by
Fiona Apple
- Record Label: Epic
- Release Date: Jun 19, 2012
User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 353 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 319 out of 353
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Mixed: 9 out of 353
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Negative: 25 out of 353
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Jun 19, 2012I say with zero hesitation or exaggeration that this record is a masterpiece. Sometimes when I'm listening to the Idler Wheel I need to get up and punch the air and jump on top of things. I mean, it's an incredibly strong emotional and physical reaction. She has punched me in the gut and I'm still winded.
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Jun 20, 2012Surprisingly much better than I thought it would be, deep lyrics with a impressively low and raw production that still manages to get much emotion across. Well worth your money, I doubt anything this year will be this good.
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Aug 29, 2012Great album! She hasn't publishing any CDs for seven years, but "The Idler Wheel..." (what a long title!) is worth the wait! With no exageration, I can easily say this is gonna be the best album of 2012 so far!
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Jun 24, 2012After 7 years of waiting "The Idler Wheel..." released, and when you listened to it you get that it worth seven years of waiting. in her new album she's stronger and fearless than ever. it's more emotional and also her lyrics improved much more than her previous records but as same as her old stuff it's not easy to understand. welcome back Ms. Apple.
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Jun 20, 2012
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Jun 23, 2012
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Jun 29, 2012
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Jun 25, 2012I enjoy listening to this album very much. She's doing things she hasn't done before and the results are just wonderful. Genius! So far, best album of the year!!!
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Jun 19, 2012
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Jun 19, 2012
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Jun 19, 2012
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Jun 29, 2012All I can say is that Fiona Apple has been gone for a long time but her comeback is untouchable, for an album to be this good and have very little promotion is not heard off. Album of the Year contender for sure.
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Jul 13, 2012
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Jun 24, 2012
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Aug 5, 2012
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Oct 10, 2012Fiona can do no wrong. Every song on this album is absolutely breathtaking. Her emotion, her songwriting, everything is perfectly captured in these songs. The thing that makes this record stand apart from the rest of her work is how stripped-down and focused each song is. This is truly Fiona's masterpiece.
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Jan 4, 2013
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Jun 19, 2012This is the first 10 I've give out all year, and the 10 I've been compelled to write about. This magnificent album never ceases to expel beautifully unstable poetry over riveting and compelling songwriting. Fiona has really outdone herself. Waste no more time reading reviews, spend it with this album instead, for it is surely the album of the year (of the apocalypse), if there ever was one.
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Jun 25, 2012
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Oct 6, 2012
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Jun 22, 2012I know that almost everyone said that this is the "Album of the Year" and whatsoever, but honestly I just can't get into this kind of music.
It's like she's just singing (or maybe just screaming or whining) to some random chords and notes with some tingling piano and percussion, and that's all. Nothing really "wow"-es me.
But it still has some interesting sounds, though. -
Jun 24, 2012
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Jul 23, 2012It IS indeed a nice album but not as great as her first two records... It lacks the passionate chords from Tidal and the emotional lyrics from When the Pawn.. The music from the 90s is way too superior to simply compare it with the effortless results artists are coming with nowadays...
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Jun 19, 2012Fiona is a goddess !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this album is amazing :) not as good as Tidal but better than Extraordinary Machine (even tho its also really good)
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Jun 22, 2012
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Nov 30, 2012
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Aug 19, 2012Full of emotion, powerful lyrics, amazing voice (very different than her older albums!! it's still strong, but in a very different way!) I am addicted to this album. Every. Single. Song. I don't understand how anybody could not enjoy this music, it's just too great!
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Sep 4, 2012
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Sep 26, 2014This album really surprised me! "The Idler Wheel..." was the fist album by Fiona Apple that I listened and I was like "What's this?"! Her voice is amazing and I cannot talk how much feelings I felt when I listen I all time. I don't know if it is the best, but I really love it. ♥
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Jun 9, 2020Perfect ensemble of a collection of sound and lyrics put together.This is her best work so far and is undeniably a must in anyone’s favourite catalogue.A rare instance where critics and listeners agree on one thing!
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Aug 1, 2022I don’t mind the new Fiona Apple album, but it’s going to inspire a **** of bad music. What other good albums have left a legacy of rubbish imitators?
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Jul 22, 2012I had to really devote a lot of my time to this album but it was completely worth it. Apple almost makes an album that's better than Extraordinary Machine, almost. Each track is beautifully written and sung with raw emotion. All in All, The Idler Wheel... is a fantastic album. A-
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Oct 3, 2012Great musical achievement! For me, this is the second best album of the year after Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange". This is a lot better than anything Fiona has released so far. Try it!
