The heart-wrenching song Fiona Apple wrote aged 15
Even as a teen, Fiona Apple had such an incisive voice that she had already written some of her most poignant hits. She has continued to be one of the most spirited lyricists in music, bucking trends and following her own creative instinct, regardless of its commercial appeal. ‘Never Is A Promise’ is one of the most blistering examples of her early talent, having been written at only 15 years old.
Nothing stings quite like high school heartbreak, and that is what Apple distilled in the song. It’s quietly defiant, written after a boy she was seeing showed interest in another girl, breaking an unspoken promise. But she’s not pouring her heart out and vying for his attention, she’s walking him through her pain. She emerges stronger: “You’ll never see the courage I know / Its colors’ richness won’t appear within your view / I’ll never glow the way that you glow.”
It was therapeutic for Apple, who bottled a specifically painful female experience, as she does in a lot of her material. “Everybody thinks it’s cool if you’re the bad girl,” she once explained. “But what about the people who are really not feeling that great? Why can’t I get up in front of millions of people, as a person who represents my generation, and tell them that I’m angry?”
That contradiction, the strength combined with her sadness, was committed to tape when she was in high school. The three songs on it, including ‘Never Is A Promise’, all began as diary entries and struck the confessional tone she came to perfect. She had often spoken of the importance of being emotionally honest, which the demo was built on. “It’s my duty not to crumble and close off,” she explained. “I’ve gotten this far because of my willingness to make myself vulnerable.”
Apple gave the tape to one of her friends, who happened to babysit for a music publicist. Her songs wound up in the hands of Andy Slater, a Sony Music executive who offered her a record deal. In 1996, at only 18, she released her debut Tidal. Slater stayed true to her initial vision but bolstered it with a string section that didn’t overtake the piano or Apple’s voice.
‘Never Is A Promise’ was the tract Sony selected to use as a promotional single to promote her upcoming tour. Although five singles had already been released, after ‘Criminal’ became a hit, they sensed they could milk yet more sales out of the material.
A video was commissioned, which featured Apple walking through a street toward a white light. While the video and single boosted sales, the tour they were in aid of was cancelled after Apple was left exhausted after years of relentless promotion.
