wrote much of her early work, stating that he thought "it was a Milli Vanilli thing." Later commenting in 2000 on what became Tidal, Apple said that the album "was more for the sake of proving myself; telling people from my past something. And to also try to get friends for the future."

Composition

Tidal has been described as chamber pop, jazz pop and alternative pop. Ilana Kaplan of Consequence described Tidal as a "post-genre masterpiece", blending "everything from jazz and alt-rock to pop".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar
Christgau's Consumer Guide(neither)
Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStarStarStar
The GuardianStarStarStarStar
Los Angeles TimesStarStarStar
The Philadelphia InquirerStarStarStar
Pitchfork9.0/10
PopMatters9/10
QStarStarStarStar
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStar

Tidal garnered generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone and Richard Harrington of The Washington Post describing it as a mature effort comparable to the work of artists Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos. In a more negative review, The Sydney Morning Herald found the album to be produced out of a "gender cliché," specifically criticizing the lyricism of the track "Criminal" to be too "fragile."

Retrospective reviews have lauded the album. In a 2017 Pitchfork review by Jenn Pelly, Tidal was described as lyrically stating "You could never feel the pain I feel because only I have felt it. There are things about me that you can't see at all, because I have buried them so well. You don't know who I am," and to the contrary, that the listener could see themselves. A 2021 Consequence piece by Ilana Kaplan remarked that the work "inarguably recast what pop stardom could look like" and paved the way for future artists to become forthright and relentless in their artistic conception, whereas Lindsay Zoladz wrote in NPR that in spite of record label executives and the media attempting to forcefully shape Apple's increasingly anti-commercial sound, her later career would continue to follow herself on Tidal "forging the tools of her own liberation in the generative fires of youth" by further growing into an even more free-spirited artist.

In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 83 among the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s. The following year, Slant Magazine placed it at number 74. The album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 25 on its list of "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time", stating that it was "just the beginning—and Apple has kept topping herself artistically ever since."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fiona Apple.

No.TitleLength
1."Sleep to Dream"4:08
2."Sullen Girl"3:54
3."Shadowboxer"5:24
4."Criminal"5:41
5."Slow Like Honey"5:56
6."The First Taste"4:46
7."Never Is a Promise"5:54
8."The Child Is Gone"4:14
9."Pale September"5:50
10."Carrion"5:43
Total length:51:31

Personnel

Musicians

  • Fiona Apple – vocals (all tracks), piano (1–3, 5–9), Optigan (2)
  • Jon Brion – vibraphone (1–3, 5–6, 9–10), guitar (1–2, 6, 10), tack piano (1, 3, 6, 9), marimba (2, 6), dulcitone (2), Chamberlin (4, 10), harp (8, 10), Optigan (8)
  • Patrick Warren – Chamberlin (1–3, 5–6, 8–10), piano (1, 4)
  • Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar (2, 8)
  • Rob Laufer – guitar (4)
  • Dan Rothchild – bass (1, 4, 8, 10)
  • Greg Richling – bass guitar (2–3, 5)
  • Sara Lee – bass guitar (6, 9)
  • Matt Chamberlain – drums (1–2, 4, 6, 8–10), percussion (1, 6, 10)
  • Danny Frankel – drums (3, 5), percussion (6)
  • George Black – drum programming (6)
  • Van Dyke Parks – string arrangement (7)
    • Ralph Morrison – first violin
    • Claudia Parducci – second violin
    • Evan Wilson – viola
    • Larry Corbett – cello
  • Amber Maggart – harmony vocals (9)

Production

  • Andrew Slater – production
  • Mark Endert – recording, mixing
  • Claude "Swifty" Achille – additional engineering
  • Brian Scheuble – additional engineering
  • Jim Wirt – additional engineering
  • Niko Bolas – additional engineering
  • Troy Gonzalez – assistant engineering
  • Al Sanderson – assistant engineering
  • Tom Banghart – mixing assistance
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Valerie Pack – production coordination
  • Nathaniel Goldberg – photography
  • Fred Woodward – art direction

