Composer Reacts to Fiona Apple - Regret (REACTION & ANALYSIS) 

I listened to this song maybe 40 times today and I’m continuing my ADHD obsession by scouring the internet. I’m also a singer/piano player. Fiona uses her voice more as a medium rather than an instrument and purposely has moved to more visceral tones instead of legato singing. It totally sounds like metal singing omg I love that. The harmony is wild and fun to play. I cannot find a tonic. It’s C then e major then f minor then g minor. Then the chorus is C then b flat then D major (2nd dominant) and G. At least I can make sense of that. I just play it and don’t analyze too much. The rhythm and time signatures on this album were a start of a new era for her. They found pieces of metal on the ground and yes that’s the fall board at the end 😅 In terms of the lyrics, I don’t think there’s a straight man on earth that will ever fully understand verse 3. About how many men want their girlfriends and wives to also be their mommy while completely invalidating her experience. The “hot piss” is him being defensive instead of taking time to hear her and care about her feelings. (Yes, gaslit!) She tried to be understanding and keep peace with “white dove feathers” but she’s lost her patience. She’s run out of them. She won’t be understanding for his shortcomings anymore. It’s more mature than a young relationship. It’s seeing as an adult that putting up with this BS chips away at your soul and she realizes she shouldn’t have to. It’s top level art and songwriting. And it’s completely autobiographical.

Fiona Apple is one of the very few artists that I can (and will) binge- listen to her entire discography in one sitting. All of her music is deeply embedded into my being. I love, love, love everything she does. If you want something more uplifting from Fiona, listen to Hot Knife from the same album. So glad to see her here again 😁

The clicking noise you hear is the gear shift of a car that symbolizes the relationship not able to move on from this situation, unable to shift into gear. There's also the unmistakable sound of her slamming the piano shut at the end. Fiona started to use experimental rhythm with this album, The Idler Wheel...., and continued with this trend in Fetch the Bolt Cutters.

Hot Knife, Every Single Night, Left Alone, Daredevil, Anything We Want and Valentine are probably my favorite tracks from that album. But ‘The Idler Wheel’ is just a really strong album, probably Fiona’s best as a lyricist. It’s also probably her most musically “simple” album, but the instrumentation still has nuance and personality. ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’ is for me her magnum opus album. Can’t wait till you get to some songs from that masterpiece.

your point about the third verse was actually something that i hadnt realized even though i had listened to this a lot of times! great reaction

Not only just toxic, per se: but by being CONTROLLING. [Piss, a symbol for marking ones' territory, if you were a certain kind of creature of habit.]

Oh my, such a great analysis!! Love this video!!

I consider this the best song on this album, and it is probably her darkest song in her entire catalog. Love the screaming chorus/

i completely understand your point at the end of the video though. i think that with artists like fiona apple who is really focused on albums, most songs are better with the context of the album, or to be listened within the full album as a whole experience. This album imo works a lot on minimal production, experimental background sounds, repetitives melodies, and her most straight to the points lyrics in her career. its very minimal, to give the focus to her delivery and keep the experience more intimate than her previous albums up to the point she released this. its also the heaviest song of the album imo. im not saying this in a tone of "YoU aRe WrOng" though.

Yeah... Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I highly recommend listening to the album The Idler Wheel, the album this songs comes off. Definitely my favorite of her works (though not nearly her most accessible/lush/fun). It's incredible, varied, her vocal phrasing and tone is genius, everything about the record is genius tbh imo. Minimal, full of emotion, definitely all intentional as you said (masterful vocal control), beautiful, dreadful, playful, etc etc. I mean, c'mon, the rhythm of "and there you got me, that's how you got me, you taught me to regret"..... So good haha I also must say, I am into avant garde jazz, folk, rap, really all music from avant-garde dissonant noisy stuff to poppy stuff, but this album simply hits different.... I can't explain why (or I could, but not in a RU-vid comment lol), but damn...

Hey Bryan, there were some audio issues on this one. Not sure what the cause is, but you can hear it most strongly just before you start the reaction and just after it; a kind of buzzing. It's not really noticeable much during the song and throughout most of the analysis. EDIT: I see you noticed this on the Stargazer reaction, so you can ignore this part of my post. :) I'm sure I said on the last Fiona reactions that she's one of those artists I have a ton of respect for even though her music doesn't do much for me emotionally. Still it's always interesting breaking down her artistry, especially her very original choices of instruments, soundscapes, vocal styles, and atmosphere, all of which are very unique and unmistakably her own. Despite the general differences in genre, it also strikes me that Fiona's style was probably a huge influence on Billie Eilish, especially in those "low-energy vocals." I also think your comment about it being folk-like is good, because it does have folk's pared down nature that gives it a focused intensity that really draws you in and almost makes you hold your breath anticipating every little change or difference.

Oh wow, after the entire breakdown of this tumultuous track, you still saying it's just not as resonating for you is dope. I have a lot of art like that which I can recognize is impactful and commendable in so many aspects but just isn't for me, and doesn't hit that way for me. It's a very nuanced take that I don't see a lot. People either force themselves to feel it the way it's been built up for them just because it's emotional or they just can't see the merit at all because it's not their thing. Excellent work sir.

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