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Jul 23, 2012
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Jun 23, 2012After my first listen to the album, I hate it!!! It was nothing like Fiona Apples previous work. After giving it a chance and listening to it, I started notcing how special this album is! This is her best Album to date! very very deep! The more you listen to it, the more grand it gets! amazing!!! 10 out of 10 stars!!
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Jan 9, 2014
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Jul 23, 2012Honestly, if you are on the fence with Fiona Apple, listen to "Hot Knife". This song showcases all of her talent in one song. I can't express how happy I am that this record is among us and how great it was composed with Fiona's wonderful jazzy pop style and a wide variety of songs that all sound like a new experience. Great job Fiona, definitely worth the wait.
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Jun 22, 2012The lyrics are sharp and heart-felt and the arrangements are beautiful and original. I hadn't come across the artist but wil definitely now check out her other albums.
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Jul 29, 2012Fiona provides that raw emotion like not many others can. Even within a roller-coaster of songs who do not "play it safe" and various different scenarios. Poetry fusions with powerful voice and grinding sounds from the beautiful voice of a songwriter and truly complete artist.
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Jun 19, 2012Just a perfect and beautiful album! So intense and raw and poetic ! Perfect music, perfect voice, perfect lyrics and also perfect artwork: Fiona Apple is really a complete artist.
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Jun 20, 2012
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Jun 20, 2012
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Jun 26, 2012
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Oct 3, 2012It's quirky and it's not an easy listen but it's nothing short of amazing and it deserves every 10/10 it gets, I can almost guarantee there'll be nothing better to listen to until her next album !
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Jan 23, 2013The Idler Wheel is an incredibly mature work of art, taking the few musical resources at hand and using them to absolute perfection. This album must not be missed.
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Feb 6, 2013
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Feb 7, 2013
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Mar 11, 2013
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Feb 3, 2020The Idler Wheel... hasn't only a big title... Album also is grandious. Pop melodies divides spaces with tense atmospheres, creating a new notion of dynamic.
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Oct 22, 2013
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Oct 17, 2013I would never consider myself a Fiona Apple fan. Prior to this album, I found her quite self indulgent, annoying. This album took me a long time to come around...but when it finally did, WOW, its absoultely brilliant.
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Aug 6, 2014Arguably her best album since Tidal, The Idler Wheel takes what was so good about that one and bumps the knob up on the intensity and honesty factor while letting Miss Apple get more loose and unleashed. This album aches, swells, undulates, and roils you with all its boiling emotion; this burn feels good.
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Feb 17, 2016I'm obsessed with this album, Fiona Apple's voice it's just magnificent, the piano it's calm and furious, some weird but amazing samples like scissors against glass or child's playing fit pretty well, and the lyrics are so poetic and amazing. Ten out of ten record.
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Mar 19, 2019I CANNOT BELIEVE I MISSED THIS WHAT THE **** SIMPLY BREATHTAKING . just discovered this and my mind is blown...........
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Feb 19, 2017Bow down to Fiona Apple, for she created this powerful album that pulses with life and reveals our most intimate insecurites whithout a single trace of its passing.
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Jun 7, 2017Utterly brilliant! The song 'Jonathan' is a highlight but the entire album is a masterpiece. Her chord progressions are strange and interesting and her drummer is also excellent. A work of musical genius, in my opinion.
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Nov 15, 2021
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Mar 26, 2020The pure and painful sound of drama, loneliness and depression that you never get tired of listen to
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May 7, 2020I can say without a doubt that this is a masterpiece, it's my favorite album ever.
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Nov 20, 2020Apple's vocals are raw and unrestricted, her lyricism airtight and perfected. The Idler Wheel isn't as experimental as Fetch the Bolt Cutters, but it excels in areas Fetch the Bolt Cutters simply cannot by having a somewhat more standard structure.
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Jul 15, 2022she's such an icon and this is perfect. fiona apple IS the music industry forever
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Sep 18, 20229.8/10
It's really a great album.The songs "Every Single Night" and "Hot Knife" are really nice! -
Sep 9, 2023Fiona Apple is not just a musician, but a sonic artist imbuing each project she makes with so much raw emotion, passion, and feeling. Amazing album.
Awards & Rankings
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Dec 20, 2012It's an album that demands something of the listener, but rewards it in spades.
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Jul 24, 2012An album that's damn catchy after all.
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Jul 19, 2012Still the same Fiona Apple: bigger than "all the fishes in the sea."