Taste Like Honey: Reminiscences from the Αlbum Εra

Fiona Apple – When the Pawn

The unusual year of 1999. The year of “Fight Club” and “Matrix”: rage and rebellion, nihilism and dystopia. The time that proved that even if you take the "red pill" (which reveals an unpleasant truth), you can still remain in blissful ignorance as if you have swallowed the "blue pill" – just think of all the Fight Club fans in case you need an example.

Also the year that Fiona Apple releases “When the Pawn” while her boyfriend Paul Thomas Anderson directs “Magnolia” (which followed the memorable “Boogie Nights”). Certainly the coolest couple in the world, in my personal post-teenage universe at least. 

It’s truly fascinating how Anderson captures his lover, the two of them worked together for the video clip of ‘Paper Bag’. In the video, Fiona Apple looks like an old soul trapped in a young female body, an attractive 22-year-old with odd dance moves having a hard time being on the spotlight, an adult that feels more comfortable among the company of minors. 

What lay beneath Fiona Apple’s extraordinarily good-looking and expressive face was overflowing sensitivity and disquieting vulnerability. Dazzled by her stunning blue eyes one could easily miss their inconspicuous grayness reflecting the stormy grey clouds of her troubled mind and of traumatic past events. 

As it usually happens in these state of affairs, whomever was willing to clean up her mess would also be the fortunate one to lick her wounds well hidden behind red lipstick and make up.