"Criminal"
Single by Fiona Apple
from the album Tidal
Released	September 16, 1997 (U.S.) June 30, 1998 (UK)
Genre	Alternative rock, piano rock
Length	4:46 Radio Edit 4:22 Video Edit 5:41 Album Version
Label	Work
Writer(s)	Fiona Apple (lyricist/composer)
Fiona Apple singles chronology
"Sleep to Dream" (1997) "Criminal" (1997) "Never Is a Promise" (1998)

"Criminal" is a 1996 piano rock song by Fiona Apple. Apple described the song as a description of "feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality."^[1] It was released as the third single from the album Tidal in September 1997, and is widely considered Apple's breakout hit, peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Rock Song. The song was listed at number seventy-one on Blender magazine's 2005 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".^[1]

[edit] Music video

The song's music video was directed by Mark Romanek. The video features Apple sulking in various states of undress, and The New Yorker described her as "looking like an underfed Calvin Klein model."^[2] It explores themes of voyeurism and adolescence.^[3] In 1998, the video won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Criminal" – 5:41
2. "Sleep to Dream" (live) – 4:36

[edit] Charts

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Criminal" music video