To my mind, McLachlan’s 1993 hit “Possession”—a spectral, driving rock song inspired by disturbing letters she’d received from a stalker who then tried to sue her for quoting him—sets the tone for Fiona’s work, specifically the issue of songs as therapy, and songs as weaponry. Songs you write that are then used to attack you; songs that you then write to defend yourself against the attacks triggered by your earlier songs. This problem of mistaken intent. Of misunderstanding. Of misappropriation. The first way Fiona Apple tried to fight back against it all was by singing searingly unmistakable
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