Criminal

The third single from Tidal, issued in June 1997 on Work and Columbia. Apple has said the song is about "feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality". Pitchfork's Pelly wrote that she composed it in 45 minutes when her label asked for a clearer single, and quoted Apple saying in 2012 that she can write a hit and knows how that works. The Guardian called the song much more nuanced than its video, capturing Apple's ambivalence about taking advantage of a good man's love and her wish for redemption. Matt Chamberlain plays drums, Patrick Warren piano, Dan Rothchild bass, Rob Laufer guitar and Jon Brion Chamberlin.

Mark Romanek directed the video in May 1997, with Harris Savides as cinematographer, and it won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography in 1998. The single reached 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, her only entry there as of 2026, and four on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It won the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Rock Song. VH1 placed it 55th on its list of the 100 greatest songs of the 90s, and Rolling Stone ranked it 423rd on its 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs. In 2019 Apple pledged two years of its television and film earnings to the While They Wait fund.