Charts

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP) Gold 100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)
2023 release 		Silver 60,000‡
United States (RIAA) 3× Platinum 2,900,000

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "Fiona Apple: 'Tidal'". Vinyl Me Please. May 2017.
  2. ↑ Ehrlich, Dimitri (January 5, 1997). "A Message Far Less Pretty Than the Face". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2025.
  3. ↑ Sutcliffe, Phil, "Hard Core Pawn", Q, March 2000, p48
  4. ↑ Sumsion, Michael (April 20, 2020). "Fiona Apple: Fetch The Bolt Cutters – Review". Vinyl Chapters. Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  5. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King..." AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2024. Apple doesn't break from the jazzy pop of Tidal on Pawn, choosing instead to refine her sound and then expand its horizons.
  6. ↑ Michalik, Timothy (January 7, 2020). "Top 150 Albums of the 2010s". Treble. Archived from the original on May 3, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2024. It is an entire document, one extended work of art lightyears away from her 1996 jazz-pop masterpiece Tidal.
  7. ↑ "20 Great Albums Turning 20 In 2016". Rolling Stone. January 12, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2025. Apple released her Gold-selling alt-pop debut when she was just 18.
  8. 1 2 Kaplan, Ilana (July 23, 2021). "Tidal at 25: The Messy, Unconventional Brilliance of Fiona Apple". Consequence. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  9. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Tidal – Fiona Apple". AllMusic. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Fiona Apple: Tidal". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  11. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Apple, Fiona". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  12. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (September 6, 1996). "Fiona Apple: Tidal (Columbia)". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Gardner, Elysa (July 28, 1996). "Fiona Apple 'Tidal,' Work/Clean Slate". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  14. ↑ Moon, Tom (August 11, 1996). "Fiona Apple: Tidal (Work/Clean Slate)". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  15. 1 2 Pelly, Jenn (August 13, 2017). "Fiona Apple: Tidal". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  16. ↑ Kholeif, Omar (July 27, 2009). "Fiona Apple: Tidal". PopMatters. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  17. ↑ Barnett, Simon (December 1996). "Fiona Apple: Tidal". Q (123): 121.
  18. 1 2 Eliscu, Jenny (2004). "Fiona Apple". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 23. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  19. ↑ Harrington, Richard (November 28, 1999). "Fiona Apple: The Time Is Ripe". The Washington Post. p. G1. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Fiona Apple: Tidal". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  21. ↑ Zoladz, Lindsay (July 23, 2021). "Fiona Apple's 'Tidal' Promised Me The Unknown". NPR. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Fiona Apple, 'Tidal'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Best Albums of the '90s | Music | Slant Magazine". Slant. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
  24. ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (March 23, 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  25. ↑ Shachtman, Noah; Browne, David; Dolan, Jon; Freeman, Jon; Hermes, Will; Hoard, Christian; Lopez, Julyssa; Reeves, Mosi; Rosen, Jody; Sheffield, Rob (July 1, 2022). "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Fiona Apple – Tidal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  27. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Fiona Apple – Tidal" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Fiona Apple – Tidal". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Charts.nz – Fiona Apple – Tidal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  30. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart on 15/12/2023 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  31. ↑ "Fiona Apple Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  32. ↑ "Fiona Apple Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  33. ↑ "Fiona Apple Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1997". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  35. ↑ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  36. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Fiona Apple – Tidal". Music Canada.
  37. ↑ "French album certifications – Fiona Apple – Tidal" (in French). SNEP.
  38. ↑ "British album certifications – Fiona Apple – Tidal". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 11, 2025. Select albums in the Formats field. Type Tidal Fiona Apple in the "Search:" field.
  39. ↑ "American album certifications – Fiona Apple – Tidal". Recording Industry Association of America.
  40. ↑ "Fiona Apple's 'Tidal' Turns 20: Celebrating Her Masterful Debut Album". Billboard. July 23, 2016. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2018.