Fiona Apple Releases New Song Inspired by Court Watching

Fiona Apple is showing support for Black mothers affected by the “broken cash-bail system” with a new song, “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home),” out on May 7. The track raises awareness to the Free Black Mamas DMV initiative, which helps women in Maryland and Virginia who are held in jail pre-trial, despite not being convicted of a crime, because they cannot make bail. The music video features photos and video clips shared by women who experienced pretrial detention. On the track, Apple sings, “She was not convicted of anything” and “They wouldn’t let her go home and now there’s no more home.”

“I was a court watcher for over two years,” Apple said in a statement. “In that time, I took notes on thousands of bond hearings. Time and time again, I listened as people were taken away and put in jail, for no other reason than that they couldn’t afford to buy their way free. It was particularly hard to hear mothers and caretakers get taken away from the people who depend on them.” Along with the song, Apple established Let Her Go Home, where she shares the statistic that each day, “Over 60,000 women are detained pretrial, presumed innocent, caged in US jails simply because they cannot afford to pay bail.”

“For the past five years, I have been volunteering with the Free Black Mamas DMV bailout, and I have been lucky to be able to witness the stories of women who fought for and won their freedom with the tireless and loving support of the leadership,” Apple added in her statement. “I hope that this song, and the images shared with me, can help to show what is at stake when someone is kept in pretrial detention. I give this song in friendship and respect to all who have experienced the pain of pretrial detention and to the women of the group’s leadership who have taught me so much and whom I truly love.”

This is the first original song Apple has released since her groundbreaking 2020 album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, though she did put out a cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” on April 25, as part of a cover album of Young’s work, Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Vol. 1. The proceeds from that track (and album) go to the Bridge School, which educates kids with speech and physical impediments. This world may be bullshit, but Fiona Apple is making it better.

Related

• The Story Behind Every Track on Fetch the Bolt Cutters
• Fiona Apple on the Election, What Scares Her, and Her Anti-ICE Short Film
• Fiona Apple Has Never Made a Bad Album. But Which Is Her Best?