Fiona Apple to release new song calling for “pretrial freedom” for women
After not releasing any new material for almost half a decade, musician Fiona Apple is set to return with a new song, ‘Let Her Go Home’, on May 7th.
The track will call for pretrial freedom as the musician has spent over two years observing thousands of court hearings as a court watcher for Courtwatch PG.
The official Let Her Go Home website expands on the real-life events that influenced this original song. It reads: “She saw so many people get caged away simply because they could not afford the bail. Pretrial. Presumed innocent.”
It continues: “This song is a story about collective hurt. But also hope that we will end the pain of pretrial.”
The website also includes eye-opening stats, such as: “190,600 women and girls are incarcerated in the United States. Over 60,000 women are detained pretrial […] Their average yearly income is just $11,000. Over 66% are mothers with minor children.”
The snippet on YouTube comes with the explainer: “Years of court watching. Thousands of hearings. She saw the devastating impact of pre-trial detention, especially on Black mothers.”
‘Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)’ marks Apple’s first new original song since the release of her Fetch the Bolt Cutters in 2020. At the end of last year she contributed a cover of ‘Lately’ to the Tonight I’ll Go Down Swingin’: A Tribute To Don Heffington collection, and, more recently, she lent her towering and haunting vocals to the song ‘Letters From an Unknown Girlfriend’ on The Waterboys’ latest record Life, Death and Dennis Hopper.
Most recently, she contributed the titular cover of the Neil Young classic ‘Heart of Gold’ to the Shakey charity tribute record Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young.
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