Little by little, Fiona Apple has been teasing work on a new album. Last fall, she said she was targeting a 2020 release date. Then back in January, the singer-songwriter told Vulture that she’d “been dragging my feet a little bit,” but hoped to have things wrapped “in a few months, I guess.” Now here we are two months later, and Apple has confirmed work on the new record is complete.
In a video posted to her Tumblr account on Sunday, Apple used American Sign Language to tell fans, “My record is done.” She ended the clip with a knowing smile and nod. Watch it below.
Unsurprisingly, the follow-up to 2012’s The Idler Wheel… has no release date or title yet, and given Apple’s notoriously unhurried process, it could be some time before we learn either. That’s probably doubly true given her aversion to modern music industry and social media practices, as she previously said she feels “terrible that anybody would want to be No. 1 as badly as Justin Bieber wants to be No. 1.”
Though it’s been eight years since we’ve gotten an Apple LP, the alternative icon hasn’t been silent. Over the holidays, she teamed with Phoebe Bridgers and The National’s Matt Berninger to cover Simon & Garfunkel’s “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night”. Before that, she worked with our 2019 Rookie of the Year, King Princess, on a rendition of the When the Pawn… track “I Know”. And there’s still a chance that Lil Nas X collaboration comes to fruition.
