Fiona Apple - Criminal

What this video is

Released in June 1997 as the third single from Fiona Apple's debut album Tidal (Work/Columbia Records, July 1996), 'Criminal' arrived during the peak commercial phase of MTV's alternative era and the height of 'heroin chic' fashion culture, directly echoing the visual language of controversial mid-1990s Calvin Klein advertising campaigns. Apple, 19 at time of filming, had stated the song was about 'feeling bad for…

Why it matters

A canonical text of mid-90s confessional alt-pop visual culture, 'Criminal' sits at the precise intersection of Lilith Fair-era female singer-songwriter authenticity and the MTV-era auteur music video tradition. Romanek's direction elevated the promotional clip to the level of short art film,…

The director

Mark Lee Romanek (born September 18, 1959, Chicago, IL) is an American film, music video, and commercial director. He attended Ithaca College and graduated from its Roy H. Park School of Communications. He broke into music videos in 1986 and became one of…